27
Jul
2009
Rebuilding LaunchServices to correct general Mac OS X file errors
Author: willem In: apple, tips & tricks, unixIf your Mac presents small filesystem problems like incorrect icons for documents or displaying deleted applications on your “Open With” menus, you can rebuild OS X’s LaunchServices database to correct them.
To rebuild LaunchServices on Mac OS X 10.4.* (Tiger):
Open a new Terminal window and enter the command below, then wait a few seconds for the processing to finish:
/System/Library/Frameworks/ApplicationServices.framework/ Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
To rebuild LaunchServices on Mac OS X 10.5.* (Leopard):
Open a new Terminal window and enter the command below, then wait a few seconds for the processing to finish:
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/ Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/ lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
Other lsregister Options:
The lsregister utility used in the above commands has several other parameters; if you enter:
/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/ Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/ lsregister
…you’ll be presented with an explanation of all the available options:
lsregister: [OPTIONS] [ < path >... ]
[ -apps [,domain]... ]
[ -libs [,domain]... ]
[ -all [,domain]... ]
Paths are searched for applications to register with the Launch Service
database. Valid domains are "system", "local", "network" and "user".
Domains can also be specified using only the first letter.
-kill Reset the Launch Services database before doing anything else
-seed If database isn't seeded, scan default locations for
applications and libraries to register
-lint Print information about plist errors while registering bundles
-convert Register apps found in older LS database files
-lazy n Sleep for n seconds before registering/scanning
-r Recursive directory scan, do not recurse into packages or
invisible directories
-R Recursive directory scan, descending into packages and
invisible directories
-f force-update registration even if mod date is unchanged
-u unregister instead of register
-v Display progress information
-dump Display full database contents after registration
-h Display this help
Related posts:
- Resetting the contextual ‘Open With’ menu in Mac OS X
- Exporting your iPhone’s SMS Message Database to a CSV file
- Mac OS X / UNIX Quick Tip: Find and kill frozen processes
- A Python script to check Google rankings for a specific domain and search term
- Changing the default MySQL root (or other user) password
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@tiaanwillemse
July 27th, 2009 at 12:27
Why don’t you just run Onyx?
It does a lot more than just fix LaunchServices.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/system_disk_utilities/onyx.html
willem
July 27th, 2009 at 13:41
Hey Tiaan
Thanks! Onyx is a great system utility that will delete caches, fix LaunchServices (for which it uses the lsregister utility), repair permissions, etc. I fully recommend that all Mac users should install it on their machines.
However, if you need a quick fix for the problem above, if you need to customize how LaunchServices reindexes your files, or if you’d like to debug the LaunchServices database, the lsregister utility will be faster and more powerful.