Finding and reinstalling lost Apple-supplied applications in OS X
In OS X there are times when you may have deleted items from your Applications folder that were put there by the OS X installer.
In OS X there are times when you may have deleted items from your Applications folder that were put there by the OS X installer. Sometimes people have done this intentionally for items they do not use to clear up clutter and free hard drive space, but at other times people have inadvertently deleted them, including important items like the System Preferences.
If this happens, you may see the respective application in the Dock appear as a translucent question mark. There are several approches to restoring the lost programs and utilities, some of which may be more convenient based on the resourced available to you. Keep in mind that regardless of which method you use, be sure to run a full permissions fix after restoring lost applications that came with OS X.
Using Time Machine
If you have a full system backup using Time Machine, you can go to the Applications folder in the Finder, invoke Time Machine, and locate a backed up version of the desired application for restoration.
Copy from another Mac
If you have another Mac handy that is running the same version of OS X as yours (check in the "About This Mac" option in the Apple menu), you can copy the desired Application to your Mac via the network, by emailing it to yourself, or through removable media such as flash drives or CDs/DVDs.
Use the OS X Installation DVD
If you have your OS X installation DVD available, you can use the utility "Pacifist" to open the DVD install package and locate the lost application for extraction.
While this is one option, it is not the preferrable one because the selected application may have been updated in a more recent version of OS X than the one which is on the DVD.
Use Combo Updaters
Using Apple's combo updaters is the better alternative than using the installation DVD if the application has been updated, so if the application you are looking for is in the combo updater, then use these with Pacifist first (or just reinstall the full combo updater again, which will not hurt your system). For the application that have been updated in the latest Combo updaters for various versions of OS X, see the following table:
| Applications Included in OS X Combo Updaters (click the version title to download the updater) | |||||
| 10.3.9 | 10.4.11 PPC | 10.4.11 Intel | 10.5.8 | 10.6.3 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Address Book | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Automator | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Calculator | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Chess | ✔ | ||||
| Dashboard | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Dictionary | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| DVD Player | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Expose | ✔ | ||||
| Font Book | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Front Row | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| iCal | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| iChat | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Image Capture | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Internet Connect | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| iSync | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Photo Booth | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Preview | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| QuickTime Player (X) | ✔ | ||||
| Safari | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Script Editor | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Spaces | ✔ | ||||
| Stickies | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| System Preferences | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Time Machine | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| (Utilities) | |||||
| Activity Monitor | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Audio MIDI Setup | ✔ | ||||
| Bluetooth File Exchange | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Bluetooth Serial Utility | ✔ | ||||
| Bluetooth Setup Assistant | ✔ | ||||
| Boot Camp Assistant | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| ColorSync Utility | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Console | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Directory Access | ✔ | ||||
| Directory Utility | ✔ | ||||
| Directory | ✔ | ||||
| Disk Utility | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Expose | ✔ | ||||
| Installer | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Keychain Access | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
| Migration Assistant | ✔ | ||||
| Network Utility | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| NetInfo Manager | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| ODBC Administrator | ✔ | ||||
| Podcast Capture | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Printer Setup Utility | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| QuickTime Player 7 | ✔ | ||||
| RAID Utility | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| Remote Install Mac OS X | ✔ | ✔ | |||
| System Profiler | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Spaces | ✔ | ||||
| Terminal | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| VoiceOver Utility | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| X11 | ✔ | ✔ | |||
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