GM (was Beta 8) - can't launch applications

I'd just like to add that I have had exactly the same issue with the latest public beta. Fortunately recovery mode fixed things, but a second attempt to install the update resulted in exactly the same issue. I would also add that the apps that fail to launch include Mail and Terminal, so it isn't as though it is a problem with 3rd party apps.

I just installed the GM, and now I see it again:

"You can't open the application "[app name]" because it may be damaged or incomplete.

It happens on every application, both Apple and 3rd party. I get the same thing rebooting in safe mode

I'm seeing the same issue withe GM release of OS X 10.11. I had no problems with any of the other betas. Re-installing OS X from the recovery partition did not help me.

Ditto. Same problem with the GM. I turned in a bug report. Here's the report number:

22638349

This is probably due to the security function in OS X dealing with apps and where they come from. If you Google search this error you'll find references to this and one fix was allowing apps from Anywhere, but you cannot do this in this scenario since even running System Prefs is damaged. I tried logging into a secondary profile, but I haven't had time to work more with that.

Oddly my start up apps were all appearing to run correctly and take their normal places in the menu bar. I tried quitting them and now they don't seem to be working either. What a mess!

I logged in with a different account on the same mac. No issues so far. So it looks like something has happened to my user profile. Still experimenting, but darn what a mess...

I tried reinstalling from recovery mode, and it got down to 1 minute remainig, then went to 43 minutes and was stuck at 43 minutes for 2 hours.

I canceled, rebooted, and reinstalled.

Same issue as before: I can't launch anything.

I had no separate account to login with, so I booted to single user mode, mounted the drive, and removed the .AppleSetupDone file and rebooted. On reboot, I created a new account and this account seems fine. So I seem to be in the exact same boat as you.

I'd like to fix the old account, though, since that's where all my data is and I'd prefer to not try to migrate everything

I rebuilt the account by logging in as another user, deleting my original account in Users & Groups prefs, but selecting to NOT delete the home directory. then I renamed my home directory, stripping out the (deleted) portion off the name. Then I recreated the original admin account, and it saw the old, existing user directory. logging out of user 2 and logging back in under my original username works now

I recommended the same to AskaITNinja - good that you posted your process and successful outcome...

I really hope this issue has something to do with the old betas and doesn't hit the "normal" users on Sep 30...

Yes indeed. At least one bug has been filed against it... We'll see.

I have the same issue (no applications would launch and the Application directory (as well as Downloads and others) was empty), however, the Guest account worked just fine. Too bad I missed the trick to just delete my original the account and re-establish it preserving the user files and folders. I started a restore of Beta 6 - still 6 hours to go, and then retry installing GM

In my case from another admin account I'm trying to do what you did, but when I pressed the minus button it turned grey and appeared to do nothing so far....

Ok I'm finally back into my original account, but it's still acting poorly. I think my only solution is an erase and install back to Yosemite. My only big concern is access to my email. I'll have to see how that works out.

Right now here are some example problems:

1) I cannot empty the trash. It just sits there and hangs.

2) I mount the Xcode 7 GM release and I try to copy to the Applications directory and it will never copy. It sits there for well over five minutes.

3) I cannot load an update for a 3rd party app from the app store.

What a roller coaster. No one from Apple has responded to this issue via my bug report.

My problems are mounting so I've decided to blow the whole Mac away and start completely over. Hopefully I'll be able to install Yosemite again with an internet recovery installation.

Maybe Apple will release this on Sept. 30th and experience another "gate. " Antennagate will pale in comparison to taking out 100's if not 1,000's of Macs with this horrible GM release.

They still haven't contacted me about the bug report. Right now I don't care about this. I need to get this Mac up and running again for a project.