Icons can be dragged but not dropped in Mac OS X 10.6.2

I have recently started using Mac OS X 10.6.2 and the problem that I am facing is that I am not able to drag and drop files/programs/icons, I am not able to drag within the dock and on my desktop, when I am clicking on an icon to drop then it is just sticking to my mouse pointer as a ghost and when I am trying to release the same then it is not getting dropped to the designated area or folder, it appears as if the icon is just sticking to the mouse pointer no matter where I am taking it, I am able to get rid of the ghost when I am using esc and clicking but then the icon is staying at the previous position, is there anyone who has faced the same and has an idea about his issue, my system specification are as followed:

• Mac OS X 10.6.2
• iMac
• iMac8,1
• Intel Core 2 Duo
• 3,06 GHz

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Originally Posted by Jon-Doy

I have recently started using Mac OS X 10.6.2 and the problem that I am facing is that I am not able to drag and drop files/programs/icons, I am not able to drag within the dock and on my desktop, when I am clicking on an icon to drop then it is just sticking to my mouse pointer as a ghost and when I am trying to release the same then it is not getting dropped to the designated area or folder, it appears as if the icon is just sticking to the mouse pointer no matter where I am taking it, I am able to get rid of the ghost when I am using esc and clicking but then the icon is staying at the previous position, is there anyone who has faced the same and has an idea about his issue, my system specification are as followed:

• Mac OS X 10.6.2
• iMac
• iMac8,1
• Intel Core 2 Duo
• 3,06 GHz

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As far as I am aware you should be able to drop any folders on the right-hand side of the dock divider where as any application on the left-hand side of the dock divider but then you are just allowed to drop individual files inside a folder which might be in the dock but then you are not allowed to drop individual file on the dock as a standalone icon, I just wanted to know that how may apps are there in your dock, if you are having many apps in the dock and if your entire screen is, filled by the app icons then there are possibilities that there might be some limit to the number of the items that you can put on/in the dock, I am not very sure if you are having the same case but then you can check these things out and find out what is the issue all about, if that does not help then better contact Apple and address them the same and check out what they have to say about the same.

I have just found that the same issue is in the Photoshop and it is also occurring when I am trying to drag a selection within a photo, it is just not letting it go and sticking to the mouse pointer, I have asked the same in some other forums as well and there a guy had suggested me to check out the mouse settings inside system preferences but then I don’t think that there is anything as such that I can tweak about, is there any other solution that I can try out or anything that needs to be checked before simply contacting the apple support??? I also wanted to add can this issue be because of mouse as well, I would have tried out using other mouse but then I am not having one extra currently but then if there are possibilities of it to be the culprit then I will surely check it out, what do you guys think about this??

Yes there are possibilities that it might be the culprit so do check out other mouse but then if that is not making any difference in your case then you can try out the solution that has been mentioned below:

1. First go in to the Library which will be inside your username folder and then go in to Preferences and then check out for the mouse preferences, since you are having 10.6.x there will be two of them, one for the original where as the other for the Magic Mouse:
   
   • com.app.driver.AppleBluetoothMultitouch.mouse.plist
   • com.apple.driver.AppleHIDMouse.plist.
2. So here just drag the one that you want on the desktop, if you want then you can drop both and then reboot the system, in case if you are having Bluetooth Magic Mouse then you will have to do the Pairing thing.
3. If this helps then well and good and if not then you can try out removing the Finder preferences which is com.apple.finder.plist and then following the same step again, when you are done with the above steps then a new Preferences plist will be created and it should help.

Just try it out and then post back the result that you get for this solution.

I am not very sure about your case but then I was facing the same issue before and was able to solve it out, I was able to click on an icon and drag it as well but then I was not able to drop it, actually in my case I had updated my Air Display application so later after a lot of troubleshooting I just uninstalled the Air Display application and then ran the Disk Utility's "Repair Disk Permissions" and after that the problem was solved, I did not had any further issues since then, if you want then you can give it a try and check out if it is helping, I also wanted to add that as already mentioned above you should try out using some other mouse and find out if there is something wrong with the mouse itself or not. Anyways just check out these possible solutions and then let me know which one is helping you out.