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Can't Open System Preferences From Anywhere

YahonMaizosz

YahonMaizosz

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 28, 2007
233
101
I need help.

Just purchased the brand new 2014 Mac Mini and updated it to 10.10.2.

After update, suddenly I am unable to open "System Preferences" from;
1. The :apple: Apple Icon Drop Down Menu
2. And anything system preference related menu (i.e.Clock, Wallpaper, etc..)

The only way to launch "System Preferences" is to actually go to the application folder and click it manually.

What is causing this? :confused:
How can I fix it? :(

Thank you in advance.. :)
 
YahonMaizosz said:
I need help.

Just purchased the brand new 2014 Mac Mini and updated it to 10.10.2.

After update, suddenly I am unable to open "System Preferences" from;
1. The :apple: Apple Icon Drop Down Menu
2. And anything system preference related menu (i.e.Clock, Wallpaper, etc..)

The only way to launch "System Preferences" is to actually go to the application folder and click it manually.

What is causing this? :confused:
How can I fix it? :(

Thank you in advance.. :)
Click to expand...

Try repairing permissions.
 

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Hi,

Applications / Utilities / Disk Utility

Select Macintosh HD on the left, click "Repair the permissions", wait for the process to complete.
Then restart the machine.
Please report back.
 
restart in safe mode. restart in general can get you out of a finder hang or crash. repair permissions. again. create new login like stated. what were u doing when the finder crashed, it said u updated, you might have an incomplete installation if something went wrong in the update.
 
Taz Mangus said:
Create a new user, login in to the new user and see if you can open system preferences.
Click to expand...

I am able to go into "System Preferences" from :apple: Top-Left Drop Down Menu and literally anywhere else from the GUEST user (Wallpaper, Dock, Time, etc..) :eek:

But when I went back into my primary account, still no luck..
The only way to get into "System Preferences" is from the main application itself.. :(

----------
MCSN said:
restart in safe mode. restart in general can get you out of a finder hang or crash. repair permissions. again. create new login like stated. what were u doing when the finder crashed, it said u updated, you might have an incomplete installation if something went wrong in the update.
Click to expand...

I have a 100% complete installation because the problem occurred only last night and I frankly don't know what caused it.

The Mac Mini is brand new (2 days old).
 
YahonMaizosz said:
I am able to go into "System Preferences" from :apple: Top-Left Drop Down Menu and literally anywhere else from the GUEST user (Wallpaper, Dock, Time, etc..) :eek:

But when I went back into my primary account, still no luck..
The only way to get into "System Preferences" is from the main application itself.. :(
Click to expand...

What this means is that your account is corrupted some how. You will need to recreate your account again. Try these steps:

  • Open the terminal app and enter: chflags nohidden ~/Library
  • Create a new admin user.
  • Logout of your account.
  • Login into the new admin user.
  • In the termial app and enter: sudo mv /Users/<your account> /Users/<your account>_sav

    Replace <your account> with the name of your account. If your account name is bob then the command would be: sudo mv /Users/bob /Users/bob_sav
  • Goto system preferences->users and groups.
  • Delete your account. Not to worry you renamed it in the steps above.
  • Add your account back in.

    Make sure if your account is an admin account create it as an admin account.
  • Logout of the new user admin account.
  • Login into your account again.
  • Open the terminal app and enter: chgflags nohidden ~/Library

You will need to setup your account again. All your previous data is in /Users in the "_sav" folder. You can now manually copy over data from "_sav" folder to your newly created account. I would suggest that you don't just blindly copy over all the old data to the new account. Most of the data will be in ~/Library/Preferences and ~/Library/Application Data. I suspect that one or more of the files in ~/LIbrary/Preferences is corrupted.
 
Taz Mangus said:
What this means is that your account is corrupted some how. You will need to recreate your account again. Try these steps:

  • Open the terminal app and enter: chflags nohidden ~/Library
  • Create a new admin user.
  • Logout of your account.
  • Login into the new admin user.
  • In the termial app and enter: sudo mv /Users/<your account> /Users/<your account>_sav

    Replace <your account> with the name of your account. If your account name is bob then the command would be: sudo mv /Users/bob /Users/bob_sav
  • Goto system preferences->users and groups.
  • Delete your account. Not to worry you renamed it in the steps above.
  • Add your account back in.

    Make sure if your account is an admin account create it as an admin account.
  • Logout of the new user admin account.
  • Login into your account again.
  • Open the terminal app and enter: chgflags nohidden ~/Library

You will need to setup your account again. All your previous data is in /Users in the "_sav" folder. You can now manually copy over data from "_sav" folder to your newly created account. I would suggest that you don't just blindly copy over all the old data to the new account. Most of the data will be in ~/Library/Preferences and ~/Library/Application Data. I suspect that one or more of the files in ~/LIbrary/Preferences is corrupted.
Click to expand...

Sounds way more complicated than what I had expected..

If it helps, whenever I tried to repair permissions using "Disk Utility", there is always this message that comes out;

Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent” has been modified and will not be repaired.

Does it mean anything?:confused:
 
YahonMaizosz said:
Sounds way more complicated than what I had expected..

If it helps, whenever I tried to repair permissions using "Disk Utility", there is always this message that comes out;

Warning: SUID file “System/Library/CoreServices/RemoteManagement/ARDAgent.app/Contents/MacOS/ARDAgent” has been modified and will not be repaired.

Does it mean anything?:confused:
Click to expand...

No, it doesn't. You can safely ignore that message.
 
BasicGreatGuy said:
No, it doesn't. You can safely ignore that message.
Click to expand...

Thank you very much..

Is there any chance that an update to OS X 10.10.3 (When it came out) could fix my issue?

I don't really want to set up a new user and re-move all my files manually since this Mac Mini is for work and can't afford the long downtime.. :(
 
You could rebuild the Launch Services Database by opening a Terminal window and copy-paste the following line into it. (all 1 line)

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
 
jbarley said:
You could rebuild the Launch Services Database by opening a Terminal window and copy-paste the following line into it. (all 1 line)

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
Click to expand...

Thank you very much kind sir... You literally fixed my problem!! :):D

All I did was copy paste that line, close terminal and Voila! :)

Now I am able to launch "System Preferences" from the top left :apple: Menu and literally anywhere else (Wallpaper, Dock, Clock, etc..)

Thank you again..
 
YahonMaizosz said:
Thank you very much kind sir... You literally fixed my problem!! :):D

All I did was copy paste that line, close terminal and Voila! :)

Now I am able to launch "System Preferences" from the top left :apple: Menu and literally anywhere else (Wallpaper, Dock, Clock, etc..)

Thank you again..
Click to expand...

Glad I could help and things worked out for you!
 
jbarley said:
You could rebuild the Launch Services Database by opening a Terminal window and copy-paste the following line into it. (all 1 line)

/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Support/lsregister -kill -r -domain local -domain system -domain user
Click to expand...

You are the magic man. That line of code just solved this very frustrating problem for me too.
This is a new MacBook Pro and I'm having a crackling noise occasionally come out of my speakers and when I tried to go to preferences to see what I could do with sound preferences, the system preferences would NOT come up.

Your code fixed that problem (thank you). Now to fix the crackle...
 
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