The application system preferences can't be opened

After limiting spotlight searches to external shared hard drives, I cannot eliminate this limit because when I go to System Preferences to change Spotlight, I get an error message "the application System Preferences can't be opened". How can this be reset?

No error code.
I finally went to caches in my library and delted "com.apple.preferencepanes.cache".
I tried to restart my computer but it hung up. I unplugged it and re started.
Maybe primitive. But it seems to be working so far.
thanks!

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System preferences can't be opened 600

Latest update of lion and all updates done.. gettint the error message when trying to open .. the Application System Preferences can't be opened. -600..
Any suggestions...
Linda

Thank you for your quick and helpful response.. I repaired permissions before I received your advice and that seemed to solve the problem ..BUT.. I'm not convinced that it won't return.. My entire machine has. Not been behaving since the update....
L

You can't open the application "System Preferences.app" because it is not supported on this type of Mac

All of the sudden my System Preferences in Mavericks has stopped working and I get the error message:
You can't open the application "System Preferences.app" because it is not supported on this type of Mac.
It was working fine before this, and I have run Permissions Repair, restarted to another partition and run Diskwarrior and TechTool Pro, but none of those has helped. Anyone have any ideas why this happened, and what I can do to fix it?

See this entire thread
https://discussions.apple.com/message/4241006#4241006

You can't open the application System Preferences because it may be damaged or incomplete.

You can't open the application System Preferences because it may be damaged or incomplete.
say this and same on mac store when i press app

Back up all data.
Boot into Recovery by holding down the key combination command-R at the startup chime. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.
Note: You need an always-on Ethernet or Wi-Fi connection to the Internet to use Recovery. It won’t work with USB or PPPoE modems, or with proxy servers, or with networks that require a certificate for authentication.
When the OS X Utilities screen appears, follow the prompts to reinstall the OS. You don't need to erase the boot volume, and you won't need your backup unless something goes wrong. If your Mac was upgraded from an older version of OS X, you’ll need the Apple ID and password you used to upgrade, so make a note of those before you begin.

I accidentally deleted some drivers from my macbook air and now i can not access app store and system preferences as it says the following message (You can't open the application System Preferences because it may be damaged or incomplete)

i accidentally deleted some drivers from my macbook air and now i can not access app store and system preferences as it says the following message (You can't open the application System Preferences because it may be damaged or incomplete)

Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions - Lion/Mountain Lion
Boot to the Recovery HD:
Restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and R keys until the menu screen appears. Alternatively, restart the computer and after the chime press and hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager screen appears. Select the Recovery HD and click on the downward pointing arrow button.
Repair
When the recovery menu appears select Disk Utility. After DU loads select your hard drive entry (mfgr.'s ID and drive size) from the the left side list. In the DU status area you will see an entry for the S.M.A.R.T. status of the hard drive. If it does not say "Verified" then the hard drive is failing or failed. (SMART status is not reported on external Firewire or USB drives.) If the drive is "Verified" then select your OS X volume from the list on the left (sub-entry below the drive entry,) click on the First Aid tab, then click on the Repair Disk button. If DU reports any errors that have been fixed, then re-run Repair Disk until no errors are reported. If no errors are reported then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu. Select Restart from the Apple menu.

"The application System Preferences quit unexpectedly" everytime

When I open my system preferences and go to Desktop and Screensaver, I never can do anything. The second that I click on it, it closes and says "The application System Preferences quit unexpectedly." It only closes when I click on Desktop and Screensavers and never with anything else.
What can I do to fix this?

Thank you, it sort of worked for half of it. I can now change the desktop, but the screensaver still doesn't. It works if I keep it on the desktop tab, but once I click on Screensaver it closes.
These are the .plist files I put on the desktop:
com.apple.systempreferences.plist.saved
com.apple.systempreferences.plist
com.apple.dock.plist
com.apple.desktop.plist
Those changed the desktop back to the original Tiger blue default and reset the dock.
Is there anything else you can think of?

The application "Dropbox - test" can't be opened -1712

I created two additional dropbox applications though Automator and they have been working fine with no problem along with my own normal Dropbox application. I have them all set to open on start up along with Google Drive so that they appear in the top bar on my Macbook Pro. They are also in the sidebar on Finder.
The problem i am having is that when i start up my Mac, my normal original Dropbox opens and syncs however the other two don't open. When i go to Applications and click on either of the two to open then i am getting the message - The application "Dropbox - test" can't be opened -1712.
I have been reading about this online and went to the Activity Monitor and forced quit these and they show up in red when i search for them. But then i still have no luck in opening them. I have allowed Applications to be opened from Everywhere in the System Preferences - Security section too.
Its very strange how i have had this working with no problems and then it suddenly stops.
Any help or suggestions anyone can give would be really appreciated.
Thanks!

Where are you choosing to download the install files too? What is the status of the download in the Adobe Support Advisor?

Time machine problem? The application Finder.app can't be opened -10810

I've got a Snow Leopard system with an external FireWire Maxtor drive that has been set to be a Time Machine archive of the internal drive. I'm noticing the following problem (twice so far) which may or may not be TM related. I leave my machine and come in the morning; Time Machine says no backup happened since 7:45pm last night. I notice the file system is acting weird - can't open any of the disks from the desktop. I try to restart the Finder, and it says "The application Finder.app can't be opened -10810" - won't start the Finder! So, I had to reboot (and disconnected the FW drive). I'll try it for a couple of nights without the TM machine and see what happens. The reason I suspect TM is that sometimes I see the icon on the TM disk change from the blue/gray TM icon back to its native FW disk icon, and sometimes I see a message that says "Can't find disk" or something similar for that external drive.
Any ideas? Should I be looking for an external drive from another vendor, or will it be the same thing? Does TM have problems associated with Finder and error -10810? How do I debug?
Mike

Jamie Curmi wrote:
No, I tried different drives, and it made no difference.
In the end I turned it off, and did backups with SuperDuper!.
funny you should mention SuperDuper. When you had this problem, did you have SuperDuper scheduled to back up other drives? I have a theory, which I'll test eventally. For some reason, this TM problem only happened at night - not all the times it activated (every hour) during the workday. Why?!? Well, one thing that happens at night for me is a scheduled SuperDuper backup of the same drive (the one TM is backing up) onto a mirror drive (not the one TM is writing to).
Maybe that's when the freeze occurs - when they both coincide at night? I'd think that the Unix-base of OS X shouldn't have any problems when two apps are reading one disk and at the same time, but maybe TM and SuperDuper are both doing some sort of low-level reads that can't be done at the same time? What do you think - might this explain your issues also?
Mike

HT1338 this is the message I am getting: The application "Microsoft Word" can't be opened.

I am unable to open my documents... "The application "Microsoft Word" can't be opened. What is going on?

Unfortunately you got caught up in the minor miracle of Rosetta. Originally licensed by Apple when it migrated from the PowerPC CPU platform that it had used from the mid-1990's until the Intel CPU platform in 2006, Rosetta allowed Mac users to continue to use their library of PPC software transparently in emulation.
However, Apple's license to continue to use this technology expired with new releases of OS X commencing with Lion (and now Mountain Lion). While educational efforts have been made over the last 6 years, the fact is that Rosetta was SO successful that many users were caught unaware UNTIL they upgraded to Lion or Mountain Lion.
Workarounds:
1. If your Mac will support it, revert back to your older OS X;
2. If your Mac will support it, either partition your hard drive or add an external hard drive and install Snow Leopard (with Rosetta) to allow for a "dual-boot" system;
3. Upgrade your PowerPC software or use an alternative programs; or
4. The solution I use: Install Snow Leopard (and Rosetta) into Parallels 7 or 8:
[click on image to enlarge]
Full Snow Leopard installation instructions here:
http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=1365439
NOTE: STEP ONE of the instructions must be completed on a Snow Leopard or Lion Mac and the resulting modified Snow Leopard.cdr install file can then be moved over to your Mountain Lion Mac for completion of the remaining steps.

The application "Finder.app" can't be opened. Anyone getting this error after upgrade?

Upgraded to new OS version and getting "The application “Finder.app” can’t be opened."
The icon in the tray has a small black dot under it. Not sure whether that is relevant

Hi ..
A Safe Mode boot deletes some system caches that may help after an OS X upgrade.
Top left corner of your screen click the Apple  > Shut Down.
After your Mac shuts down, wait 10 seconds, then press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold down the Shift key. You should press the Shift key as soon as possible after you hear the startup tone, but not before.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple logo and progress indicator.
Once you are in Safe Mode, go back to the Apple  menu. From the drop down menu click: Restart
Then try the Finder.
About Safe Mode.

10.5.2: You cannot use the application "System preferences.app" with...

Hello
after (successfully) updating from 10.5.1 to 10.5.2, the System Preferences.app cannot be started. Either the application does not start (a silent error) or there is a message "You cannot use the application "System preferences.app" with this version of MacOS X." The version is 10.5.2, according to "About this Mac", while the application version is 3.5. The same happens when I attempt to open "Time machine preferences" using the new menu/icon on the bar.
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Marinho.

Thanks, I did that, but it didn't solve the problem.
By the way, the application version (of System preferences.app) remained the same (old one). Then I removed the application to Trash (meaning to restore it later if required) and applied the update again (and a third time), but then a new System preferences.app was not installed and the older one has disappeared from the trash! What a mess this update turns out to be...
Marinho.

You cannot use the application "System Preferences" with this version OS X

You cannot use the application “System Preferences” with this version of Mac OS X.
I received this error message when trying to run System Preferences (SP) for the first time after running the 10.5.1 update (from the download, not software update). After the update, I repaired permissions. Did another restart. Same.
I reinstalled 10.5.1 update. Same message. Logged in as another user. No change.
I removed the com.apple.systempreferences.plist from ~/library/preferences. No change, and it did not re-create the .plist file.
Any ideas? No one else seems to be having this problem as far as I can tell.
dkrockville

I have had this problem with many applications after updating to 10.5.1, including
System Preferences, Calculator, Preview. Tried repairing permissions, and other tips from this thread. The strange thing is, the actual Leopard applications seem to have actually vanished? I don't know if this is anything to do with Time Machine; Anyway, My fix was:
Download Pacifist (if you don't already have it), locate the apps that you're having problems with on the Leopard install DVD, and copy them to the Applications Folder (Click on 'Replace Bundle')
Problem Solved for Me!
Hope this Helps!

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Can't open PDF file from iBook on MAC. error "The application "ACDSee Pro" can't be opened."

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Hi arewers,
Do you have Adobe Reader installed, by any chance? If so, are you aware if it was the PPC or Intel version which you installed? In any case, for the time being, have a quick look in 'HD/Library/Internet Plug-ins/' using Finder and see if there's an Adobe plugin lying around. If there is, try moving it out of the folder and restarting Safari.
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I recorded my band practice and my computer seems to have frozen. Now, I cannot open the recording nor can I open Garage Band. I keep getting the message: The application GarageBand.app can't be opened. -1712. I am trying to avoid forcing quit or shutting down because I really don't want to lose the recording.

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/mac

The application system preferences can't be opened

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