Deleted System Preferences Icon

Ive accidently removed the link to System Preferences from my Dock and finder, i can still access it from the apple icon on the 'task bar' at the top of my screen.
However i want to get a link back to it on to my dock, and in finder. Do i have to create an 'alias'/''shortcut' and if so how and where do i do this from.
I know im a fool for deleting both but ive done it accidently over time
Any help would be appreicated.
Jon
12" PowerBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.6)

Hi again Jon,
You stated in your original post that you are able to fire up System Preferences from the Apple menu (top left of the menubar). If that's the case, do the following:
1. Fire up System Preferences from the Apple menu.
2. The System Preferences icon should now be in the dock as the dock displays all open applications/utilities.
3. Click and hold on the System Preferences icon in the dock.
4. In the menu that appears, scroll down and select Keep in Dock. That takes care of having System Preferences in the Dock issue.
5. Click and hold again on the System Preferences icon.
6. In the same menu that appears, scroll down and select Show In Finder
7. In the Finder window that appears select column view, You should now be able to see exactly where System Preferences is located in your system. If it's not in your Applications folder, someone moved it. Simply click and drag it to your Applications folder.

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System preferences icon deleted by mistake.

Hi to all
i did delete my system preferences icon by mistake.
and now i can not go through the system preferences to set my laptop settings, like the background, network ..... ect.
now, could someone assist me pls
Thank you so much

Are you referring to the actual application in your Applications folder or the icon in the Dock? If the latter simply open your Applications folder, locate the System Preferences application and drag its icon into the Dock. If the former then you have to reinstall it from your OS X Installer DVD:
How to Use Pacifist to Replace Deleted or Missing OS X Components
Insert the OS X Installer DVD into the optical drive. Use a simple utility like TinkerTool to toggle invisibility so you can see invisible items. Alternatively, open the Terminal application in your Utilities folder and at the prompt enter the following:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles Yes
Press RETURN.
To turn off the display of invisible files repeat the above command substituting No for Yes.
The install packages are located in the /System/Installation/ folder on the DVD.
Download the shareware utility Pacifist from VersionTracker or MacUpdate. Use it to extract a fresh copy of the missing item(s) from the file archives on your OS X installation DVD. The file archives are in the /System/Installations/ folder (use Go to Folder option in the Go menu of the Finder.)
Here are Four Basic ways to use Pacifist (courtesy of George Orville.)
A. Drag a .pkg icon onto the Pacifist window .....proceed to step 7.
B. Click on “Open Package ....” and navigate to package desired and click “Open” in the open/save window.....proceed to step 7.
C. Insert Mac OS X installer CD and when it mounts, navigate to .... Menu->Go->Go to Folder.
In the path field enter or paste ....
/Volumes/disc name/System/Installation/Packages (where disc name is the name of the CD/DVD that you inserted.
• Click on the "Go" button .....
• Drag a .pkg to Pacifist..... proceed to step 7.
The package you'll need will have to be discovered by trial and error, but for most applications you should start with the Essentials.pkg and/or Additional Essentials.pkg.
D. Insert your Mac OS X install disk 1 .... and open Pacifist.
1. In Pacifist, select "Open Mac OS X Install Packages" ... dialog may appear asking for disk 2, then disk 3 and finally disk 1 again.... {if DVD is not used)...If “Stop Loading” is selected...the procedure will stop!!!
2a. When loading is complete, a new window appears, click the triangle to display contents of each package...Select item and proceed to step 7.
2b. or click the “Find” icon in the Pacifist window and type the name of the software you need.
3. In the list that comes back, click the top most entry for the item that you want. ..... that is the one for the English language.
4. On the top of the Pacifist window, click “verify” .... you will probably be prompted for your password.
5. Enter checks for.... “verify permissions” and “verify file contents.” and click “verify” ....enter password when prompted.... you will get back output which may look like this:
20 files were scanned.
20 of 20 files were present on the hard disk.
0 of 20 files had file permissions that did not match those specified in the package.
0 of 20 files had checksums that did not match those specified in the package.
6. Click “close”. Go to step 7.
Extract or Install........
7. In the Toolbar (upper left), you now have the option to extract or install. Click a file in the lower list and those two icons will be enabled.
8. If “Extract to...” is selected.... navigate to the location where the file will be placed, select “choose”, select “extract” in new dialog that appears,authenicate , if prompted, click “OK”.
9. In the next dialog, click “Extract”.
10. If “Install” is selected... dialog will appear with the location/path of the installed software. Click “Install”
11. Type in your password, click “OK”
• Pacifist will begin to extract files.
12. In steps 8/10ß.... you also have the choice to “cancel”
Notes.....
• Pacifist may find that a file it is installing already exists on the hard disk. Pacifist will present you with an alert panel....
Stop
Leave original alone
Update ..... Default selection
Replace .... Replace option should only be used on full install packages

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One of my System Preferences icons seems to be missing... I have been trying to disable DVD player from automatically launching when I insert a DVD, and the "CDs &DVDs" icon is missing in the System Preferences.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
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Hi Nick
Hmmmm.
When you say it is missing... In Sys Pref. in the second row called hardware there are normally 6 icons with the CD-DVD one being the first on the far left position. Is that space now empty?
If is not empty and you click on the space where it should be, what happens?
I'm running out of ideas. So... one more time with one extra deletion.
With Sys Pref closed
trash
~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.preferencepanes.cache
as well as
~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.systempreferences
then log out and then back in
then click on Sys Pref. to see if CD-DVD is back where it should be.
regards roam.

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Check inside your Applications folder and see if you can find your System Preferences Application. If you can see there try and open it. If it works then drag it to the dock creating a new alias and remove the question mark. If you do not see System Preferences in the Applications folder then it may have been moved or even deleted. Try searching for it. If you find it move it back to the Applications folder.
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Hey
So i just purchased a new macbook 2 days back and i just noticed today that my system preferences icon has turned invisible. Its just a blank spot on the dock, i can click it and it opens and everything. Its just bothering me.
Heres a Screenshot of it :
http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/7135/screenshot20100128at902.png
Anyone have an idea as to why this happened?
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Message was edited by: Crzyrio

drag it off the dock. then open the Main Applications folder at the top level of the hard drive and drag System preferences from there to the dock.

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http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/resetlaunchservices.html
Reboot.

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Choose Go to Folder from the Finder's Go menu and
enter ~/Library/Caches/ as the folder's location;
when this folder has appeared, move the item named
com.apple.preferencepanes to the desktop and relaunch
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(17849)
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ATIRage128GLDriver.bundle
ATIRage128.kext
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ATIRadeonGA.plugin
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http://www.macworld.com/article/2155980/os-x-10-9-3-unhiding-the-users-folder.ht ml
https://discussions.apple.com/message/24942345#24942345

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Hi
Since installing Lion, the icons on my system preferences pane have all changed to the same icon as the system preferences app. i.e just the cogs.
Can anyone tell me how this may have happened and how I can revert back to the standard images please? The selections are all there, but all showing the same cog image.
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thanks!

It's not a folder, it should be a single file.
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To reset the launch services, open the Terminal utility (in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder) and run the following commands (the first one is long, so you might copy and paste it):
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Hey,
Look at this:
http://tagus.ist.utl.pt/~pedro.nogueira/hum.jpg
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Hi WeirdFish
I have experienced it with the Printer Pref Pane
1st try:
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The only way I could correct it was to copy the Pane from my Bootable Backup Disk
chris

Deleted System Preferences Icon

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