Desktop/Screen Saver System Preferences don't work

Recently, I have gone to System Preferences- Desktop/Screen Saver, in an attempt to change my desktop picture. The preference window opens, but clicking on either the Desktop or Screen Saver button produces no results. Nothing happens. I'm getting rather tired of the desktop picture, so any advice would be appreciated!
Thank you.
Cameron MacDonald

Hi Cameron I'm not going to be much help because I too have exactly the same problem with my machine - I have tried re-installing Leopard and that makes not one scrap of difference - I have cleared out all the rubbish on the machine - no difference - sent umpteen "reports" to Apple expecting some sort of response - after all the OS is the best thing since sliced bread so they can't have many reports to deal with - perhaps its us causing the problem.
Regards Bob

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No Aperture photos show up in Desktop & Screen Saver System Prefernences

For some time I have experienced an issue wherein no photos from my Aperature library appear in my Desktop & Screen Saver System Preferences on the Desktop tab. "Aperture" appears in the left-hand column list of photo sources, but clicking it produces no results on the right-hand side where the thumbnails are normally shown. Curiously, if I choose the Screen Saver tab on the same preference pane, the photos all show up and are accessible.
As another bit of background, I do sync a number of photos from Aperature to my iOS devices using iTunes and never have an issue. The full listing of albums/folders appears in iTunes properly every time.
I have tried the all of the iLife Sharing options within Aperature and they do not seem to have any effect on this issue. I've been sticking with Share on Exit, since my iOS devices have no problems with this setting.
Also, if I choose a photo from within Aperature to set as my desktop photo it does work, but again, when I open the System Preferences neither the thumbnail for the background being used nor any other photos show up.
Any advice on things I can try?

Have you tried switching libraries, then quitting Aperture, and checking Desktop & Screen Saver again? I'd be interested to see if your particular issue manifests in a different library.

Screen Saver System Preferences layout issue on Yosemite

Hi,
After a clean install (first formatted and installed from a clean bootable USB-stick (so a really clean install)), the Screen Saver System Preferences shows a glitch after activating the Photos App (I think). I checked every step in the process and the glitch showed up after activating the Photos App.
When navigating to System Preferences and then to Desktop & Screen Saver, first it shows two columns of screen saver types (as it should be), but when the photos from the Photos App are loaded (in the background in the Desktop screen), the preview window with the selected screen saver stretches half a centimeter to the left, pushing one of the two columns away.
I have already tried reinstalling Mac OS Yosemite 10.10.3, deleting caches, removing screen saver config files (tip from Linc Davis), etc. The console does not show useful information (for me).
In my case the issue shows up on my iMac (27-inch, Late 2012) and MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Mid 2014). Only on the MacBook the two columns merge to one. One the iMac I only see a small stretch, but it does not cause the two columns to merge.
Please reply if the same issue occurs and if there is a known solution.
Regards.

Hi Cameron I'm not going to be much help because I too have exactly the same problem with my machine - I have tried re-installing Leopard and that makes not one scrap of difference - I have cleared out all the rubbish on the machine - no difference - sent umpteen "reports" to Apple expecting some sort of response - after all the OS is the best thing since sliced bread so they can't have many reports to deal with - perhaps its us causing the problem.
Regards Bob

After this week Mac OsX update combined 10.7.3. System Preferences don't work

All items in system preferences don't get saved/applied. By now the dock doesn't appear on my screen, dashboard and spaces tabs don't work, desktop and screen saver don't save changes or apply so desktop is grey. Trackpad functions don't work.
Any idea on how to fix this? Thanks.

Few have solved this problem by repairing disk
or reinstalling Lion using Recovery HD.
Tough but.

System preferences don't work

I upgraded to Mavericks and I 'm having few problems, sigh
I have since MLion 5 different desktop screens
I assigned different applications to each screen:
Safari opens in the second screen, Mail in the first and so on.
When I restart my prefs are gone. All apps open in the first screen or on the desktop where I am in that moment.
Another even more annoying bug is that
if I lock the screen saver in System Prefs , Security Privacy, General, it locks
but then if I uncheck the radio button “Require password”
it keeps asking for the password every time the computer sleeps.
I already tried to reset the PRAM, throw away those preferences
com.apple.finder.plist,
com.apple.systempreferences and
com.apple.screensaver.
and restart. They were the most recent ones in my user prefs folder, presumably the one changed
Nothing changed.
Of course I repaired the permissions, restart and repaired my permissions from the recovery disk
If I restart with password required
it will stay like that till I restart
and if it's not required it will not be possible to change my preference when I would like.
It looks like my system preferences don't accept changes as they did before upgrading to Mavericks.
Some do but some, like the one I mentioned above, don't
I'm guessing there is something broken somewhere that does not let me keep my prefs the way I want
Any suggestion?

Do you use Mission Control?
I think this the new version of altered desktops.
About require "password"
In the settings you can change settings without unlocking (this might be a bug) try to unlock first and then make your changes.
Good luck
Lasse

Screen Saver/System Preferences

Trying to open screen saver prefs. Won't open. Then have to force quit to use other system prefs. Any ideas?

Hi Ron,
Try deleting this file. com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/YourName/Library/Preferences. Drag that file from the Preferences folder to the Trash, empty the Trash and restart your MacBook.
See if that helps...
If not, back up your important data and do an Archive and Install. This does not erase the hard disk, but instead restores your system software while leaving your files untouched.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1545
If you are running 10.4.7 as your profile indicates, you might want to update your software also.
Click the Apple Menu/Software Updates.
Carolyn

System Preferences- Desktop/Screen saver- crash EVERY TIME

Hi-
I have a brand new iMAc 24" with Leopard and all software is up to date via update as of 12 hours ago (10.5.1 etc). I have office 2004 and photoshop/illustrator but NO other software loaded. The computer is now 7 days old. Yesterday I used system preferences to change my desktop picture to something from my iPhoto library, as per normal with 10.5.1 I got one picture up and then went to change it and now EVERY TIME I try to change anything in the desktop/screen saver system preferences the application dies. I can get the desktop/screen saver page to open but as soon as I click any conceivable option on that window the system preferences application dies. I have sent about 7 crash reports to apple and see that others are describing similar (not identical) problems. Is apple going to fix this? I DID not install leopard on this computer, its BRAND NEW. The only thing I have done is to update whatever apple told me was available. HELP...

My computer was a month old when I installed Leopard (which turned out to be an adventure....), and once I finally got a proper install one of the features I explored was Desktop and Screensaver, specifically I tried the new mosaic option in the Screensaver for pictures, it seemed to work. The 10.5.1 update came out, a bit later I tried that Screensaver option again and not only did it not work, but it crashed System Prefs. I ended up trashing every plist and cache file having to do with System Prefs, Screensaver, and iphotomosaic in my home ~/Library folder. Oh, and in searching for them they managed to crash the Finder too. So take a look thru ~/Library, especially Preferences, be sure to also look in the ByHost folder, and you might also check the Caches folder. Remove all files you can find that have to do with System Prefs, Screensaver, and Desktop. Once I did that all was fine again with my System Prefs. The mosaic option even started working again.
Francine
Francine
Schwieder

No drop down menu in Desktop & Screen Saver

I just transferred everything to a new Macbook Pro (2011 model) from my old one (early 2010) model, and when I access Desktop and Screen Saver to look at my background images, there is no longer a drop down menu for fitting the images to screen, even though I could do so on my last Macbook Pro with the same custom images I'm using now.
Any ideas?

Okay, it's resolved. For some reason, having the Custom Wallpaper folders in my actual Desktop & Screen Saver library directory did not work, so I moved them to my User/Library/Pictures directory and now it works fine.
But it would be nice to be able to keep desktop backgrounds in the same default directory as all of the other backgrounds...

Desktop & Screen Saver pane won't open in System Preferences

Whenever I go to open the Desktop & Screen Saver pane in System Preferences, it won't work and I get the message "Preferences Error: Could not load Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane." Please help. Thank you very much.

This thread sounds pretty much the same as yours.....
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1521783
The only thing I can think of might be a corrupted System Preferences .plist file
Home folder > Library > Preferences > com.apple.systempreferences.plist > drag that .plist to the desktop and try System Preferences again.....
A new plist file will be created when you open System Preferences again....

I was changing my desktop screen saver in system preferences screen protection. Now it says it is "Loading Images" and won't stop. The Colourful wheel goes around for ever and It does not stop. Can anyone help me?

I was changing my desktop screen saver in system preferences>screen protection. Now it says it is "Loading Images" and won't stop. The Colourful wheel goes around for ever and It does not stop. Can anyone help me?

Welcome to the Apple Support Communities
I have seen a lot of cases like your issue, and it's easy to solve.
First, open Disk Utility, select Macintosh HD in the sidebar and repair permissions. Sometimes, a permission can be damaged and it makes that an application doesn't work properly.
If that doesn't work, open Finder, select Go menu > Go to Folder, type ~/Library/Prefereces, delete "com.apple.desktop.plist" and "com.apple.systempreferences.plist" and restart

Desktop/Screen Saver panel missing in System Preferences

Hello,
I recently had to have my hard drive changed and I reloaded OSX 10.6.8 back on it along with the applications DVD. Now when I go to the system preferences, the DESKTOP/SCREEN SAVER panel is no longer listed. I am very new to my Imac and tried to reinstall the applications disk. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix this problem so I can change the desktop pictures? Thanks

Open System Preferences and go to View menu (on the menu bar). You should see Desktop & Screen Saver listed.
If you see it, go to View menu > Customize, and mark "Desktop & Screen Saver".
If you do not see it, insert the Snow Leopard DVD, hold the C key while your computer is starting up and reinstall Mac OS X

System preferences freezes on desktop/screen saver

Ever since I installed Messages Beta, my System Preferences will no longer open. I tried to change my desktop background and it froze up, and the rainbow wheel shows up and I have to force quit it. I unistalled Messages, I delted the systempreference.plist or preferences.plist, I've restarted it, I've shut it down, but it continues to freeze. I am running Lion too and haven't had any issues until now. Please Help!

Quit System Preferences if it's running. In the Finder, hold down the option key and select Go ▹ Library from the menu bar. From the Library folder, delete the following item, if it exists:
Caches/com.apple.systempreferences
and move the following item to the Desktop:
Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
Launch System Preferences and test. If you still have the issue, put the item on the Desktop back where it came from and post again. Otherwise, delete the item.

Mac Sleep Timer (through 'Energy Saver' in System Preferences) won't work

Hello,
I have a MacBook (13-inch, Mid 2009) running Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.3,
and it has been installed with the latest software updates possible.
(The latest update is the 'Security Update 2010-003')
Previously I was using Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 on my MacBook,
and I can vaguely remember the timed computer sleep through Energy Saver would work.
That is, when the counter's time matches the amount of time I specified (e.g. 10 minutes), the computer enters sleep mode and displays a pulsing power light.
After upgrading to Snow Leopard I can barely remember the scheduled computer sleep will work as I don't really notice how it sleeps / I will shut down my MacBook before I go to bed.
==========
However, last night I was really tired and slept in front of my MacBook unconsciously.
When I woke up, I found that my MacBook didn't display a pulsing power light but a continuously-growing power light.
I tapped the trackpad and the display turned on, so I knew that my MacBook didn't go to sleep a whole night.
*What that means is that the Sleep Timer (through 'Energy Saver' in System Preferences) won't work.*
But the timed display sleep DOES work.
==========
After spending a whole day Googling,
I found that there are plenty of people suffering the same problem as me, although their Macs and OSs vary.
I also found an official support page from Apple concerning the related issue:
Mac OS X: Why your Mac might not sleep or stay in sleep mode
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1776
I tried the following methods but still can't resolve the problem:
_- boot my MacBook in safe mode_
_- use the 'Disk Utility' to repair Disk Permissions through booting my MacBook from the Mac OS X Snow Leopard Installation DVD_
_- reset NVRAM (Intel-based) (as PRAM is used by PowerPC-based Macs)_
_- reset SMC (System Management Controller)_
NONE of the above-mentioned methods can resolve the problem.
Althought I am sure that the Spotlight isn't indexing the hard drive, and I just start my computer and do nothing and wait for the scheduled computer sleep, the scheduled computer sleep just won't work.
In the other Mac forum, I saw someone suggest installing an application called PleaseSleep:
http://www.dragonone.com/products/macosx/pleasesleep/
It works.
But I really want to find out what caused this problem as this is a function shipped with Mac which is expected to work normally.
What's more, Apple is claiming to be a green Apple, right?
==========
Here's the log taken from 'Console':
- Sleep by closing the lid of my MacBook:
Apr 18 13:21:05 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback WILL sleep
Apr 18 13:21:05 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Sleep notification received from the system
Apr 18 13:21:07 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: network configuration changed.
Apr 18 13:23:21 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback will power on, Currenttime:4/18/2010 1:23:21.028 PM - Waketime:4/18/2010 1:23:19.410 PM = Deltatime:1.618421972
Apr 18 13:23:21 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: handleUnlockResult, Currenttime:4/18/2010 1:23:21.579 PM - Waketime:4/18/2010 1:23:19.410 PM = Deltatime:2.169138968
Apr 18 13:23:23 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Sleep: Success - AC 98 - Clamshell Sleep
Apr 18 13:23:23 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Wake: Success - AC 98 - EC LID0
Apr 18 13:23:23 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Hibernate Statistics
Apr 18 13:23:23 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Wake notification received from the system
- Sleep by manually clicking the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the screen -> 'Sleep':
Apr 18 13:31:46 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback WILL sleep
Apr 18 13:31:46 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Sleep notification received from the system
Apr 18 13:31:49 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: network configuration changed.
Apr 18 13:32:04 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback will power on, Currenttime:4/18/2010 1:32:04.033 PM - Waketime:4/18/2010 1:32:02.720 PM = Deltatime:1.313067079
Apr 18 13:32:04 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: handleUnlockResult, Currenttime:4/18/2010 1:32:04.589 PM - Waketime:4/18/2010 1:32:02.720 PM = Deltatime:1.869303048
Apr 18 13:32:06 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Sleep: Success - AC 98 - Software Sleep
Apr 18 13:32:06 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Wake: Success - AC 98 - OHC1
Apr 18 13:32:06 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Hibernate Statistics
Apr 18 13:32:06 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Wake notification received from the system
- Sleep by manually pressing control + eject, and the press 'Sleep':
Apr 18 13:34:17 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback WILL sleep
Apr 18 13:34:17 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Sleep notification received from the system
Apr 18 13:34:46 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback will power on, Currenttime:4/18/2010 1:34:46.080 PM - Waketime:4/18/2010 1:34:44.720 PM = Deltatime:1.360466003
Apr 18 13:34:46 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: handleUnlockResult, Currenttime:4/18/2010 1:34:46.564 PM - Waketime:4/18/2010 1:34:44.720 PM = Deltatime:1.844347000
Apr 18 13:34:46 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: PMConnection AirPort configd plug-in com.apple.powermanagement.applicationresponse.slowresponse 566 ms
Apr 18 13:34:46 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: bootpsessiontransmit: bpf_write(en0) failed: Network is down (50)
Apr 18 13:34:46 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: DHCP en0: INIT transmit failed
Apr 18 13:34:46 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: PMConnection IPConfiguration com.apple.powermanagement.applicationresponse.slowresponse 567 ms
Apr 18 13:34:46 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: network configuration changed.
Apr 18 13:34:48 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Sleep: Success - AC 98 - Software Sleep
Apr 18 13:34:48 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Wake: Success - AC 98 - OHC1
Apr 18 13:34:48 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Hibernate Statistics
Apr 18 13:34:48 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Wake notification received from the system
- Sleep by _turning on the application called 'PleaseSleep' based on the settings from 'Energy Saver'_:
Apr 18 13:37:22 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Application is enabled
Apr 18 13:37:29 Michael-Leungs-MacBook System Preferences[1136]: * AGCAttach() failed
Apr 18 13:37:31 Michael-Leungs-MacBook [0x0-0x58058].com.apple.systempreferences[1136]: Couldn't find any matches.
Apr 18 13:38:23 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Checking sleep conditions...
Apr 18 13:38:23 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Going to sleep...
Apr 18 13:38:23 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback WILL sleep
Apr 18 13:38:23 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Sleep notification received from the system
Apr 18 13:38:56 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: loginwindow SleepWakeCallback will power on, Currenttime:4/18/2010 1:38:56.042 PM - Waketime:4/18/2010 1:38:54.720 PM = Deltatime:1.321902931
Apr 18 13:38:56 Michael-Leungs-MacBook loginwindow[25]: handleUnlockResult, Currenttime:4/18/2010 1:38:56.571 PM - Waketime:4/18/2010 1:38:54.720 PM = Deltatime:1.850627959
Apr 18 13:38:56 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: PMConnection AirPort configd plug-in com.apple.powermanagement.applicationresponse.slowresponse 707 ms
Apr 18 13:38:56 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: bootpsessiontransmit: bpf_write(en0) failed: Network is down (50)
Apr 18 13:38:56 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: DHCP en0: INIT transmit failed
Apr 18 13:38:56 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: PMConnection IPConfiguration com.apple.powermanagement.applicationresponse.slowresponse 708 ms
Apr 18 13:38:56 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: network configuration changed.
Apr 18 13:38:58 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Sleep: Success - AC 98 - Software Sleep
Apr 18 13:38:58 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Wake: Success - AC 98 - OHC1
Apr 18 13:38:58 Michael-Leungs-MacBook configd[37]: Hibernate Statistics
Apr 18 13:38:58 Michael-Leungs-MacBook PleaseSleep[288]: Wake notification received from the system
- If I disable 'PleaseSleep' and only depend on the non-working 'Energy Saver', nothing happens.
==========
Looking forward to your replies! Thanks in advance!

Found this discussion by googling "com.apple.systempreferencescouldn't find any matches"...
One month ago I bought a brand new Macbook Pro 13", and after a couple of weeks I realized it wasn't sleeping on its own when it should, per the system preferences. (I did sleep when I chose "Sleep" in the menus or closed it... It just wouldn't sleep on its own, while open.) What was extra frustrating was that it was intermittent... It would sleep on its own maybe 1/3 of the time, but other times it would NEVER go to sleep. I deleted PowerManagement.plist, reset the SMC, etc... No luck.
I took it to the "geniuses" at the Apple Store, and the guy took all of five minutes trying to diagnose the problem. When my MBP wouldn't sleep on its own, he promptly replaced it with a new one. That was nice, but I actually would have preferred that he diagnosed and fixed it. (I think the store was so swamped with people coming in for service that day that they were doing anything they could to close cases and get customers out of there ASAP.)
Now, sitting here with my 48-hour-old MBP, I still have the problem. The other one was so new that I had barely put anything on it yet. The only applications I had put on it were MS Office for Mac 2011, Firefox, Chrome, and Adobe Flash Player. I've put Office and Flash Player on this one, but not yet Firefox or Chrome. That's it. No other customization or fancy business.
I looked into the Console just now, and I see the "Couldn'tfind any matches" entry popping up again and again. The last three seemed to pop upright around the time when my MBP should have gone to sleep on its own, but not down to the second, so it's hard to definitively point at that and say it's it for sure.
They need to fix this!!

Can't Access Desktop & Screen Saver Preferences

Hi everyone,
Can't figure this one out!!!
In the main System Preferences>Show All, the title of Desktop & Screen Saver icon has changed to "DesktopScreenEffectsPrefDock". It is all smashed together like that and partially overlays the "Appearance" title to the left of it.
When I click on the icon, the new window appears, but the Desktop & Screen Saver preferences don't display inside it. The title appears in the top bar of the window, but it is empty below that. Any other preferences icons I click on display fine.
Any thoughts?
I did just have the processor upgrade done, and also removed some bad memory. Not sure if that's contributing? I'd be grateful for any help.
TJ
G4 800 MHz, upgraded to dual 1.8MHz processor Mac OS X (10.3.9)
G4 800 MHz Mac OS X (10.3.9)
G4 800 MHz Mac OS X (10.3.9) Recent upgrade to Sonnet Duet Dual 1.8 GHz processor
G4 800 MHz Mac OS X (10.3.9) Recent upgrade to Sonnet Duet Dual 1.8 GHz processor

TJ,
I am unfamiliar with all of the options provided by YASU, and other than flipping a coin or throwing caution to the wind I am unable to advise.
Perhaps an Archive and Install followed by the 10.3.9 Combo Update, and Security Update 2006-003 (10.3.9 Client) may be called for.
;~)

Could not load Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane.

Upgraded 10.10.3. Tried to use "desktop & ScreenSaver" system preferences and only get this message...
Could not load Desktop & Screen Saver preference pane.
Help!

If you see a "could not load" alert when opening a System Preferences pane

Desktop/Screen Saver System Preferences don't work

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