I Have even lost system preferences I have erased allllll my apps

someone please help how can I get them back?? Is there anyway
Is there a way I can reinstall OSX wihtouth erasing my data

I don't even know it started with me trying to install cable internet and then somehow I ended up with my application in the trash and then I said this can't be the original app flder it has gotta be a copy and then I tried to put it back out of the trash where it belongs but it wouldn;t take it. So I figured I had made a copy of the folder or something. So considering I could not put that folder back, I put the second folder back in the trash and then almost had a heartattack lol. Do you know if I use the second cd that comes with the mac installer 2 if it will let me just install the apps. It does say osx apps. Or should I just go with the archive and install

Similar Messages

I lost system preference os 10.4.11 how do I get it back?

I am using os 10.4.11 Tiger and somehow I lost System Preference. How do I get it back? I tried Spotlight it can't find it. Thanks

It says the application is damaged, or the file you are trying to open? If the application then you may need to reinstall the roperty List Editor application. You might be able to do this with a custom installation using your original Tiger discs. However, sometimes the smaller utilities are cannot be installed this way. You then either need to use Pacifist to grab the specific application, or just do an Archive and Install (selecting to preserve Users and settings).
In any case, if something is damaged this raises the questions why, and if anything else is damaged. I'd definitely boot from your installer disc and verify your hard drive with Disk Utility. If it reports issues, try repairing them. If DU won't repair them then you'll need a more powerful utility such as Diskwarrior.

Lost system preferences 10.5.8?

I'm running Tiger 10.5.8. I lost my system preferences and can't get them back (can't find install discs) either. Help!

lady-mcbeth wrote:
My iMac CAME with Tiger. I was cleaning it up to give to my brother and noticed that I couldn't bring up system prefs. I tried getting it from the install CD, but because I upgraded, I kept getting an error message that it couldn't be used on it. I went to Apple's website and downloaded the 10.5.8 'combo' upgrader (got this info from a CNET article) and tried to do it that way; same error message. I don't have any backups for my PPC iMac (my time capsule was one of the ones that fried) and I'm really stuck. Any suggestions? Please help!
How did you go about doing the "cleaning it up?" Check out the following information: Erasing disks securely
Start up from your install disc, go to Disk Utility and select the disk and click erase - to securely erase data click Security Options and Erase Free Space which will entirely wipe your disk, overwriting it with zeros so that no data is recoverable.
Restoring your computer’s software
You can also custom install system preferences from the Universal Install Leopard DVD that you purchased retailed.

Every single app on my Macbook won't open, even my system preferences. What do I do?

My Mac was working fine just a few hours ago, but I just opened it and non of my apps are working, so I restarted. After i logged in, I tried again and now non of the apps are even opening. Every time I try, a pop-up will appear and say I do not have permission to use the app. The icon that goes along with the pop-ups is the Parental Control icon. The pop-up gives me the choice to allow the app to run, but it requires the administrative password. When i put the password in (I double checked the name and the password) it says the password is wrong. So I looked through the mac help and it said to turn of Parental Controls in system preferences, but system preferences is an app, so it wont open. I am getting some tech support tomorrow but it would be nice to know at least what happened. Any ideas on what caused it? Or how to fix it?

Select  ▹ Force Quit... from the menu bar, then select Finder and press return. From the Finder menu bar, select Finder ▹ Preferences ▹ Advanced and uncheck the box labeled Empty Trash securely. Try again to empty the Trash. If you still have problems, follow the instructions in this support article:
You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash

I lost System Preferences

I am using Mac OS X 10.5.8 on my iMac desktop.
I have no access to the system preferences. When I try to open, nothing opens up. It used to have a few icons left on it until a few months ago as I lost icons gradually, and now when trying to open system preferences ..... nothing opens up, neither any clicking noise of something being processed. So this option has gone totally dead.
Now I have the problem of screen (window) being moving around when I move the mouse around. I found it in other blogs, the solution to this problem, as they say, is via system preferences, to unselect the zoom (or something like that),
But as I have mentioned above, I have no access to the system preferences, so I am stuck in the middle.
I have the following options and I need someone may, plz, help:
Is there any keyboard commands for the same solution, i.e. to zoom-out ...in the international access pan via system preferences, to fix the wobbly screen (window)?
OR
How to get the system preferences back?
OR
How to back-up (massive data, using the time machine??) and then how to upgrade the whole system to a later (which one) edition of the software that should be compatible with my iMac desktop:
This is 2.8 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB 800 MHz DDR2 SDRAM.
What would be the best and easier, please anyone help me out.
I am looking out here for a GURU...
Regards

Normally I would suggest doing a re-install of OS X however we don't know much about your computer. First, what size is the HD and how much free space does it have on it?

I lost system preferences on my iMac running 10.5.8.

I posted this last night and was a bit frazzled and it was all wrong. I said that I was running Tiger; I'm running Leopard. My iMac CAME with Tiger. I was cleaning it up to give to my brother and noticed that I couldn't bring up system prefs. I tried getting it from the install CD, but because I upgraded, I kept getting an error message that it couldn't be used on it. I went to Apple's website and downloaded the 10.5.8 'combo' upgrader (got this info from a CNET article) and tried to do it that way; same error message. I don't have any backups for my PPC iMac (my time capsule was one of the ones that fried) and I'm really stuck. Any suggestions? Please help!

lady-mcbeth wrote:
My iMac CAME with Tiger. I was cleaning it up to give to my brother and noticed that I couldn't bring up system prefs. I tried getting it from the install CD, but because I upgraded, I kept getting an error message that it couldn't be used on it. I went to Apple's website and downloaded the 10.5.8 'combo' upgrader (got this info from a CNET article) and tried to do it that way; same error message. I don't have any backups for my PPC iMac (my time capsule was one of the ones that fried) and I'm really stuck. Any suggestions? Please help!
How did you go about doing the "cleaning it up?" Check out the following information: Erasing disks securely
Start up from your install disc, go to Disk Utility and select the disk and click erase - to securely erase data click Security Options and Erase Free Space which will entirely wipe your disk, overwriting it with zeros so that no data is recoverable.
Restoring your computer’s software
You can also custom install system preferences from the Universal Install Leopard DVD that you purchased retailed.

Help. Lost System Preferences

I have accidentally deleted System Preferences from my Trash. It is completely gone. Is there a simple way to re-install it? I just bought this MacBook Pro and I'm new to it

If it truly is gone, try using Pacifist to reinstall it from Install Disc 1
http://www.charlessoft.com/
Ultimately, an Archive & Install or Erase & Install of the OS would also solve the problem.
~Lyssa

I lost system preferences on my MacBook

I can't find system preferences. It won't open from the apple and it disappeared from the dock. I cannot find it in the harddrive, so I am thinking that it got deleated accidently. How can I get it back. I am using a MacBook with Lion 10.7.5. Thank you.

Reinstalling Lion/Mountain Lion Without Erasing the Drive
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 the Hard Drive and Permissions: Upon startup select Disk Utility from the main menu. Repair the Hard Drive and Permissions as follows.
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 click on the Repair Permissions button. Wait until the operation completes, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion: Select Reinstall Lion/Mountain Lion and click on the Continue button.
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

I have lost my system preferences following restoration of harddisc

I appear to have lost system preferences following restoration of my hard drive I have looked everywhere and whilst the dropdown box under the Apple logo apears to have it nothing happens. Can anyone suggest a solution

How Restore Deleted or Missing OS X Components
A few of the basic OS X installed applications can be restored from the Optional Installs installer located in the Optional installs folder on your Installer DVD. However, if what you need is not there then follow the instructions below.
How to Use Pacifist to Restore 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. 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.)
Drag a .pkg icon onto the Pacifist window .....proceed to step 7.
Click on “Open Package ....” and navigate to package desired and click “Open” in the open/save window.....proceed to step 7.
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)

System preferences lost

Hello. I have an iBook G3 Dual USB with Mac OS X 10.0.3, and I seem to have lost System Preferences. I do not have the install CDs. Is there a way to get it back?

Not if you have deleted it. You would need your Panther installer disc in order to reinstall OS X components. Perhaps you should consider purchasing a later version of OS X since the version you are using is just barely past the original OS X Beta. You can install any version of OS X up to and including Tiger (10.4.x.) You can look for copies on eBay, but be sure you only purchase a full retail installer package. Do not purchase single disc installers with gray labels. Such discs are machine dependent and may not work on your model. I would recommend updating at least to Panther (10.3.x.) Panther requires a minimum of 128 MBs of installed RAM and Tiger requires at least 256 MBs of RAM. Practically speaking I would install the maximum supported by your model which entails adding a 512 MB memory module - PC-100 3.3V 144-pin SO-DIMM.

Do I need to re-install if I'm just missing System Preferences?

Lately some parts of my system have been "disappearing." I "lost" the Activity Managet over a year ago but never really knew what I was missing. But now somehow I've lost System Preferences (It shows up with a big question mark when I click on it in the dock) and I really have need of it.
My question is: Do I need to reinstall the whole OS from the install DVD, or can I just selectively install those one or two things that have gone missing?
Imac Mac OS X (10.3.9)

hgelman,
Have you looked for System Preferences in your Application Folder? Just because the Dock icon has a question mark does not necessarily mean that it has disappeared from your system.
You can selectively reinstall files and folders with Pacifist, but depending upon the application you may have to reinstall the Mac OS X Combined Update 10.3.9 and the Security Update 2006-003 (10.3.9 Client) to get back to the most current version.
;~)

PMU Reset and System Preferences not Responding-Always 1969

Hi, I am having a problem that I have not been able to match up on forums (mostly because it's sort of hard for me to pinpoint a short way of typing it up).
I have had a problem before, with my PB not responding (to turning on after turning itself off), so I was familiar this morning when I found myself having to unplug the power adapter, unlatch the battery, holding the Power button for 5 seconds, plugging in the power and locking in the battery and finally Power again to reviving my Powerbook G4.
As usual, after startup, the date has been changed to December 1 1969 so if not changed, the computer may act erratically. My problem this particular time is that I cannot change the date or time! I can't even open System preferences, or use Get Info on my desktop icon of my computer's harddrive. It acts as if it's not responding, holding down my pointer on the System Preferences in the dock gives me the Options such as start on login, hide, Force Quit but when I go to click Force Quit, it does nothing. I cannot use Command-Option-Esc to open the Force Quit window. I click on the Apple pulldown tab at the top left of my screen and Force Quit does not respond there as well. THIS IS SO UNUSUAL TO ME and I am at a total loss at how to get things running smoothly again. I have restarted my powerbook a couple times (but only able to do this by holding down Power for a few seconds, again the Apple pulldown bar then Restart does nothing) but nothing changes the not responding System Preferences.
Any help would be greatly appreciated or even a hint at how to search this problem, narrow it down to a few words, searching 'System Preferences not responding or freezing' hasn't given me any similar troubleshooting results.
Thank you in advance

laurenlovescomputers,
reset the PMU again.
your welcome,
laurenlovescomputers

System Preference keeps bouncing

When I log in my account and try to run system preference, the icon keeps bouncing at the dock and subsequently the cursor becomes the forever "rainbow ball." I have to force quite system preference and run it again. However, when I run it again (run after the force quite without logging out and restart), it just works fine. I discovered from the internet that some users have the same problem, but I cannot find a solution at the web. It seems likely that this problem occurs in early intel macs which run only in 32-bit. Could any of you suggest a solution for this problem? Thanks.

Hi kolly-ng:
In the past, when I've seen a dock icon bounce & the app not start, I've had some success by deleting the related plist (file).
To try this - first quit System Preferences, then:
• Go to your home folder, then' Library' and then 'Preferences'
• Locate a file named 'com.apple.systempreferences.plist' and drag it out of that folder and onto your desktop
• Run System Preferences again...it will build a new plist file
If this cures the problem, feel free to trash the original file.
Also, since you can launch directly into a specific preference pane by right-clicking on System Preferences's Dock icon and then selecting your target preference (this works even when System Preferences is not yet running), you might try launching 'Software Update' (no need to jump thru the 32-bit hoop, etc.), as an example, just to test.
Good luck and ask again if the beachball comes back.

ICloud system preferences won't let me log in

I recently changed my apple ID password and now I can't log in to the icloud system preferences on my iMac or the App Store on my iMac. Everything else is fine with the new password; icloud.com, itunes, ipad, iphone, MacBook Air. Have tried creating a new user account but get the same messages which vary from "unrecognized user or password" to "problem communicating with icloud, try again later."
Thanks for any help.
OS X Lion

In order to change your Apple ID or password for your iCloud account on your computer, you need to sign out of the account from your computer first, then sign back in using your updated details. (System Preferences > iCloud, click the sign out button).
Similarly, you can sign out of the Mac App Store using the sign out option from the store menu.

Urgent, my system preference freeze up

I got my desktop/screen saver system preference panel freeze up after I tried to change the desktop. I uploaded a pic to use as my desktop background and now every time I go back in there to change it, the window freezes up on me and I can't do anything except force quit. Any suggestions about how to repair this problem??? I cannot go even other system preference option.. I do not know how to fix it.. I just upgraded to Lion OS about a week ago. please let me know how to do it...
thank you very much for your help.

If that happened to me, I would try Force Quit (from under the Apple icon in the Menu Bar), then choose System Preferences (force quit System Preferences and start it again).

I Have even lost system preferences I have erased allllll my apps

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