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.

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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.

TS3988 I am using mountain lion. iCloud works fine with my iMac iPads and iPhone with one annoying exception. I cannot use the systems preferences on my iMac because I cannot log in. When entering my apple id and password I get a window saying "You can

I cannot log into systems preferences for icloud on my imac. icloud works on all devices including the imac, but I get the window "You can't sign in at this time" when using system preferences on the imac. I am using mountain lion, but it didn't work on lion either. Help

You may wish to try the following:
1. Sign out of your account
(If you are unable to do this because System Preferences has frozen, Force Quit System Preferences and try again)
2. When prompted, opt to delete, contacts, calendars etc from your Mac.
(You are only deleting this data from your Mac, not from iCloud, the data will be reinstated when you log back in. If you need to check that the data is in iCloud before deleting it go to iCloud.com and check each section for data)
3. Having logged out, check that the iCloud accounts along with their data have disappeared from the Mail, Address Book and iCal Applications.
(If necessary, delete the iCloud accounts from each of these application separately from each Applications Preferences)
4. At this point it may be worth trying to log into iCloud from the System Preferences iCloud settings again, if this works, all well and good, if it doesn't continue to step 5.
5. Open your User Library folder in the Finder. (When in the Finder, go to the Go menu, hold down the option key (alt) and choose Library when it appears in the Go menu)
6. Navigate to Library > Application Support > iCloud and drag the iCloud folder to your desktop. (This action only copies the folder and will provide you with a back up)
7. Select the iCloud folder again in Library > Application Support and drag it to the trash, enter your administrators password when prompted.
8. Restart your computer.
9. You should now be able to enter your ID and Password in system Preferences > iCloud and log into your account. Check the services you wish to use and once you are satisfied it's working as it should, trashh the iCloud folder you copied to your desktop earlier.

I have updated my Apple ID, but iCloud under System Preferences on my iMac still shows the old Apple ID. How do I update it to show the new ID name? Can anyone help?

I've updated my Apple ID, but iCloud under System Preferences on my iMac still shows my old Apple ID. How do I update it to show the new Apple ID?

Do you mean you changed your existing apple id to a new email address, still associated to your existing apple id?
If that's the case, just click the sign out button in the icloud preferences, and sign in with the new email address.
If you're actually created an entirely new apple id with your new email address, you'll have to do some exporting/importing.

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.

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 have deleted my system preferences from my iMac how can i get it back?

I have accidentally deleted my system preferences from my mid 2007 iMac 27 inch. I logged out of my user to see if it was in one of the others but there was just a question mark when I logged back into my user there was also a question mark is there any way I can get it back?
Thank you

Before you contact Apple you might first read the link below. It is possible to delete it and there are several suggestions as to what to do.
How to recover deleted System Preferences on Mac? - MacRumors Forums

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 can't find the ICloud icon in System Preferences on my IMac

Ok, IMac running OS X 10.6.8. I am not able to locate the ICloud icon to set ICloud on my IMac to help me share my photos between my iPad and my Android phone. Any Suggestions? Thank you :-)

See this link for the requirements:
My Photo Stream FAQ - Apple Support http://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201317

Icloud is not showing up in system preferences on my imac

I am working on OSX 10.68 and I have just purchased icloud. For some reason, it isn't showing up in my system preferences. Anyone?

iCloud is not supported using 10.6.8, you must upgrade your version of OSX to (minimum of 10.7.2), upgrading to the current version (if your Mac will support it) is preferable (10.8.3)
iCloud is a free service, how did you manage to pay for it?

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 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

Startup Disk Quits System Preferences??

I have just installed Jaguar and updated to 10.2.8 on a recently acquired machine. Everything else seems to work well, including other System Preferences but, when I click Startup Disk, it starts to load and then I get a message that "The application System Preferences has unexpectedly quit."
Is there some way to fix this other than reinstalling the system? I have run First Aid and Repair Permissions - First Aid says OK??

Hi Gene:
I was having a similar problem, except it was the System Preferences on an iMac running 10.3.9: check it out here for a summary of the troubleshooting I went through.
I think it's a logic board issue, but I've been wrong before.
Good luck!
Andrew

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)

My macbook pro early 2008 running 10.8.2 frozen in system preferences under desktop/screensaver after a hard reboot and force quit still frozen with spinning wheel - help

After selecting System Preferences and the selecting Desktop/Screensaver the laptop stays in a frozen state. It continually shows a spinning wheel and even after a Force Quit and also Holding Down the Power Button to shut laptop down anytime I go into Desktop/Screensaver it still shows a Spinning Wheel. What can I do to try to resolve this issue????? I'm thinking I will have to Re-Install Mountain Lion on my MBP. I just purchased this as a used system and also my 1st Mac coputer. It is most probably something I have done BUT now need to resolve this irritating issue since I can't change my desktop picture nor change my screensaver. Who knows what else may be going on.....
Please, someone give some constructive guidance...

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.

I lost system preferences on my iMac running 10.5.8.

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