Restore "Previous Systems" after 'archive and reinstall'.

Hi,
Long story short, I moved a crucial file and couldn't reboot... so I performed an 'archive and reinstall'.
This failed the first time, and worked the second time.
Now I can boot (into a fresh install), I moved the file back into the correct folder inside the "Previous Systems" folder.
Is there any way for me to revert/re-bless/boot back into this 'fixed' "Previous Systems" install?

Neither one of those files should affect your system and should be automatically rebuilt when you restart. There's no need to move them back. If things work properly in a newly created admin user account, then I suspect further plist corruption in the original account and suggest the following:
While logged into the newly created admin account, backup the bad account's folder, delete the bad account, selecting the save data option, recreate the bad account using the same username/password combo, log out and back into the recreated original account. If the problem's solved, open the saved data dmg file in /Users/Deleted Users/, open the /Library/Preferences/ folder from the saved data, open the current /Users/restored account/Library/Preferences/ folder, and slowly copy plist files from the saved data folder to the current one that don't exist in it. Log out and back in to ensure there's no conflict and things still work correctly. Resolving conflicts or identifying corrupt plist files is a laborious process. Good luck.
See http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4703015 for more details on this process.

Similar Messages

How do I restore previous settings after archive and install?

I had to do an archive and install (with the box unchecked about users) on Friday after I had a kernel panic issue, but now I don't know if there is a way to restore my previous settings and access my previous files. I found the "previous system" folders, but it restricts my access to almost all of the folders, and I can't even find all of my music (iTunes) files or my stickies. I also can't find all of my bookmarks and internet settings. I'm totally panicked...there is a lot of information for my business that I really can't afford to lose. Please help me!

See the following:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107297.
The following can also apply to locating and moving data from a Previous System Folder. The "Home" folder will be /Users/shortname/ where "shortname" is the user account name you created.
Because you did not transfer the users accounts when you did the Archive and Install you may have created a new user account and password that is not the same as the one you previously used. This means the PSF has different permissions associated with it.
<font "size=+1">Folders You Can Move to Your new Mac
From the Home folder copy the contents of Documents, Movies, Music, Pictures, and Sites.
In your /Home/Library/ folder:
/Home/Library/Application Support/AddressBook (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Application Support/iCal (copy the whole folder)
Also in /Home/Library/Application Support (copy whatever else you need including folders for any third-party applications)
/Home/Library/Keychains (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Mail (copy the whole folder)
/Home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.mail.plist (* This is a very important file which contains all email account settings and general mail preferences.)
/Home/Library/Preferences/ copy any preferences needed for third-party applications
/Home /Library/iTunes (copy the whole folder)
/Home /Library/Safari (copy the whole folder)
If you want cookies:
/Home/Library/Cookies/Cookies.plist
/Home/Library/Application Support/WebFoundation/HTTPCookies.plist
For Entourage users:
Entourage is in /Home/Documents/Microsoft User Data
Also in /Home/Library/Preferences/Microsoft
Credit goes to another forum user for this information.
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Can I trash "Previous Systems" after Archive and Install?

For details leading up to this question, please see my previous post entitled "Not recognizing password after OS install". Basically I want to know if I can throw out the "Previous Systems" folder that was created when I did an "Archive and Install" re-install of my OS.
Thanks.

For more information about the previous system folder and what is saved, you can check out Mac OS X: About the Archive and Install feature. Probably the most important piece of information is that the Previous System Folder contains a copy of the /Users folder. If you thought that something was missing from your home folder in the new system after the upgrade, you could copy it from the /Users folder. But, if you selected the option "Preserve User and Network Settings" when you did the Archive and Install, this should not be necessary.
Personally, what I would do is to leave the Previous System Folder be for a couple of weeks. If you don't find anything missing, then it should be okay to delete it.
EMAC G4 1.0 GHz Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Problem Deleting Previous System after Archive and Install

Earlier in my time with this wonderful iMac, I did an Archive and Install to try and resolve a slight problem. I read all the docs beforehand and knew it would save the previous system in its own folder and saw that I could likely delete that folder afterwards.
I have waited months since then, (almost forgotten about this folder) but have never had reason to want anything there, so today decided to delete it.
I dragged the entire previous system folder to trash and tried to empty trash. It deleted most of the stuff, but kept one package DownloadReader7.pkg complaining of locked files.
I have used Pacificist to look at the contents of this package and it says it is a receipt. It contains elements of Adobe Reader Download Manager.app
I have looked on my present working system and can not find an equivalent.
So two questions...
1. Is it safe to delete this package (if I knew how)?
2. If it is safe to delete it, HOW do I, when it appears to have locked elements when I try to empty trash?

It's safe to delete any files in the PSF.
Usually all you need do is press the OPTION key before selecting Empty Trash. If that doesn't work the next thing to try is restart the computer after you've dragged the file to the Trash. If neither works then visit The XLab FAQs and read the FAQ on resolving Trash problems.
Why reward points?(Quoted from Discussions Terms of Use.)
The reward system helps to increase community participation. When a community member gives you (or another member) a reward for providing helpful advice or a solution to their question, your accumulated points will increase your status level within the community.
Members may reward you with 5 points if they deem that your reply is helpful and 10 points if you post a solution to their issue. Likewise, when you mark a reply as Helpful or Solved in your own created topic, you will be awarding the respondent with the same point values.

Applications won't work after archive and reinstall

My wife has an iBook G3. After automatic update she got the red circle with a slash in it. She rebooted to the install disk and chose to archive and reinstall. After doing this and restarting, several applications will not work. For sure itunes, safari, iphoto and perhaps other she has not tried. The message she gets is: "The application cannot be launched because the system is incompatible." Suggestions? Thank you. Steve
iBook G4 Mac OS X (10.4.7)

To A Brody, thanks for the link to the backup info page..that was very helpful.
I'm having a panic with two volumes with 10.3.9 and 10.4.3 getting corrupted and impossible to repair or reinstall...and getting errors that "may be bad blocks...bad media.." and am backing up all the photos and music to a usb ext HD.
I'm only able to start up with os9 and am careful...perhaps not enough, I don't know, to not do anything to the osx files I can see from the other parition with os 9.
So far I've just dragged the files I want to the ext HD. I think I will do it again with a disc image as well, on the same ext HD, and burn dvd's later.So far, testing the backup with another mac in osx, I'm able to see the pictures with Preview, and import the music and play it...but yikes, no backup is like running with scissors. Two different friends are also backup less and they both use their macs for business! I hope to get them fixed up as well.
I'm going to post a new question about the phrase: "Mac OS X can't be installed on an ATA/IDE drive that is configured as a "slave", although it can see and work with such drives.": from one of the best books on OS X. Is this true?
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After Archive and Reinstall...

I was having problems with my Final Cut software and QuickTime 7.3, and the only way to fix it was to archive and reinstall my OS. I have successfully completed this process, but I see that a file named "Previous Systems" has been added to my HD. I think this was used to copy all of my settings, etc. so that they could then be reinstalled during the reinstall process.
Is that assumption correct?
Can I now delete that file?
Thanks in advance for your help.
Brian

Hello Brian:
The previous system folder (a rather large file) is created when you do an A&I. It contains all of your programs and files, but it is not bootable. It is a sort of safety net "in case."
If everything is running well, you may delete it (I suggest keeping one about three weeks or so).
Barry

IMovie disappeared after archive and reinstall

This is strange...I did an archive and reinstall to clear up some problems that appeared on my new iMac after using the setup assistant. The process worked fine EXCEPT...iMovie and iWeb were deleted from the iMac and were not reinstalled!
These seem to be the only "iApps" that were affected. iTunes is still there, as well as iPhoto, iCal, etc. I even have aliases that still point to the missing apps.
How can I reinstall these? Thanks.

Click here and follow the instructions.
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Safarinow won't start after Archive and reinstall 10.3.9 to 10.3.7

I went to 10.3.9 and then Quicktime and Jam 6 stopped working, then iTunes.
The local Mac Genius Bar dude suggeted an archive and reinstall back to 10.3.7. (Roxio said I need to go back to 10.3.7 for Jam 6 to work.) OK now Jam 6, QT and iTunes work, but Safari and Netscape communicator either don't start or, if they do, I can't download anything because they both crash when trying to download.
When that happens with Navigator, I get the following crash report:
Date/Time: 2005-12-20 17:55:26 -0500
OS Version: 10.3.7 (Build 7S215)
Report Version: 2
Command: mozilla-bin
Path: /Applications/Netscape.app/Contents/MacOS/mozilla-bin
Version: 7.2 (7.2)
PID: 383
Thread: 0
Exception: EXCBADACCESS (0x0001)
Codes: KERNINVALIDADDRESS (0x0001) at 0xc000000a
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Regards,
Ty Ford
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To A Brody, thanks for the link to the backup info page..that was very helpful.
I'm having a panic with two volumes with 10.3.9 and 10.4.3 getting corrupted and impossible to repair or reinstall...and getting errors that "may be bad blocks...bad media.." and am backing up all the photos and music to a usb ext HD.
I'm only able to start up with os9 and am careful...perhaps not enough, I don't know, to not do anything to the osx files I can see from the other parition with os 9.
So far I've just dragged the files I want to the ext HD. I think I will do it again with a disc image as well, on the same ext HD, and burn dvd's later.So far, testing the backup with another mac in osx, I'm able to see the pictures with Preview, and import the music and play it...but yikes, no backup is like running with scissors. Two different friends are also backup less and they both use their macs for business! I hope to get them fixed up as well.
I'm going to post a new question about the phrase: "Mac OS X can't be installed on an ATA/IDE drive that is configured as a "slave", although it can see and work with such drives.": from one of the best books on OS X. Is this true?
G3 233hz desktop Mac OS X (10.4.3) 567mb ram, xpostfacto

Help! Restore Display Preferences after Archive and Install

Hi there, Tiger was acting up, so I did an Archive and install, but now have lost my display preferences. Any idea how I can restore them?
I have all my old preferences saved in the Previous System folder the Archive and Install creates, I'm just not sure what file to pull out and where to put it to restore my display preferences. The wife is a graphic designer, so she needs the display prefs the way she had set them up. Thanks!

First, did you Repair Persions since the install, then reboot... they really sould still be there, but it looks like it's here on mine...
Machintosh HD/Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist
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Also, ColorSync and others may hold mor info.

How do i find previous system after save and install mac os x

The title pretty much describes my question. Due to the fact that my machine was irritating slow, I re-installed the operating system Mac OS version 10.5.6.
I choosed the option 'save and install' and followed the prosedure. Afterwards, I got the message that the old system was in a newer version and that I had to upgrade the mashine before I could get hold of the old files. So I upgraded to 10.5.8, but still couldn't and can't find any previous system-map. I then transferred programmes and files from an old PoweBook G4, and the programmes seems to have been transferred all right, but documents are gone and the photos are not recognizable.
I regret doing the re-installetion! and wonder if its ever possible to recover files from the previous system.
Oops, I discovered another problem: The word-program doesn't function properly.

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I don't know why this happens, but it seems strange that you can open documents from Terminal in this way, but not from the applications themselves (or cross-application). I've just noticed that the error message I described in the initial post substitutes things like %20 or %22 for certain characters: could that be what's causing the problem, or is that just the way the link is displayed by the error itself?

Help--admin password not working after archive and reinstall

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what do i do about the password?

use this [link|http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/11627.html].

Can't open .wmv files in Quicktime after archive and reinstall of OS

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Reinstall Flip4Mac.
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Archive and reinstall - can't find previous system and want to delete

Hey everyone,
I just did an archive and reinstall with OS 10.5 and now am running out of disk space. I've been trying to find the "previous system" folder but can't locate it with finder. Any ideas?
Is it in the system folder? What can I delete without killing my computer?
Noob here, thanks a bunch!

Current system is OS 10.5
previous was the latest update - 10.5.6?
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I'm running this: MacBook Pro 2.4Ghz, 2GB 15", 160GB
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Need to Archive and Reinstall after 10.5.2 update

I've been looking through a lot of posts about people who have problems after the 10.5.2 update. My symptoms are a bit different. I currently only get the gray screen with the spinning icon. I cannot get into safe mode, I have attempted to repair permissions, but there were a lot that could not be repaired. I also checked the disk in both disk utilities and in single user mode, but there were no errors.
I've decided to do the Archive and Reinstall because I cannot get past the spinning icon screen. When I started this I was told I need 11 gigs of free space, I only have 6 gigs. We have been using Time machine for the past few months, so can I safely go in and remove the music folder from within Single User mode and have the music restored via time machine? I know Time machine is a backup software, but does it have any restore capabilities.
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Why Archive and Reinstall?

I'm frustrated, i don't know what the point of archiving and reinstalling is, i mean, it's good that you can preserve your user settings, i'm glad about that, but there some things that don't get updated to the new system and even though they exist on the old system folder, i'm not allowed to drag them into the new one.
I did an archive and reinstall because of a problem i was having using backup software (SuperDuper) to make a backup (weird things were happening and the copy failed).
I had been running os 10.4.9, the install disk installed 10.4.2. When the computer booted up, there was an error which i had months ago and was not happy to see again, could not remember what the fix was. It's basically related to Palm HotSync. The HotSync Application can't launch, so you can't do HotSyncs.
it's
Application Launch failure
The application 'transport monitor' could ot be launched because of a shared library error: "<Transport Monitor><Transport Monitor><Hotsynclib.PPC>"
The missing piece is the Hot Sync Libraries, which doesn't get transferred over to the new system folder. It's there in the Previous System Folder. I have read in posts on this and other forums that you can just drag the HotSync Libraries from the previous system folder. But i get a message that says i'm not allowed to modify CFMSupport.
I updated to 10.4.9, that didn't help. I hate to go to all the trouble reinstalling the old Palm software. Is there some work around that would let me drag the HotSync Libraries from the previous CFMSupport Folder to the new one?
On the message i get that says i can't do it, there is a button that says OK and a button that says "Authenticate." I tried this and the HotSync Libraries file that i had put on the desktop disappeared. I later found it in the current system Library folder, but the problem continues. Apparently it needs to be in the CFMSupport folder but i don't know how to get it to allow me to do it.
does it really have to be so hard?
Here is a thread in which one post says you can just drag the files from the previous system folder to the new one.
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4451732&#4451732
Is there a way to do this that i am not seeing?
MBP 2.16 15" 1Ghz,PBG4 1.5Ghz 12"512MB 80GB, PBG4 1Ghz12" 768M 80G Mac OS X (10.4.9) AirportXreme,AirportXpress,iPod,iBook12"dualUSB

i was looking through earlier threads on this and found this:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=4191435&#4191435
i just read through the long solution posted in that thread if you scroll down.
They say if this solution doesn't work, to repair permissions, and if that doesn't work, to log in as root user. They recommend this if you can't reinstall the palm desktop software.
Would i be doing any harm if log in as root user and put the HotSync Libraries form the previous system folder into the new system folder CFMSupport folder? Would logging in as root user allow me to do this, and if so, would it be safe?
As for that long solution from Palm, i wouldn't mind doing that if i didn't have to involve my handheld in it, but apparently, according to this very long complicated solution, i would have to hook my handheld up to the computer and somehow erase it so that i would have to later restore it from the computer after it had been restored by the back up copy of the user data file.
My handheld is more up to date than the desktop.
I don't understand why i can't just drag the HotSync Library into the new CMFSupport folder, why is that not OK? I had the same OS version before i did the archive and install, why can't i just put the missing file where it belongs, where it was before the archive and install?

Restore "Previous Systems" after 'archive and reinstall'.

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