Software Update + System Preferences won't launch from menu bar

For some reason, I cannot launch Software Update or System Preferences from the apple menu bar. This happened after I quit Parallels. I can open System Preferences from Applications. I tried launching Software Update from About this Mac, and that didn't work either. Is there something I can do in Terminal?
Thanks in advance,
Eric

Hi Eric, I doubt Terminal would be the way to go.
Have you done Disk Maintenance with Disk Utility lately?
Using Disk Utility in Mac OS X 10.4.3 or later to verify or repair disks...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302672
About Disk Utility's Repair Disk Permissions feature...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25751

Similar Messages

System Preferences won't launch from Apple menu in Mac OS X 10.5.8

Hello there,
I recently upgraded to 10.6 and then went back to 10.5.5 in a few hours.
When doing so, I chose to save a folder called "Previous System", as the Installer gave me this option.
I've upgraded to 10.5.8 via Software Update, after prior 10.5.5 installation through the DVD.
At some point, I tried to launch the System Preferences through Apple menu and got the familiar message: "The application quit unexpectedly, etc.". Since then it's a recurrent problem. It's been 3 days.
However, it does open from the dock icon.
I still have the "Previous System" folder on my disk. I've moved a few things from it to my Library (i.e. some minor applications like Skype, some Desktop items like documents and folders, some photos, music, etc.). I've pretty much started from scratch with everything else - Finder preferences, Wacom tablet driver, etc.
Any clues? I've seen someone had the same problem with a downgrade from 10.5.8 to 10.4, but it's still a mystery as well.
Thanks in advance!
--

iyacyas wrote:
Try repairing permissions from Disk utilities...
Hey iyacyas, thanks for suggesting the disk permissions repair. I tried this, but it didn't work out.
I'm far from understanding any of this, but I tried to figure somethings out from the Report the crash sends to Apple and I noticed that it's trying to launch the "System Preferences" from the folder "Previous Systems"… gee!
Here it goes, in their own words:
Path: /Previous Systems.localized/2010-01-17_1147/Applications/SystemPreferences.app/Contents/M acOS/System Preferences
Anyone has any ideas how could I fix this? I mean, "tell" the Apple Menu to search for the System Preferences inside my ACTUAL Applications folder?
Thanks!
--

System Preferences won't launch from Apple Menu

When I try to launch System Preferences from the Apple Menu, the menubar blinks with a new menu as if launching and then reverts, without completing the launch.
I can launch System Preferences from the Applications folder.
I believe this behavior began after I had to force a shutdown. I have fixed preferences and checked the drive with Disk Utility (passed).
I am guessing that a preference somewhere is corrupted.
Ideas??

Although the problem is not the same, please follow the instructions in this support article to reset the Launch Services database. If you don't already have a current backup, back up all data before proceeding. You may have to log out or restart to see a change.

Spaces Preferences won't open from Menu Bar

If I select "Open Spaces Preferences..." from the Spaces pull-down menu in the Menu Bar, nothing happens. I can open Spaces Preferences from the System Preferences utility (in the Dock), and all other functions in Spaces seem to work fine. The same problem shows up on my iMac (Leopard) and my MBP (Snow Leopard). Same problem shows up in other accounts on these machines, too.
Any suggestions or insights?
Thanks,
Robin

It's weird that this problem has somehow propagated to all of your machines and accounts. Really weird. Makes me think some third party gadget, common to all machines/accounts, is interfering with the correct operation of the menubar icons.
Some things I would try if this were happening to me (besides contemplating third party conflicts):
Remove the icon from the menubar (e.g., command-drag it off) and put it back again.
Look at log files in Console to see if there is any kind of error message appearing when you try to start up spaces preferences from the menubar.
(Re)Moving the relevant preferences to see if they are corrupted. I am thinking of
home/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systemuiserver.plist
But I am betting on the third party explanation.
charlie

System preferences won't launch

Hi,
2011 Core i7 iMac with Lion. Noticed yesterday that system prefs won't launch. No spinning beachball, does absolutely nothing including no launch animation. Read some suggestions on these forums and tried resetting the SMC, followed by booting into disk utilities and doing repair permissions. Then did a reinstall of Lion, again from the disk utilities boot. Not sure if I was at 10.7.3 or 10.7.4 before all this, but reinstall got me back to 10.7.3, updated to 10.7.4, problem persists with both.
I just noticed this is only with the main admin account. There is one secondary account on the computer that my kids use - if I switch to it I am able to access system prefs.
Any suggestions? Do I have to archive and install now?

Have same problem, plus other issues too....
Have tried doing the restart in safe mode and then go to SysPrefs to Users & Groups, etc...but I can't open the SysPrefs window and when I try to select Users & Groups from the pull-down menu, nothing happens.....
Also, when I try to search for 'com.apple.systempreferences.plist' file to delete, search does not respond, ie, I don't see that it is searching for anything...
What started this for me, was when I came back to my MacBook which is hooked up to an external 24" LCD monitor, and tried to wake up the display/MacBook and saw the message on the external monitor "No HDMI Input". So, was trying to figure out why all of a sudden the monitor wouldn't work and went to check SysPrefs....which of course, wouldn't open....
This is very odd....and frustrating too....
Any suggestions????
Thanks for any and all help!

System Preferences Won't Launch, console "bus error"

This isn't a case of the System Preference not being found, being moved out of the Applications Folder, or anything trivial like that. System Preferences will not launch. This is a clean install of Leopard, and updated to 10.5.8. The error message in console is:
9/1/10 3:11:45 PM com.apple.launchd74 (0x0-0x18018.com.apple.systempreferences212) Exited abnormally: Bus error
"The application System Preferences quit unexpectedly." Relaunch doesn't work.

I have exactly the same problem after having installed 10.5.8.
I had to do this after not being able to start the machine at all because of (what I believe to be) a bug with Security Update 2010-005. The Archive and Install process did not work.
This thread should be in "Using Mac OS X Leopard". I found it Googling "Exited abnormally: Bus error".

Retina Macbook software update system preferences not updating.

I have a brand new retina 13" MacBook Pro but for some reason software update is stuck. In system preferences it reads "Last update on Monday March 18, 2013". Even though I click update now then it checks the app store and there are no updates in that section it always shows that Monday date never the current date.
Anyone know how to fix this?

It's telling you the last update was applied Monday March 18, 2013 and that there are no more updates right now for your machine.
You don't need to manually check, it will nag you about updates automatically.
If you need the current date and time, there are plenty of apps and/or the Finder menu clock to tell you that.

HT200100 Just upgraded to 7.4 and system preferences won't launch. Any suggestions?

I've just upgraded to Lion 7.4 and the individual system preferences panes won't launch. Any suggestions?

I am having the same issue. Users folder also seems to be locked.

Since update, all CC apps no longer will launch from menu bar drop down

Accepted prompt to update CC apps, and now the menubar drop down menu lists two versions of every app I've installed — one with "(2014)" after the name.
And none of the apps will now launch from the menubar drop down CC app list.
How I downgrade back to the CC version that actually worked fine?

Does turning off OpenGL in the Performance Preferences and restarting Photoshop have any bearing on the issue?
Please read this and provide the pertinent information:
http://forums.adobe.com/docs/DOC-2325

Dashboard, software update, itunes, imail, won't launch after 10.5.2 update

subject says it all. Each app starts for about 2 seconds then crashes. Then the following: "application ______ quits unexpectedly." I updated to 10.5.2 and all other suggested updates. What next? Tried downloading iTunes and installing. Disk permissions are fine. Error example follows:
MAIL
Process: Mail [341]
Path: /Applications/Mail.app/Contents/MacOS/Mail
Identifier: com.apple.mail
Version: ??? (???)
Build Info: Mail-9190000~3
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [81]
Date/Time: 2008-05-14 00:19:28.762 -0700
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.5.2 (9C31)
Report Version: 6
Exception Type: EXC_BREAKPOINT (SIGTRAP)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000002, 0x0000000000000000
Crashed Thread: 0
Dyld Error Message:
Symbol not found: __ZN3KJS11Interpreter4markEv
Referenced from: /System/Library/Frameworks/WebKit.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/WebCore.frame work/Versions/A/WebCore
Expected in: /System/Library/Frameworks/JavaScriptCore.framework/Versions/A/JavaScriptCore
Message was edited by: Macentire10

It sounds like the update became corrupt doing the transfer to your machine. What I would do is boot to the install disk and perform an archive and install and then download the update directly from the site.
www.apple.com/downloads

Some programs won't launch from menu/desktop - XFCE

I've recently installed a few programs for my desktop - mainly Anki, and MDM login manager. They installed fine, and as most programs do - produced a menu app for it. But for some odd reason, no matter if I try to access it by the XFCE menu, or even creating a desktop icon for it; the program will not launch. Nothing happens. On the other hand, if I launch the program through the terminal I have no issues. It's more of an annoyance than it is a huge problem, but if anyone could help me fix this I'd really appreciate it.
As a side note, it's not an issue of logging out and back in as this has been an ongoing problem for about a week of logout's/reboot's/shutdown's, etc. I'm not sure what kind of information you would need to help diaognose this, so if I can provide anything else of use, please let me know.

For Anki - Both .desktop and terminal command is the same. When trying to launch it with run in terminal, it complains of an untrusted application launcher. I have the choice to launch anyways, or mark as executable. After marking it as executable, the terminal appears for a brief second, then disappears with nothing else.
MDM Launcher - The .desktop is different - pkexec /usr/bin/mdmsetup - where I just type mdmsetup in terminal. When clicking to run in terminal, a polkit authentication pops up in the terminal with sudo and asks for permission to run, and my password. After I type it in, it disappears and nothing launches. If I go into a terminal and choose the same as the the .desktop, the authentication pops up, I repeate the process but this time I get this error: "(mdmsetup:3766): Gtk-WARNING **: cannot open display:"

System Preferences & Software Update won't launch from Apple Menu

I could really use some help with this, I've tried google searches etc and nothing has worked out.
I recently upgraded from 10.4.11 to 10.5.8 and then changed back to 10.4.11
When it was installed (from a Universal retail not the DVD that came with the mac) I copied all the folders from "Previous System" and replaced the newly made ones.
At some point I was using System Preferences when it vanished with the usual message "Closed unexpectedly, reopen, close etc". Since then neither System Preferences nor Software Update will launch from the apple menu. System Preferences will, however, open from the dock.
When they are clicked on the hard drive makes some noise and then stops and nothing appears.
Does anyone have any ideas? Thanks in advance.

Hi catloo, and a warm welcome to the forums!
This is the Tiger/10.4 forums & you might get a better answer on the 10.5 forums.
It's quite acceptable to start a new topic of your own, feel free to start a new topic to attract more helpers to your particular situation, here's a link if as is often the case, it's hard to find out where to do it...
http://discussions.apple.com/post!default.jspa?forumID=1221

Did a software update, and safari won't even launch now. Crash crash crash.

This morning, my iMac ran an automatic software update. Now everytime I launch Safari 5.1.2, it immediately crashes.

Dex...
Could be a third party Safari add on that was compatible with the prior version of Safari that's causing Safari to quit.
Troubleshooting help here > Safari: Unsupported third-party add-ons may cause Safari to unexpectedly quit or have performance issues
And try deleting the Cache.db file.
Go to ~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Safari
Move the Cache.db file from the com.apple.Safari folder to the Trash restart your Mac, try Safari.
~ (Tilde) character represents the Home folder.

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!!

Many of my System preferences won't load in mavericks?

Since updating to 10.9 many of my system preferences won´t load. These are:
- Security: You can’t open Security & Privacy preferences because it doesn’t work on an Intel-based Mac.
- Notifications: Could not load Notifications preference pane.
- Printers & Scanners: Could not load Printers & Scanners preference pane.
- iCloud: Could not load iCloud preference pane.
- Internet accounts: Could not load Internet Accounts preference pane.
- Networks: Could not load Network preference pane.
- Sharing: You can’t open Sharing preferences because it doesn’t work on an Intel-based Mac.
- Users & Groups: You can’t open Users & Groups preferences because it doesn’t work on an Intel-based Mac.
- Parental Controls: Could not load Parental Controls preference pane.
- Date & Time: You can’t open Date & Time preferences because it doesn’t work on an Intel-based Mac.
Any hints on a solution are greatly appreciated!
Best regards, Mikkel

To further explain:
     I didn't need to locate any invisible files in my case. I discovered that I had 4 versions of the System Preferences application on my computer. (The System Preference applicatioin is what loads the preference pains when you seledt System Preferences.) I merely searched for "System Preferences" in spotlight. Spotlight located 4 different versions of the System Preferences application. Some of those versions apparently tied to preference panes that used the old 32 bit encoding from the non Intel processor days. When I clicked on the System Preferences under the Apple menue it was apparently pulling up an old version of the System Preferences applicatioin instead of the correct one in the main Applications folder. I also noted that if I clicked on System Preferernces in the dock or directly in the the Applications folder, I would not have the problem of some of the preference panes not able to be viewed because of the " "it doesn’t work on an Intel-based Mac" message. So I surmised that the correct System Preferences application was in the Applications Folder on the top level of the drive directory like it was supposed to be but that when I clicked on System Preferences from the Apple menue it was loading one of the 3 old System Preferences applications that were buried elsewhere on my hard drive. If you find you have more than one System Preferences application on your hard drive you need to trash the other System Preferences Applications. Before trashing the duplicates, you should test the one in the main Applications folder by directly double clicking it and make sure all the preference panes in it work properly then trash the duplicate System Preferences applications you found in spotlight.
     You may also find like I did, that you not only have duplicates of the System Preferences on your hard drive but also several old duplicates of the entire Applications folder buried on your hard drive. if that is the case you should compare each folder and make sure there is nothing in the old duplicate Applications folders you still need. You will probably find that all of the latest versions of your applications are in the main Applications folder where they should be. If so then trash all the old duplicate Applications folders as well. Keep only the main Applications folder on the top level of the hard drive.
     Trashing all these extra old Applications folders that held old duplicates of all my applications in them on my hard drive solved a bunch of other problems I was having with some of the applications as well.
     For the technically minded: Why does this happen with Mavericks and not with Mountain Lion? I suspect that the old Applications folders and old duplicate System Sreferences applications didn't matter to Mountain Lion because it searched for the System Preference application under the Apple menu differently than Mavericks does. I believe Mountain Lion seached all the top levels of the Application folder before drilling down into any subfolders to find the System Preferences application. Mavericks apparently does it the opposite way. It searches the first subfolder in you Applications folder and drills all the way down in that subfolder first before going to the next subfolder and drilling down in that subfolder all the way to the bottom. So it searches all the subfolders before searching the main level of the Applications folder for System Preferences. Since my old duplicate System Preferences applications where in subfolders with titles that were earlier in the alphabet than the main System Preferences application it searched those subfolders first, found the old System Preferences application in the those earlier folders and loaded the old System Preferences first in the subfolders instead of the correct one further on in the main Applications folder. If any one else has a better idea let me know.
--Scott
micmac2105 wrote:
Hello,
have the same problem, however, I do not understand the hint for solving the problem.
How to show invisible files?
How to find applications/system preferences and call Get info from file menu?
Where are all these things, have never seen them before or heard of them.
Thanks for help
Michael
micmac2105 wrote:
Hello,
have the same problem, however, I do not understand the hint for solving the problem.
How to show invisible files?
How to find applications/system preferences and call Get info from file menu?
Where are all these things, have never seen them before or heard of them.
Thanks for help
Michael
micmac2105 wrote:
Hello,
have the same problem, however, I do not understand the hint for solving the problem.
How to show invisible files?
How to find applications/system preferences and call Get info from file menu?
Where are all these things, have never seen them before or heard of them.
Thanks for help
Michael

Software Update + System Preferences won't launch from menu bar

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