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

Similar Messages

  • 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

  • Preference panes do not open from menu bar extras

    Hello.
    I have an annoying problem : the preference panes in system preferences work well but the shortcuts to open them from the menu bar extras do not.
    For example, when I choose "open bluetooth preferences" in the bluetooth menu bar extra, nothing happens.
    But I can ver y well get to the bluetooth preferences in system preferences.
    Same goes for all Apple or non-Apple menu bar extras which give the option of accessing a system prenerences pane : bluetooth, MenuMeters, Salling Clicker, Apple 's battery meter, Date &Time (those are the ones I use).
    I tried removing the menu extras and re- enabling them, repaired permissions, checked permissions on the menu extras (with Applecare), re-ran the 10.4.5 combo update ... with no effect.
    I think this started after I used Onyx (what a bad idea ...) for "regular" maintenance.
    This is just annoying. Applecare tells me to archive and install.
    I'd love to have a less invasive solution : except this annoying problem, my Mac works perfectly. And "archive and install" is quite time consuming since it is not that innocent with Apple or 3rd party pro apps.
    I remember I had a similar issue with my old Mac by the times of Puma or Jaguar. There was an easier solution than "archive and install" by that time.
    If anyone has any idea, I would really appreciate it.
    Thanks in advance,
    Jérôme.

    The first thing to do is to remove any third party products that use the menu bar. Apple has advised developers from the day OS X came out to not use the menu bar for anything. They made it off limits for whatever reasons they have.
    Of course some developers came up with hacks so that they could use it. Many of us, including me, like them but sometimes they cause problems. That is why I suggest starting there. Remove them and then re check your disk permissions and also run disk utility on your drive to insure that you don't have other issues.
    This may not solve the problem but it is a good place to start.

  • Hard Drive icon won't open and menu bar flashes off and on

    All of a sudden, in the middle of the day, my eMac went haywire. I can launch apps and docs are one the desktop. But I cannot open the Hard Drive icon. If I double-click on it (or used Command-O from keyboard), the icon won't open. And when I attempt to open it, the Finder Menu Bar begins flashing off and on (vanishing, reappearing, vanishing) across the top of the screen. I haver rebooted, run disk utility to repair permissions, even booted from TechTools to run its diagnostics. But still no access to the Hard Drive icon. I logged out and logged in as a TEST user, and same thing happens even when logged in that way. Literally, this happened in an instant. One minute the eMac was fine, then this started. Anyone else seen this? -- david

    If the problem exists in both your regular account and your Test account odds are that it is at the system level. You can try a Safe boot (hold down the shift key at startup) to see if there is a third party startup item or one of the optional Apple functions that is causing the problem. You could also boot from the installer disk and use the Disk Utility->Repair Disk function. If you have a utility such as Tiger Cache Cleaner which will do a deep cache clean you can also try that.
    Francine
    Schwieder

  • Just installed OSX Mavericks.Bluetooth disappeared from menu bar and system preferences. I have a magic mouse and my IMac no long recognizes it as such, nor can I scroll with it. What's wrong?

    Just installed OSX Mavericks. Bluetooth disappeared from menu bar and system preferences panel. I use a Magic Mouse but my iMac no longer recognizes it as such, and I can no longer use it to scroll screen. What happened?

    Since Mavricks installed: My Spotlight icon disappears from the menu bar, but the space stays there. If I click on the blank space where the
    spotlight icon is supposed to be - the spotlight menu opens. So, for me, the icon is there, it works except that it is invisible at times. IF I do a re-start it is there. If I let the computer set, sleep or other wise stay on for days, the icon will hide and re-appear at random.

  • System Prefs won't open from Apple Menu

    Ay, ay, ay.
    Gigabit G4, Tiger
    I couldn't get rid of the blue label on Applications/System Preferences so I created an "archive" of it, tossed the original in the trash and opened the archive. The renewed Sys Prefs gave me permission to change the label, but now it won't open from the apple menu. I guess its an alias there. Where would it be? How to fix it?
    Casey

    Hi,
    In some cases "newer" version of an App will not run on Older OS software.
    For instance Leopard's iChat 4 will not run in Tiger.
    You say a clean install and do not say if you moved your Home Folder Contents back.
    Your Mail would have been in there as would the Address Book info.
    However related to the first item, you may have issues getting the older Tiger apps to read documents/Databases created by the newer Apps in Leopard.
    10:46 PM Monday; October 11, 2010

  • My preferences will not open from the apple menu.

    My preferences will not open from the apple menu.  Time machine will not open either.  I've tried reinstalling Lion, to no avail.  Has anyone else had this problem?

    I have exactly the same issue. After FF upgraded on its own to version 5, it won't open from start menu, taskbar, desktop icon, or even by pressing firefox.exe in program files directory. It does so by pressing a link at msn messenger, inside Outlook etc.
    Disabling all addons, didn't help. Moreover, I can't start FF in safe mode or start profile manager (Start > Run> firefox.exe -ProfileManager).
    OS: Windows 7 64bit
    Windows Event Viewer entry details:
    Faulting application name: firefox.exe, version: 5.0.0.4183, time stamp: 0x4df95302
    Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
    Exception code: 0xc0000005
    Fault offset: 0x8c724fa6
    Faulting process id: 0xc0c
    Faulting application start time: 0x01cc37fe2fae7e8b
    Faulting application path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
    Faulting module path: unknown
    Report Id: 6e7f03eb-a3f1-11e0-8f4d-a4badb0238f6

  • FCP effects won't unpack from files. Can access them from menu bar but on effects tab

    FCP effects won't unpack from files. Can access them from menu bar but on effects tab

    I think you meant but "not" on effects tab. Were you able to before? Try trashing your preference files. you can do this by hand or use the free program, Preference Manager from Digital Rebellion.

  • Icon airport disappeared from menu bar,only see grey space

    icon airport disappeared from menu bar,only see grey space

    Open your System Preferences and go to the "Network" pane. Enable "Show Wi-Fi status in Menu Bar".

  • Remove name from menu bar + possible bugs?

    Hello, I was wondering if it were possible to remove my name from the Menu bar. It currently says my full name and is clickable, dropping down to my icon and a link to the Login Window and Users & Groups Preferences (but there's no option to remove it in these preferences!) Thanks!
    Also, Is there a thread where we can post bugs we come across? Becuase I've found a couple.
    I'll post them here for now:
    1) When I go into Finder > Preferences, the menu box flickers strangely when I switch between the option tabs (General, Labels, Sidebar, Advanced).
    2) Scrolling left and right through folders in the Column view is hesitant. It doesn't flow smoothly like it does when I scroll up and down.
    If there's anywhere I can report these bugs, please let me know!

    name from menu bar:
    the easy way: hold command and then drag the name icon out of the menu bar (just like how you remove stuff from the dock with the difference of pressing command while you do it).
    the less easy way: open system prfs -> Users and groups [press locket if locked] then click login options and uncheck fast user switching menu

  • Calendar won't open from dock or applications

    I downloaded Mavericks--calendar won't open from dock or applications--help please

    Launch the Console application in any of the following ways:
    ☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)
    ☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.
    ☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Console in the icon grid.
    Make sure the title of the Console window is All Messages. If it isn't, select All Messages from the SYSTEM LOG QUERIES menu on the left. If you don't see that menu, select
    View ▹ Show Log List
    from the menu bar.
    Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try the action that you're having trouble with again. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message (command-V).
    When posting a log extract, be selective. In most cases, a few dozen lines are more than enough.
    Please do not indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.
    Important: Some private information, such as your name, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

  • Safari won't open from dock after upgrading to leopard

    I've upgraded from OS X 10.4.11 Tiger to OS X 10.5.2 Leopard with the upgrade DVD which arrived today and all the available Software Updates (which included a Safari update). No more Software Updates are available - I've checked.
    Safari and Mail will now not open from the Dock. Neither will iChat, AddressBook, iDVD (which produces a pop-up saying it "quit unexpectedly" - it didn't appear to start at all), and iCal. Safari and Mail WILL open from my Applications folder thankfully. I haven't checked the other mentioned applications, except iDVD which does the same non-opening with pop-up from Applications too.
    I have run permissions verification and permissions repair from Disc Utility on the Mac HD. I have run disc verification from there too and the result said the disc appears OK. Neither solved the Dock problem.
    The icons in the Dock don't bounce or anything. They remain still and un-animated. I just get a pop-up message saying "You cannot use the application "Safari.app" with this version of Mac OS X". Which surprises me as it's a native Apple Mac application isn't it? Obviously it says "Mail.app" for mail, "iChat.app" for iChat etc.
    I reinserted the Leopard installation DVD and installed all the applications from the Optional Install.mpkg folder, including Safari and Mail. This has made no noticeable difference: they still won't open from the dock. I have just noticed that an additional icon for Safari appears at the far (right hand) end of the dock when I open it from Applications. But it disappears when I close Safari, so no good for opening it.
    It could be worse, I can actually open some of the applications from my Applications folder. But this is inconvenient and besides, it is supposed to work from the Dock.
    Has anyone else had this problem?
    Can anyone help me to solve it please?
    I have backed-up (not using time machine - I backed-up before I upgraded). I hope to avoid having to erase and reinstall but I will IF that will solve this problem (and not cause any others
    Help please. Thanks.

    Hi
    Dock icons are simply alias. The ones on your dock may be corrupted, especially since you can open Safari from the applications folder. To remove an icon, right click on it and select "remove from dock", or simply drag it off the dock, where it will disappear in a puff of virtual smoke.
    Then, go to the Finder and single-click/hold any item you want on the dock. Drag it there.
    Try Safari or the other apps again.
    Specific to the Leopard upgrade, important any 3rd party items installed in your system are Leopard compatible, otherwise you'll have operational problems when using them.
    One other thought. It is possible the Dock is corrupted, causing the problem. If the above does not resolve the problem, go to the Finder: Your User Account>Library>Preferences folder. There, move the com.apple.dock.plist and com.apple.dock.db files to the desktop, then relaunch the Finder (hold down the option/command/esc keys to reveal the Quit Panel. Select the Finder>relaunch.
    Message was edited by: Hawaiian_Starman

  • View disappeared from menu bar in word and i don't know how to get back

    I clicked the wrong button and view disappeared from menu bar in word and I can't get it back.  I've tried to reinstate it from system preferences and I've tried everything in the help menu. Please help

    Hi Karen,
    Work through this and you should be able to get it back: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2026220

  • Elements 13 won't open from iphoto

    Elements 13 won't open from iphoto. I have gone in Preferences/Advanced/ and changed the Edit photos to Elements 13.

    a single user license entitles the user to install and activate on up-to two computers.  but that license doesn't really permit that 2nd installation to be used by another person.
    so, if you son was the user on your computer he could sign in using his adobe id on your computer and use pse on your computer (as well as his own -  but not both computers at any one time).
    if a 2nd user (you) wanted to use pse, they should purchase their own license.

  • Help! Organizer Preferences won't open and software freezes and I have to End task every time.

    Re:  Please Help.  PSE11 Organizer Preferences won't open.  I have new PSE11 software & new computer running Windows 8.  Organizer>Edit>Preferences.  Little box says "Loading..." forever.  Screen locks and I have to go to Task Manager to End out.  Preferences in Editor works. 

    Hello, Gordon. 
    Thank you for visiting Apple Support Communities. 
    Here is an article that will walk you through some troubleshooting steps for this issue.  Start with the attached section in the article below. 
    Tip: If you see a sheet or dialog that states 'Enter the password for user "email address'", this indicates that the email service provider is having an issue with the password being sent by Mail, or there is an issue with the email account. Contact the email service provider for support. Choose Window > Connection Doctor click "Show Detail" then click "Check Again". The information displayed in the "Show Detail" drawer may include details from the email service provider about what the issue is. Look for headers that start with "[ALERT]".
    OS X Mail: Troubleshooting sending and receiving email messages
    http://support.apple.com/kb/ts3276
    Cheers,
    Jason H. 

Maybe you are looking for