System preferences not showing

I recently had to re-install my entire system from original DVDs, then used Time Machine to re-capture all my data. After Updating the software, I had several programs not operating. I did a Custom Install which solved everything except System Preferences and Preview. They are dead Icons with a "?" on my Dock and do not appear in the Applications Folder.
Does anyone have a clue how to solve this?

Hello Al,
Just a thought. There is a Combo update for 10.6.8 which you can download and apply over the top of any other updates. Still takes a bit of time but it is useful to know this often corrects minor glitches in the system. If the problem comes up again, try it.
Mac OS X 10.6.8 Update Combo v1.1
Usually you should follow up with software updates just in case there are security or iTunes updates.

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System Preferences not showing all pictures in Desktop & Screensaver

This problem only happened recently, whenever i go into system pref to change my desktop i do not see all the preview pics from my picture folder. Even though i do not see them in the system pref window i can still click on them and it will still set them as my desktop. Would having alot of high res pictures make them not show in system pref?
Ibook g4 12'' Mac OS X (10.4.8)

it is possible that with a large volume of large res pix in that folder that the little "preview icons" take some time to generate. Also, i have noticed that not all my graphic files will generate a "preview" even if the app in question can utilize and read the file.
Beavis2084

AirPort does not show under System Preferences Network Show

Hello,
I am having problems with my AirPort Express. It is listed in AirPort Admin Utility (with an IP Address), but does not show up under System Preferences > Network > Show.
How can I get the AirPort recognized?
Thanks,
Fidelio

In System under "Network" it shows "AirPort Card" with "No information found"
Your Mac does not have a wireless card installed or it is not working.
However, I would like to set up a shared printer and instructions I have for this say that I need to get the IP address of AirPort under System Preferences > Network > Show > AirPort.
That information should have nothing to do with a printer since the information there relates to your Mac... not to the AirPort Express (AX).

I am not able to open my 'system preferences' it shows up on top, but the window just won't open. I haven't installed anything new, I have also restarted my computer, but still encounter this problem. Help?

I am not able to open my 'system preferences' it shows up on top, but the window just won't open. I haven't installed anything new, I have also restarted my computer, but still encounter this problem. Help?

Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks without erasing 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
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 then click on the Repair Permissions button. When the process is completed, then quit DU and return to the main menu.
Reinstall Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks
OS X Mavericks- Reinstall OS X
OS X Mountain Lion- Reinstall OS X
OS X Lion- Reinstall Mac OS X
Note: You will need an active Internet connection. I suggest using Ethernet
if possible because it is three times faster than wireless.

My mac book pro load system and not show icons only show pointer

my mac book pro load system but not shows icons only show pointer

Can you open Applications by navigating to the Applications folder via the Finder? When you write that your computer doesn't show icons, do you mean your Dock icons? Can you see the Dock as all?
Need just a little more information...
Clinton

HT1199 Why I couldn't change my screensaver, my system preferences not responding?

Why my system preferences not responding (display & screensaver) and my mail doesn't received all mails?

Your
com.apple.systempreferences.plist
file is corrupt in your
(use the Finder > Go > Go To folder and paste & Go)
~/Library/Preferences
Trash the flle you can (may be two of them, one is a lock file) and reboot.
Reset your system preferences again.
Step by Step to fix your Mac

Security and privacy system preferences not working after Lion install. What to do?

Security and privacy system preference not working after Lion install. Not sure if it happen with Lion installer or after updating. What to do?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.
This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.
Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.
These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.
Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.
Some of the commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then either copy or drag it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.
Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.
Launch the Terminal 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.
☞ If you’re running Mac OS X 10.7 or later, open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.
When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” (without the quotes) and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.
Step 1
Copy or drag — do not type — the line below into the Terminal window, then press return:
kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}'
Post the lines of output (if any) that appear below what you just entered (the text, please, not a screenshot.) You can omit the final line ending in “$”.
Step 2
Repeat with this line:
sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix)|edu\.mit|org\.(amavis|apache|cups|isc|ntp|postfix|x)/{print $3}'
This time, you'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning.
Note: If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before taking this step. If that’s not possible, skip to the next step.
Step 3
launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|edu\.mit|org\.(x|openbsd)/{print $3}'
Step 4
ls -1A /e*/mach* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts 2> /dev/null
Important: If you synchronize with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.
Step 5
osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' 2> /dev/null
Remember, steps 1-5 are all drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste, whichever you prefer — no typing, except your password. Also remember to post the output.
You can then quit Terminal.

I received an email from Icloud support that I used 4.8gb of storage out of 5.0 available. When I check on systems preferences, i show only using 228mbs. Please advise?

I received an email from Icloud support that I used 4.8gb of storage out of 5.0 available. When I check on systems preferences, i show only using 228mbs. Please advise?

The message probably was sent by mistake. Ignore it, unless you have problems with the iCloud email address

Systems preference not responding

I have tried all the 'solutions' to the problem of my system preferences not responding but none of them have worked. I would like to know if there is another solution not posted anywhere that i could try. Thanks

Try starting in safe mode to run a file ckeck. It may or may not do any good but an easy place to begin.
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1564
http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455

HT1338 system preference not open so how guide to sample?

My mac book pro in system preference not open so how guide to sample?

Hello,
First, Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, test if things work OK in Safe Mode.
Then move these files to the Desktop for now...
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
/Users/YourUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist
Reboot & test.
PS. Safe boot may stay on the gray radian for a long time, let it go, it's trying to repair the Hard Drive.

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 Preferences not responding when opening desktop

After installing Lion 10.7, I find that whenever I try to change the desktop wallpaper in system preferences, it freezes and I have to force quit it.
I tried to find the systempreferences.plist, as seen from google searches, but I can't find it anywhere, and those seem to be solutions for SL, L or Tiger.
Help appreciated.
Thanks!

I've been having the same issue with system preferences in osx lion freezing and not doing anything for the past week. Your post solved the problem; all I had to do was move the iphoto library and the photo booth library to the desktop, then I moved them back to my pictures folder in the finder window. Now system preferences works like a charm, even if I restart the system the system preferences utilities are all accessible.
This solved the problem; whereas other posts that had me use disk utility to repair the hard drive or repair the disk permissions didn't solve the issue.
This now saves me a call to apple tech support
Thank you.
>>>
Re: System Preferences not responding when opening desktop
Jul 23, 2011 1:27 PM (in response to alexhung)
It has to do with a problem accessing the images on the home>images folder. To solve it, just move its content (iphoto library included) to another place. Then, restart System Preferences. Moving your iPhoto library to another location seems to fix the problem. I am sure Apple will issue an update to correct this problem. But, for now this seems to work for me.

HT204053 Although I have iCloud, my system preferences still show Mobile.me. I have to sign in with my mobile.me ID which is not the same as my Apple ID. I want to change my iCloud ID and password. How do I do it?

Although I can access iCloud, my system preferences on my iMac still show Mobile.me. I have to sign in with my mobile.me ID which is not the same as my Apple ID. I want to change my iCloud ID and password to be consistent with my Apple ID and password. How do I do it?

you need to be running OSX 10.7 or 10.8 to use iCloud i believe. It shows you are using 10.6.8 which doesn't support iCloud.

System Preferences not detecting intel high definition audio

I have tried researching as much as possible before posting and I just can't find a solution.
I have a 2.4GHz Intel Core i7 Macbook Pro late 2011 running Mavericks 10.9.4 (13E28) on 8 GB RAM and Intel HD Graphincs 3000 512 MB, and my audio devices are not identified in audio MIDI setup or system preferences. Looking at system information the audio hardware is recognized (but there is no "built-in" beside 'audio' in the navigation pane).
I've tried reinstalling Mavericks, 10.9.0, 10.9.2, 9.3 and 9.4.
I've tried installing the combo pack for 10.9.4
After each install I've reset the PRAM and SMC for each reinstall.
I know my speakers work because I hear the chime when i start up. My internal microphone and line-in are also part of this problem with the audio devices. They don't show up in sound preferences either. To my knowledge the only issue seems to be with the audio.
My direct question is: How do i make my system preferences recognize my internal microphone, my internal speakers, and my built-in line?
I'd appreciate any input, this is my first posting to the community. Thank you all for viewing.

I looked into the community and saw that someone had the exact same problem. Their solution was to backup valuable data and clean install the operating system. I have followed through on this and have sound =). Just waiting now for my backups to complete.
I'm being cautious what I put back into the settings because I believe that's where some files my have been corrupted. Not sure. For the most part, thanks for viewing to those who did.

System Preferences - "Displays" shows no options

Hello all,
I was wondering if anyone has encountered the following issue since upgrading to Leopard and whether you have pointers on how to fix it?
After upgrading to Leopard a week ago, System Preferences option "Displays" shows no selectable options. It comes up blank. I have installed the latest update to OS X (10.5.1) and this update has not resolved my issue.
Thanks in advance for any help.

I see you've not had any input on the "Displays" issue. I just upgraded my PowerBook G4 1.67 GHz, 2 GB Ram to Leopard 10.5.2. I even reinstalled the OS a couple times, which is a pain, but still didn't get any options. It says "loading displays" if I single click the preference. If I double click it shows a blank gray window. If you have resolved this problem please pass it on.
Thanks.

System preferences not showing

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