Accidentally deleted ~Library/Preferences/Audio

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Level 1

8 points

Accidentally deleted ~Library/Preferences/Audio

Hello, comunity! I accidentally deleted the ~Library/Preferences/Audio folder, the one with the two .plist files in it. Is there any chance that somebody will upload it for me? So, in this way I won't have to install a fresh copy of MacOS. Thank you in advance!

P.S.: In case you were wondering how I managed to delete the folder. I was trying to work around with those .plist files in order to make the machine save my preferences regarding the audio format, bit depth & rate, because it would reset them with every restart. If you have a possible solution for this problem, I would be glad to hear it too.

MacBook Pro 13", 10.14

Posted on Feb 4, 2019 4:15 PM

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Answer 1

dialabrain

Level 10

136,361 points

Feb 4, 2019 4:34 PM in response to D4nyG4me

FWIW, if you had a ~/Library/Preferences/Audio folder it had to be put there by an app you installed. It's not a default folder. If you mean the /Library/Preference/Audio folder mine has over 80 items in it. So I'm guessing you don't know what exactly you're missing.

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Answer 2

dialabrain

Level 10

136,361 points

Feb 4, 2019 9:21 PM in response to D4nyG4me

As John and I mentioned, there is no ~/Library/Preferences/Audio directory. There is a /Library/Preferences/Audio directory which contains the two .plist files you mention.

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Answer 3

D4nyG4me Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 4, 2019 9:05 PM in response to John Galt

I forgot to mention that I did perform an NVRAM and SMC reset, but it wouldn't solve the problem. Just to make myself clear, I am talking about ~Library/Preferences/Audio. The folder where you can locate the file called "com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist" and the other one called "com.apple.audio.DeviceSettings.plist". That is true that the files would replace by themselves when deleted, but for me that won't work since I deleted the "Audio" folder and there is no folder to be created in.

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Answer 4

dialabrain

Level 10

136,361 points

Feb 4, 2019 4:36 PM in response to D4nyG4me

Just to add, no one can upload system files in any case.

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Answer 5

leroydouglas

Level 10

200,262 points

Feb 4, 2019 6:20 PM in response to D4nyG4me

default plist typically get rebuilt the first time you run the associated program again.

If you think it is mission critical you can restore from a Time Machine backup or Local snapshot.

Restore items backed up with Time Machine on Mac - Apple Support

About Time Machine local snapshots - Apple Support

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Answer 6

John Galt

Level 10

156,416 points

Feb 4, 2019 6:43 PM in response to D4nyG4me

~/Library/Preferences/Audio does not exist by default.

If you deleted /Library/Preferences/Audio/ or /Library/Audio you are only going to get them back by reinstalling macOS or from a backup. Reinstalling macOS is nondestructive.

/Library and its contents are protected from inadvertent deletion.

If you had difficulty retaining audio preferences an NVRAM Reset would have been justified, or your MBP's battery is weak, or both. After reinstalling those missing files and folders, you are likely to experience the same problem until the cause is addressed.

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Answer 7

Ruskes

Level 4

1,421 points

Feb 5, 2019 1:45 AM in response to D4nyG4me

I do get confused sometimes

There are two Libraries on the Mac

One is the User

The other one is System

User Library is identified with ~ sign

The file you are talking about is in the System Library (without ~)

/Library/Preferences/Audio/com.apple.audio.SystemSettings.plist

If you delete System Library files, usually you would need to reinstall the OSX to get them back.

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Accidentally deleted ~Library/Preferences/Audio

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