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"System preferences is busy and can’t be closed. Signing in to Apple ID." How can I close it?

I am in the process of setting it up my newly purchased Macbook Pro 13inch. Unfortunately I am unable to close system preferences, when trying to do so I receive a message "System preferences is busy and can’t be closed. Signing in to Apple ID."

I have tried to shutdown and restart the laptop but I continue to have the same pop-up. I have also had this issue for 24hours on charge now, Is there anyway you could help in letting me know either how to close it or even how to boost the process of signing into Apple ID?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 4, 2020 3:33 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 8, 2020 10:33 AM

Hello, teri-ann!


Thanks for reaching out in Apple Support Communities! From your post, it sounds like you're trying to sign in with your Apple ID but are running into a pop-up saying System Preferences is busy.


Have you tried force restarting your Mac to see if the message continues to appear? If not, we recommend trying this first by pressing and holding the power button. If this persists after restarting, you can try booting in to safe mode to see if you're able to sign into your Apple ID. How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


Should this continue, try creating a test user to see if you're able to sign in to your Apple ID. How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support


All the best.

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 8, 2020 10:33 AM in response to teri-ann

Hello, teri-ann!


Thanks for reaching out in Apple Support Communities! From your post, it sounds like you're trying to sign in with your Apple ID but are running into a pop-up saying System Preferences is busy.


Have you tried force restarting your Mac to see if the message continues to appear? If not, we recommend trying this first by pressing and holding the power button. If this persists after restarting, you can try booting in to safe mode to see if you're able to sign into your Apple ID. How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support


Should this continue, try creating a test user to see if you're able to sign in to your Apple ID. How to test an issue in another user account on your Mac - Apple Support


All the best.

"System preferences is busy and can’t be closed. Signing in to Apple ID." How can I close it?

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