I just upgraded my 2020 intel 13" macbook pro to big sur. Now I have double System preferences icons. One appears to be new with big Sur. For some, only one of the icons is functional, and for some, both are functional. I did reinstall the Big Sur OS, but it did not help.
Anyone else have that issue? Any suggested solutions?
MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15
De-selecting the icon just hides it. Aside from that cosmetic change it doesn't do anything.
If you don't want to elicit Apple's assistance just yet, then create a Time Machine backup: Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac. Forget third party "clone" products. You don't need them. Then, erase the startup drive, reinstall macOS, and when asked to transfer information select the Time Machine backup.
That's certain to fix it, although you'll never know why it happened. Obviously it's the result of an upgrade that didn't go well.
De-selecting the icon just hides it. Aside from that cosmetic change it doesn't do anything.
If you don't want to elicit Apple's assistance just yet, then create a Time Machine backup: Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac. Forget third party "clone" products. You don't need them. Then, erase the startup drive, reinstall macOS, and when asked to transfer information select the Time Machine backup.
That's certain to fix it, although you'll never know why it happened. Obviously it's the result of an upgrade that didn't go well.
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My conclusion is to avoid upgrading from Catalyst to Big Sur on top of Catalyst.
Are you referring to Mac Catalyst - Apple Developer? That's the only time you mentioned it. In any event I hope Apple will get to the bottom of that weird problem.
Where are you finding those icons? Are they in the Dock? If so you can drag either one or both away from the Dock until you see Remove, or to the Trash.
That action merely removes the app icon from the Dock. It does not remove System Preferences (which can't be removed anyway).
Yikes. You really meant what you wrote. No, I don't have an answer, but I surmise Apple would be very interested to know how that happened. Contact Support and be persistent enough to get someone curious enough to investigate.
I actually have reinstalled the system from mac OS recovery. It didn't help. Even weirder. If I uncheck one of the duplicates when I customize the display, both of the duplicates disappear.
The other issue I am having is with Parallels desktop. It won't launch. I am sorry I upgraded. I had cloned my hard drive using Carbon copy cloner prior to upgrading, but somehow that clone is corrupted. It is still a bootable drive, but all my applications and files are gone. So I can't easily downgrade back to 10.15.7
Same. Two of everything. I've been on several Apple support calls and no one can figure it out. I can't download anything or open several files because I cant get into system preferences to change the settings.
The suggestion from John Galt solved the problem for me. I created a time machine backup. I then installed Big Sur (erasing the hard drive in the process). I then used migration assistant to move my settings, applications, documents and desktop (I.e. everything) to the Big Sur install. Not only did that solve the double icons in system preferences, but also solved other problems such as Parallels Desktop not running and other minor weirdnesses.
My conclusion is to avoid upgrading from Catalyst to Big Sur on top of Catalyst. Just do a clean install of Big Sur and then use migration assistant to restore “yourself.”
it really helps to have a nice fast NVME Thunderbolt drive for the backup and restore.
Thank you John Galt!!!!!!!
I had the same thing after upgrading from Catalina to Big Sur. I kept getting an error message when I opened System Preferences. It wouldn't let me open or download files either. Bottom line, I had to erase the hard rive and reinstall after much anguish.
I have this issue also. Several of the apps in system preferences (the more recent copy) do not work. My workaround is to use the January 2020 release of system preferences. I contacted support and gave up on that as they had no idea what I was referring to.
I am finding them in the system preferences window.
Oops my bad. I am a molecular biologist...so I have catalyst on the brain....I meant Catalina.
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Double System preferences icons after upgrade (?) to Big Sur
