Mac os26.3 update deleted my custom display presets (made previously using a Calibrite profiler). How do I get them back? Or do I need to recalibrate my screen? (Very annoying).
Thanks!
MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 26.3
If this actually fixes the problem, Apple owes me a Mac Studio M5 Max :)
BEWARE THAT I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT THESE CODES ARE DOING AND WHY IT FIXED MY PROBLEM, BUT YEA PLEASE DO IT WITH CAUTION
So I've been having this problem since forever, basically I bought a used M1 Max MBP 16 inch mid March this year and because I'm a hobby content creator, I want to have a properly set monitor. And then the preset is poof just gone after every restart / shut down, so the past months I've been trying my best to just sleep the laptop.
Long story short, I found this thread and hoped that updates would eventually fixes it, but yea as we see so far, nothing is fixed, so I put the problem into Gemini, telling how can I find an alternative way to fix this, I was thinking of using the "HDR Video P3-ST 2084" preset and fine tune it to 120nits, because that would be my personal preference, and also I told Gemini, about the problem that after every restart, it would remove the "non-native" presets.
And Gemini told me to do this:
Workaround 2: Flush the Corrupted WindowServer Plists The underlying reason this bug occurs specifically on your machine while skipping others is often down to permission conflicts or corruption inside the system’s cache files. You can force macOS to regenerate the display persistence layer from scratch by wiping the preference files via Terminal. Open Terminal and execute the following two commands to kill the broken preference caches:
# Deletes user-specific display configuration
rm ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.*.plist
# Deletes system-wide display configuration (Requires admin password)
sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.plist
Crucial Step: Immediately restart your Mac after running these commands. The OS will recreate clean, uncorrupted preference trees upon boot. Set your custom 120-nit Rec. 709 mode after this flush, and test if the persistence holds through a subsequent restart.
After that there was an error telling that "No such file or directory" for the 2nd command, and Gemini told me the following:
# Deletes user-level display configurations
rm ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.windowserver.*.plist
# Deletes the modern system-wide display configuration file (Requires admin password)
sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.windowserver.displays.plist
After doing those two, I just restarted my computer, set the custom display preset and restart my MBP again to check if the display preset got removed or not, but this actually fixed it. I even shutdown my MBP and turn it on and the custom preset is still there. So this fixed the problem.
If my deduction is correct, there is somewhere in the .plist file that is causing this bug, the fact that this problem persists beyond updates, means that the apple devs can't seem to find the problem, and the setting was something on the higher level, that the OS doesn't really touch on each update. By resetting the .plist files, we essentially remove all the bugged settings and force the OS to generate a new one, and thus by random chance fixes the bug.
TL;DR
I am having the same issue with a brand-new MacBook Pro 16-inch M5 Max. Spent most of the day on it. I ran a full calibration through Apple’s Pro Display Calibrator using a new Calibrite Display Plus HL Colorimeter. Then I created a custom preset from Apple’s ‘Photography (P3-D65), tweaking the luminance to 120 instead of the preset 160. I then fine-tuned the calibration of that custom preset. I then ran a calibration on Calibrite Profiler using the 461 patch set. I then ran a validation on the profile (and was actually not that happy with some of the delta E numbers, especially compared to some other people’s numbers I have seen using the same steps and equipment, but that's a different issue).
But then, if I restart it, the custom preset disappears, even though the profile still says it's active in ColorSync and Calibrite. I can clearly see it's not.
Worse still, if I close the display and reopen it, it looks like this upon reopening:
If I restart it, the display goes back to normal, but of course it defaults back to the ‘Apple XDR Display (P-3-1600 nits)’ preset, with the custom preset and any fine-tuning gone (but still shows the time and date I performed the full calibration).
Well then we need to continuously report that via the official form. Let’s hope they fix this:
Astounding that they just released new displays and the essential functions for color accuracy are basically trash.
I'm not entirely sure why mine's working and it's no good for others. I've certainly added my own custom preset that includes custom white balance, custom luminance levels plus it calls up a calibrated colour profile. Although I did start with Apple's D65 Photography preset as my initial setting. I then calibrated to taste and saved as a custom preset. See attached.
I first had the problem of the OS deleting my custom preset back in OS 26.3.1. But, for me, the updates to 26.3.2 and more recently to 26.4 have presented no such problems. I'm running a M1 Max MacBook Pro. Maybe the problem depends on hardware?
I decided to play around with it. After restarting it, I went in and recreated the custom profile from the same default preset again, but did not fine-tune it or do anything besides change the luminance to 120 and give it a different name. Since Color Sync and Calibrite both said the ICC profile Calibrite created during its calibration was still active, I wanted to confirm that. So I ran the validation again, and this time the Delta E numbers were much worse. So clearly the Calibrite calibration isn't holding. When I closed the screen and opened it again, it went back to a rainbow screen. Restarted again, this time the custom preset was still there. Did nothing but close the computer screen and reopen it, rainbow again.
Correct, the rainbow screen occurs only when a third-party ICC profile is active in ColorSync. Yes, the Calibrite profile was created using the ‘mini LED’ display type, and the DisplayCAL profile was created with the Spectral: LCD PFS Phosphor WLED IPS, 99% P3 correction for these screens.
Good news: after setting the custom preset back up, fine-tuning it with Pro Display Calibrator using measured values from DisplayCAL, and then verifying the native display with DisplayCAL, I am happy to report very good Delta E values, as seen. It appears that custom third-party ICC profiles may no longer be necessary on these machines. It is helpful that this is a fresh machine a week out from delivery, but now that you can do a full calibration with Pro Display Calibrator and a Display Plus HL, I think staying with Apple’s native software may be the way to go. Now the issue is just it deleting itself on restart.
You're welcome.
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I'll make a new calibration now I have updated to 26.3.1 and reboot to see if it sticks. Hopefully it will still be there.
I have the same bug on Tahoe 26.5
I have a M1 Max
I discovred that presets do not disappear after restart IF they have no "Fine-Tune Calibration"
I sumbitted a bug report.
Yep. Agreed. Thanks Den.
I've updated plenty of times before and this hasn't been a problem. But upon upgrading from 26.2 to 26.3 this morning, all non-apple, custom-made profiles are gone. They appear to have been deleted by the OS update. So I thus cannot simply choose my old presets because they're no longer there in the drop-down list.
Further to this thread...
I've just rebooted my laptop for the first time since re-configuring my customised Display Preset (as per above). And the settings have reset to factory defaults again. And, yet again, my customised Display Presets are GONE. Deleted by this crappy OS. I can confirm using ColorSync Utility that my calibrated ICC profile remains current and attached. BUT that only takes care of the colour settings for my display, not the brightness of the screen. With the Display Preset deleted by the OS I appear to have no option but to re-calibrate my screen AGAIN for the second time this week, all because this new OS has deleted my configuration.
Am I going to need to never reboot my computer ever again if I want my configuration to remain in place? Or does Apple expect me to recalibrate my monitor every time I reboot!?
Please fix.
Nope. Still doesn't work. I didn't even log out or restart to lose them either. All I did was make two new calibrations for the Macbook display for different brightness levels, shut the lid and unplugged it from my Studio Display and went home. Back at work this morning and they're gone when I plug back into the studio display and open my Macbook. It has defaulted to the factory Retina XDR calibration, with my two custom presets nowhere to be found.
Ben Guthrie wrote:
I'm not entirely sure why mine's working and it's no good for others. I've certainly added my own custom preset that includes custom white balance, custom luminance levels plus it calls up a calibrated colour profile. Although I did start with Apple's D65 Photography preset as my initial setting. I then calibrated to taste and saved as a custom preset. See attached.
I first had the problem of the OS deleting my custom preset back in OS 26.3.1. But, for me, the updates to 26.3.2 and more recently to 26.4 have presented no such problems. I'm running a M1 Max MacBook Pro. Maybe the problem depends on hardware?
https://discussions.apple.com/content/attachment/53d9bf55-5d61-41f4-a5c4-c3c5b0920a7a
Yeah certainly looks like a completely custom named and saved preset as you say.
Same as what I’m doing. Strange. I might have another play around with this tomorrow.
That’s interesting that this is a problem even when using the built-in Apple Pro Display Calibrator for full calibration on a custom preset. I wondered about that. Very poor that’s the case though.
No idea why your display looks like that though after closing the MacBook Pro and opening it again :-/
Dharmapunxxx wrote:
I decided to play around with it. After restarting it, I went in and recreated the custom profile from the same default preset again, but did not fine-tune it or do anything besides change the luminance to 120 and give it a different name. Since Color Sync and Calibrite both said the ICC profile Calibrite created during its calibration was still active, I wanted to confirm that. So I ran the validation again, and this time the Delta E numbers were much worse. So clearly the Calibrite calibration isn't holding. When I closed the screen and opened it again, it went back to a rainbow screen. Restarted again, this time the custom preset was still there. Did nothing but close the computer screen and reopen it, rainbow again.
isn’t that just because you haven’t got the fine tuned white point so the color shift is out more? Which is why it’s suggested to measure the white point x & y pre ICC calibration and tune target to ADOBE RGB white.
I’m just about to try out DisplayCal too as I’m still using i1Profiler for my i1Display Pro.
So I presume your ‘rainbow screen’ issue doesn’t happen if you use a default or reference preset?
You’re calibrating as Mini LED right?
Custom Display Presets deleted after OS update
