I've got "Preference Error: Could not load Users

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem. I updated Snow Leopard to Lion on a MacBook Pro, and enabled the Guest account just for sharing. Then I saw the login icon on the menu bar, which I didn't add, so went to the System Preferences to access Users & Groups but I get the same error.

Any help appreciated.

Cheers, marcello

I can log in as guest (user = guest, no pass), and from there I can access the Users & Groups preferences for that account. In the worst case, from there I could create a new admin account and then remove my previous one. However I would like to avoid that...

I tried to create a new admin account, but then once logged in with that account, I tried to open Users & Groups but nothing: still the same error. It seems I can only access that panel from the Guest account...

Anyone out there with the same problem? (or better with a solution to it...)

Sounds like you have a badly corrupt preference file. I had the same problem and the only thing that cleared it up for me was a complete reinstall of Lion. Sorry to give you this bad news but that was the only way to fix it for me. No matter what I tried, the pesky file wreaked havok on several things in the system.

Thanks for the reply. It seems to be a problem with Lion then (it even happens with clean installations). Well, no doubts Lion would be immature. I should have waited for the first "service pack" before installing it...

Did you make sure you had all the latest updates to Snow Leopard before you started? Did you verify/repair disk permissions? Does your Disk Utiliy work? Mine didn't work during the troubled times, the system prefs and that were hosed.

I still have smooth sailing since the last reinstall of Lion.

Yes, made sure all required software was there before updating to Lion. Also, I've checked and DiskUtility works file. I just repeared some disk permissions but sitll the Users preference pane doesn't open up.

@MasaT: now that you have reinstalled Lion, have you tried to enable the Guest account and see if your Users pane works?

I am experiencing the same error.

I was running OS X 10.6.8 (with the supplement 10.6.8 v1.1). I regularly repair permissions, once a month or so. Other control panels seem to work, just not this one.

Oddly, the Parental Controls pref pane shows "Guest account" and "Guest account1". These would seem to give a little bit of credibility to the idea that something is messed up with the guest account after upgrading to Lion. Also, neither guest account could be deleted from the Parental Controls pref pane, even though there is a minus button which ostensibly allows you to do that. I get a confirmation, "Are you sure you want to delete the user account "Guest Account"? The user account "Guest Account" will be deleted permanently." But if I click OK, nothing happens. Same for both guest accounts.

Yes, same problem here. I have two Guest accounts while I only enabled one.

I used Directory Utility (/System/Library/Core Services/Directory Utility) to delete two extra Guest accounts ("Guest1" and "Guest2").

After deleting those two records I could open the Users & Groups System Preference Pane.

Thanks, David. That worked for me too.

Thanks David, that also worked for me.

I had the same problem on *three* separate macs all running Snow Leopard 1.6.8. Not only were my System Preferences > Accounts not loading but so too was the Disk Utility crashing every time I opened. I also tried opening the Directory Utility as suggested above, and that too was frazzled.

I fixed everything in one fell swoop by following Sirsky's solution on this thread:

I used Pacifist to open my Mac OS X Install DVD (10.6) and manually pulled out the PlatformHardwareManagement.framework. The one that was installed on my system was dated March '07, I replaced it with the one from the installer DVD.