tookyfes

Q: User profile not saving any preference changes

I have a secondary user account who's preferences will not save. I have tried making it an administrator, but that hasn't seemed to help. The dock changes oringinally weren't saving, and I deleted the plist file, but that was a one time fix. I made changes once, and it only saved them once. Also, I have an application (Steam) that has been set to open when the user signs on. I have tried removing this program both through its own preferences panel, and also through the Start-Up items menu in the user preferences on the computer, and neither one is working. Can somebody please give me a more permanent fix? This is a very obnoxious issue and I would like it gone. Thank you very much!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Apr 22, 2012 9:00 AM

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Q: User profile not saving any preference changes

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  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 22, 2012 9:49 AM in response to tookyfes
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Apr 22, 2012 9:49 AM in response to tookyfes

    Repairing the permissions of a home folder in Lion is a complicated procedure. I don’t know of a simpler one that always works.

     

    Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

     

    Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

     

    In the Finder, select Go Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

     

    Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.

     

    Drag or copy — do not type — the following line into the Terminal window, then press return:

     

    chmod -R -N ~

     

    The command will take a noticeable amount of time to run. When a new line ending in a dollar sign ($) appears below what you entered, it’s done. You may see a few error messages about an “invalid argument” while the command is running. You can ignore those. If you get an error message with the words “Permission denied,” enter this:

     

    sudo !!

     

    You'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up.

     

    Next, boot from your recovery partition by holding down the key combination command-R at startup. Release the keys when you see a gray screen with a spinning dial.

     

    When the recovery desktop appears, select Utilities ▹ Terminal from the menu bar.

     

    In the Terminal window, enter “resetpassword” (without the quotes) and press return. A Reset Password window opens. You’re not going to reset the password.

     

    Select your boot volume if not already selected.

     

    Select your username from the menu labeled Select the user account if not already selected.

     

    Under Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs, click the Reset button.

     

    Select ▹ Restart from the menu bar.

  • by tookyfes,

    tookyfes tookyfes Apr 22, 2012 9:55 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Apr 22, 2012 9:55 AM in response to Linc Davis

    I don't have a recovery partition. My MacBook is from back in 2009, so it doesn't have that partition. Is there a way around that?

  • by Linc Davis,

    Linc Davis Linc Davis Apr 22, 2012 9:59 AM in response to tookyfes
    Level 10 (208,000 points)
    Applications
    Apr 22, 2012 9:59 AM in response to tookyfes

    Your profile says you're running Mac OS 10.7. If that's accurate, you should have a recovery partition. It has nothing to do with how old your Mac is.

  • by tookyfes,

    tookyfes tookyfes Apr 22, 2012 10:06 AM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (20 points)
    Apr 22, 2012 10:06 AM in response to Linc Davis

    Oh. I was under the impression that that partition was only available on Macs running Lion natively, and not on those that had updated from Leopard/Snow Leopard. I'll have to try this when I get home this summer as any back up I have is there, and I wouldn't want to try this unless I had that. thanks

  • by Ron Perrault,

    Ron Perrault Ron Perrault Sep 8, 2012 12:24 PM in response to Linc Davis
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 8, 2012 12:24 PM in response to Linc Davis

    I had the exact same issue when I recovered my account from a time machine backup after a hard drive failure. Extremely irritating problem to say the least.

     

    I followed the instructions and it worked like a charm!  I still can't believe how obscure this fix is however.

     

    Thanks Linc!