Snow Leopard preferences will not save

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Snow Leopard preferences will not save

Hi all,

I have just recently upgraded to Lion and created a Snow Leopard partition to run some of my old pieces of music software.

I've got a bit of annoying problem where I can't chnge the mouse preferences in the Snow Leopard partition. I can change the dropdown boxes to set the right click etc. and they stay populated all the while that System Preferences is open. However, the funcitonality of the buttons does not change and when closing and re-opening System Preferences the dropdowns are populated with the default options again.

I've tried deleting SystemPreferences.plist but this hasn't helped.

EDIT: I've also removed the Documents and Downloads stacks from my dock and since restarting these have appeared again. As has the System Preferences icon in the Dock. It seems to be more widespread than just mouse preferences.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Rich

Message was edited by: RichieAHB

iMac 2.8GHz 2GB, Logic 8.0.2, Mac OS X (10.6.8), AKAI MPK49, Focusrite Saffire, Tannoy Precision 6Ds

Posted on May 26, 2012 9:51 AM

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Answer 1

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ds store

Level 7

30,745 points

May 26, 2012 10:14 AM in response to RichieAHB

You didn't use TimeMachine to migrate a 10.7 user backwards to 10.6 did you? Because in 10.7 Apple changed the User/Library folder and made it hidden, so it won't work in 10.6 and cause issues like this.

Create a new User account on the 10.6, log into it and see if your problems disappear, if so then use the Shared folder on the Computer/Drive/Users to transfer files, or use a external drive.

You might also want to try some some of the fixes here, perhaps a PRAM reset will assist as it saves data like this

Step by Step to fix your Mac

How to revert your Mac to Snow Leopard

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Answer 2

RichieAHB Author

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May 26, 2012 10:45 AM in response to ds store

So after having created a test account that stores the mouse settings prefectlywell - although I didn't use Time Machine to migrate, it was a clean install. What's the best way to get my current problematic account acting normally given it's from a fresh install?

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Answer 3

ds store

Level 7

30,745 points

May 26, 2012 12:02 PM in response to RichieAHB

It's likely a corrupted file someplace in the User/Library someplace.

You can use the #12-13 OnyX > Verify and disconver any corrupt preference files

Step by Step to fix your Mac

Last resort would be to move the data out, log into another Admin, delete the problmatic account, reboot and recreate it, move the data back in. That would give a new User/Library, but void of other things. #16-17.

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Answer 4

RichieAHB Author

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May 26, 2012 2:08 PM in response to ds store

I tried the Onyx fix but nothing came back as corrupt and the musical chairs with user accounts was definitely going to be a last resort. As it happens I found that repairing disk permissions doesn't work on the Home directory so I needed to change them in the terminal with: chmod -RN ~/Library/Preferences

Less than ideal as it seems to be a bit of a blunt command but it has solved the problem and given that I'm only going to be running a few programs in Snow Leopard if it does cause any other problems I suppose I'll just have to fix them as they appear!

Thanks very much for your help ds store 🙂

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