I can't open system preferences. I have fixed permissions. The disk appears to be okay per disk utilities. I re-installed Lion (OS 10.7.4) on my MacPro and system preferences will not open. I've never seen this before.
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
And it's not in your applications folder?
The Apple Support Communities are an international user to user technical support forum. As a man from Mexico my first language is Spanish. I do not speak English, however I do write in English with the aid of the Mac OS X spelling and grammar checks. I also live in a culture perhaps very very different from your own. When offering advice in the ASC, my comments are not meant to be anything more than helpful and certainly not to be taken as insults.
Restart your Mac in Safe mode and see if it will open.
have you gone to the picture of the apple in menu bar at top of page and clicked and held and opened system preferences that way?
In response to "Seventy One": Yes, it is in my application folder and it won't open after selecting it. Also, this happened after re-installing a fresh Lion 10.7.4. Any other idea's? Questions? Suggestions? I'm grateful for all input.
Here's a few things to try:
1. Open Finder -> Click Go -> Hold down the option key (ALT) -> Click Library -> Open Preferences -> Look for com.apple.systempreferences.plist -> move this file to your desktop -> Restart the machine.
2. Try a new user account -> problem still persists there?
3. Finder -> Applications -> Utilities -> Disk Utility -> Select your hard drive -> First Aid Tab -> Verify Disk Permissions -> Repair Disk Permissions -> Verify Disk (If this comes back in green writing saying your disk appears to be OK, then you don't need to repair the disk)
HI Mick: I did try all of your suggestions without any love. Interestingly I could open the system preferences on the other drives on my Mac, and using that copy I could choose a different startup disk. That allowed me to erase and re-install Lion on a different drive. I am rebuilding my apps and will eventually move my docs to that drive. I've accepted the fact that I cannot open my system preferences on this drive. Somehow it was corrupted and even though I re-installed Lion, it remains corrupted (or at least impeded by some conflicting app / file). Thought you should know. Thanks for your input. At least the discussion is here in case someone comes up with a new idea / or, even better, a solution.
i had the same problem tried everything nothing worked until i installed os x maverick for free was using 10.6.8 problem solved
can't open system preferences
