Can't open Security & Privacy preference pane?...please help.

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Level 1

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Can't open Security & Privacy preference pane?...please help.

Hi All,

I would be grateful if anyone could assist... I can't seem to open the security & privacy preference pane. I receive the following "Preferences Error" upon trying to click the icon in my system preferences:

First click: You can’t open Security & Privacy preferences because it doesn’t work on an Intel-based Mac.

Second click: Could not load Security & Privacy preference pane.

I noticed the issue this past week when I installed some monitor callibration software. After downloading, the software's interface text did not load (it was simply blank for the drop down menus). The manufacturer tried to help me by clearing font cache and such, but that was not the issue. When he next directed me to the S&P pane, that's when I noticed I couldn't open it to adjust anything.

* I did go into Users & Groups and created a new admin user. I was then able to open the Security & Privacy pane, and load the monitor calibration software without any problems, so it seems to be a user issue I suppose? Tried to trash some security preferences, reinstalled 10.8.2, but with no luck.

Thanks for your assistance!

Mac Pro, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 2008 Mac Pro WITH Intel Xeon!

Posted on Mar 6, 2013 1:17 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Eric Root

Level 10

684,015 points

Mar 6, 2013 2:46 PM in response to smndigital

Permission rebuild user account: You may need to rebuild permissions on your user account. To do this,boot to your Recovery partition (holding down the Command and R keys while booting) and open Terminal from the Utilities menu. In Terminal, type: 'resetpassword' (without the 's) and select the admin user. You are not going to reset your password. Click on the icon for your Macs hard drive at the top. From the drop down below it select the user account which is having issues. At the bottom of the window, you'll see an area labeled Restore Home Directory Permissions and ACLs. Click the reset button there. The process takes a few minutes. When complete, restart.

http://osxdaily.com/2011/11/15/repair-user-permissions-in-mac-os-x-lion/

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Answer 2

smndigital Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 6, 2013 8:26 PM in response to Eric Root

Hi Eric - I greatly appreciate your help, but unfortunately it didn't work. Security & Privacy still seems to be the only preference pane I can't access (same error messages as original post). Do you have any other suggestions?

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

684,015 points

Mar 7, 2013 10:03 AM in response to smndigital

Try booting into the Safe Mode. Shut down the computer and then power it back up. Immediately after hearing the startup chime, hold down the shift key and continue to hold it until the gray Apple icon and a progress bar appear. The boot up is significantly slower than normal. This does some maintenance routines and 3rd party applications don't load. Sometimes 3rd party applications are the problem. If your normal user account works in Safe Mode, it is probably a 3rd part application.

Safe Mode

Safe Mode - About

General information.

Isolating issues in Mac OS X

Troubleshooting Permission Issues

Step by Step to Fix Your Mac

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Answer 4

smndigital Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 7, 2013 12:14 PM in response to Eric Root

Everything works fine in safe mode. After rebooting, I can now access the Security & Privacy preference pane with the exception of the firewall tab. And I still have my original issue of the monitor callibration software loading without any text. Where to from here? In the meantime I'm going try uninstalling some recent software to see where that gets me. And thank you for all your assistance, time, and patience already!

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Answer 5

Eric Root

Level 10

684,015 points

Mar 7, 2013 4:47 PM in response to smndigital

I think your current plan of uninstalling some recent software is the way to go for now. The fact a new user account doesn't have a problem and the Safe Mode works fine indicates there may be a problem with 3rd party software.

Glad to try to help. Computer frustration isn't real high on my list of fun things either. 😁

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Answer 6

smndigital Author

Level 1

10 points

Mar 7, 2013 6:14 PM in response to Eric Root

Yeah...computers can really suck. But the good news is that I'm back up and running smooth finally - woohoo! After the software uninstalls didn't work I decided to trash all the fonts and reinstall only the system fonts on the computer. Well, turns out there really must have been some corrupted fonts even though they were all validated (through fontbook and a couple other font repair software programs). Firewall tab in system preferences is back up as well. Thank you again so much for your time - very kind of you. Cheers.

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