Could not load display preference pane Yosemite

I had went into my Display window in System Preferences to change the rotation of my screen, upon trying to re-open the Display window, I get the error Could not load display preference pane. Now my screen is stuck upside down and I cannot fix it to save my life. I tried deleting com.apple.systempreferences and the desktop.db and restarting but it doesn't work.


Please please please help me.


Yosemite 10.10.2

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013), OS X Yosemite (10.10.2)

Posted on Mar 27, 2015 8:57 PM

Reply
23 replies

Mar 28, 2015 8:50 AM in response to Brejuro

Brejuro wrote:


I had went into my Display window in System Preferences to change the rotation of my screen, upon trying to re-open the Display window, I get the error Could not load display preference pane. Now my screen is stuck upside down and I cannot fix it to save my life. I tried deleting com.apple.systempreferences and the desktop.db and restarting but it doesn't work.


Please please please help me.


Yosemite 10.10.2

Did you try to reset computer's PRAM: OS X Yosemite: Reset your computer’s PRAM

Jun 27, 2015 11:08 AM in response to Brejuro

In case anyone else finds this thread, I've since found the correct solution. There is no need to download anything.

Restart the computer in safe mode. Certain caches maintained by the system will be rebuilt.

Safe mode is much slower to start up than normal. The next normal startup may also be somewhat slow.

When the login screen appears, restart as usual (not in safe mode) and test. There's no need to log in while in safe mode.

Note: If FileVault is enabled in OS X 10.9 or earlier, or if a firmware password is set, or if the startup volume is a software RAID, you can’t start in safe mode. In that case, ask for instructions.

Mar 27, 2015 9:43 PM in response to Brejuro

Back up all data. Quit System Preferences if it's running.

Triple-click anywhere in the line below on this page to select it, then copy the text to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C:

~/Library/Preferences/ByHost

In the Finder, select

Go Go to Folder...

from the menu bar. Paste into the box that opens (command-V), then press return. A folder named "ByHost" should open. Look inside it for a file with a long name that begins "com.apple.windowserver". There may be several such files. Move them all to the Trash.

Log out or restart the computer. Test. If the problem is resolved, empty the Trash and recreate your settings in the Screen Saver tab.

Mar 28, 2015 1:05 PM in response to Brejuro

Launch the Console 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 and start typing the name.

The title of the Console window should be All Messages. If it isn't, select

SYSTEM LOG QUERIES ▹ All Messages

from the log list on the left. If you don't see that list, select

View ▹ Show Log List

from the menu bar at the top of the screen.

Click the Clear Display icon in the toolbar. Then try to open the preference pane. Select any messages that appear in the Console window. Copy them to the Clipboard by pressing the key combination command-C. Paste into a reply to this message by pressing command-V.

The log contains a vast amount of information, almost all of which is irrelevant to solving any particular problem. When posting a log extract, be selective. A few dozen lines are almost always more than enough.

Please don't indiscriminately dump thousands of lines from the log into this discussion.

Please don't post screenshots of log messages—post the text.

Some private information, such as your name or email address, may appear in the log. Anonymize before posting.

Mar 28, 2015 2:43 PM in response to Linc Davis

Not sure how discussion boards work but need some help with an issue. From reading thru the posts here I am hoping that LINC DAVIS can help me with the problem I am having. If this message gets to you (Linc Davis) can you please let me know how to get in touch with you? If you are willing to try and help me with tho, that is. I'm not really sure how to explain my problem in a way that makes sense by typing it all out on this board.


I know this is random and is a lot to ask of you but I already was leary about posting on public forums over the internet and now my issue has to do with internet security, hacking, and how to see the source of it and secure my computers. Kinda paranoid at this point. lol

Apr 8, 2015 8:24 PM in response to Brejuro

Brejuro,


I too had this issue, caused by using RDM to modify my 2014 rMBP's resolution, and then using the Displays preference pane to rotate the display. It somehow corrupted the Displays preference pane. The way I solved the issue was to download a third-party tool called Display Rotation Menu, from http://www.magesw.com/displayrotation/. This allowed me to reset the rotation back to "Landscape" (default). Initially, the Displays preference pane still had the same error, but after a restart everything seems to be working perfectly. Hopefully you have solved your issue already, but if not, I hope this method works for you (and all others reading this thread).


All the best,


JB

Jul 6, 2015 6:06 AM in response to whosyourtator

For anyone else who has tried everything and finds this thread...


If you have tried:

Safe Boot

Check in Different Admin + Guest Account

Copy in a known good 'Displays' Pref Pane

Permission Repair

SMC / PRAM Resets

Delete Display Prefs

Delete Display db's

Use 3rd Party Res Switcher

Use 3rd Party Display Rotate (did work but only to the point it would bring up the non-retina pane - quit and reopen sys prefs and the issue reverted)


...and nothing has worked (but not yet done either a system restore or re-overlay from Recovery)


What will work (and is not quite as invasive/daunting for some as the System Restore Options) is a 10.10.4 Combo Update. Download, Install, Repair Permissions and you are done.


For Reference:

My issue was caused due to a bug when updating to the 33b and 36b beta builds from either the quarzi 10.10.3 (2xxx) or the 26 beta build of 10.10.4 on a MBP11,4. The issue was resolved in the 46 release version of 10.10.4 but not in the delta update. The Combo update resolves.... As to exactly what is causing this or, indeed, the file/pref/config that is at the heart of the issue - afraid I am uncertain. Normally I will work till I get the answer but as this is such a rare issue for myself and a simple fix has been located - I will not be putting any more time into it.


Hope this helps anyone googling to get a solution...

Aug 31, 2015 3:22 PM in response to Brejuro

[ I HAVE THE FIX ]


I had this problem 30 minutes ago, It was a terrible shock because it happened on my brother's computer after telling him about this rotation trick. His display got stuck upside down and the error message "could not open display preferences pane" kept showing up. To fix it I reset his PRAM which seemed to do nothing, then I shut down the computer, waited a while, and booted it in safe mode. There I had access to all the display preferences and after restarting the computer the display was back to its default setting.


TL;DR 1. shut down the computer 2. wait a minute 3. Launch in Safe Mode by holding Shift after the tone. 4. Correct settings and restart computer 5. Feel the relief

Oct 22, 2015 10:19 PM in response to düby

I'd just like to point out that this actually worked for me as well. 2013 MBPr running 10.11.1.


Solution was to boot into Safe Mode, but for whatever reason I couldn't boot into Safe Mode by holding Shift on restart so I had to apply boot arguments using terminal commands; Luckily..


sudo nvram boot-args="-x"


to set the Safe Boot, and..


sudo nvram boot-args=""


to remove the arguments still worked in 10.11.


The screen will blink and flash a couple times as you log in, which is seemingly normal.


Good luck to anyone else who runs into this problem. That's two hours of my life I'll never get back. 😠

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Could not load display preference pane Yosemite

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