My Screen Saver preferences hangs when I try to change the source for photos. Previously it was using a CIFS share which has now died but the prefs keeps trying to access the share and never allows me to change the source.
Is it possible to reset the prefs for the screen saver to the default values. (Mac OS 10.11.6) via some other means than System Prefs ie rewrite plist to defaults
iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6)
Trash these files them try opening Sys Prefs...
/Users/YourUserName//Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktop.plist
Users/YourUserName//Library/Preferences/com.apple.recentitems.plist
/Users/YourUserName//Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/YourUserName//Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.screensaver.<12digitHe x#>.plist
/Users/YourUserName//Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.ScreenSaverPhotoChoose r.<12digitHex#>.plist
I did this and after doing a killall cfprefsd the screen saver options has now changed so that there are no options for source (ie Photo Library or Folders) . The only screensaver is the coloured pattern and it has a "screen saver options" button to change speed / colour etc. When I click that I get the "CIFS: servername not found" message.
is there a way to use the "defaults" command to recreate the plist files with their default values and is there anywhere else which could be looking for the CIFS share?
I see this message recurring in the console:
01/09/2016 13:47:06.865 com.apple.MediaLibraryService[917]: Unable to determine system photo library URL. Error: Error Domain=com.apple.reddwarf Code=20 "RDErrorLibraryURLBookmarkResolutionFailed" UserInfo={NSURLVolumeNameKey=Macintosh HD, NSURLVolumeUUIDStringKey=B137BFD0-D30C-33B5-853A-EEF25C5873A9, _NSURLPathKey=/Users/Mandy/Pictures/Photos Library.photoslibrary, NSURLVolumeURLKey=file:///, NSLocalizedDescription=RDErrorLibraryURLBookmarkResolutionFailed}
I not sure exactly how to help, espically if you have made a lot of system modifications...?
But I would first try, restarting and rebuilding the spotlight index.
Rebuild the Spotlight index on your Mac - Apple Support
Then if that does not help, I would use OS X Recovery and reinstall OS X over the top of the current mess.
About OS X Recovery - Apple Support
One other thing that is still unclear at this time, is if your photo library and user data are on your internal drive or somewhere else like on an external server....?
The photo library and user data are local. The CIFS share is no longer active and as far as I can tell not configured anywhere although it was previously used as a location for screen saver photos.
What exactly do you see when you open your ScreenSaver panel and click on the Source arrows...?
(posting a command shift 4 screenshot here would be helpful)
If you see loading photos, then you may just need to wait a little longer before you can select anything.
If you see nothing, then I can only re-suggest re-install OS X as I suggested above.
I finally resolved by removing all the 'User/Library/Preferences/iLifeAssetManagement plist files
The issue was pretty much identical to this
http://forums.macrumors.com/threads/slideshow-screen-saver-stuck-at-loading-phot os.1596118/
Screen Saver preferences hangs
