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Double System preferences icons after upgrade (?) to Big Sur

I just upgraded my 2020 intel 13" macbook pro to big sur. Now I have double System preferences icons. One appears to be new with big Sur. For some, only one of the icons is functional, and for some, both are functional. I did reinstall the Big Sur OS, but it did not help.


Anyone else have that issue? Any suggested solutions?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Nov 19, 2020 7:24 PM

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Posted on Nov 20, 2020 7:25 AM

De-selecting the icon just hides it. Aside from that cosmetic change it doesn't do anything.


If you don't want to elicit Apple's assistance just yet, then create a Time Machine backup: Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac. Forget third party "clone" products. You don't need them. Then, erase the startup drive, reinstall macOS, and when asked to transfer information select the Time Machine backup.


That's certain to fix it, although you'll never know why it happened. Obviously it's the result of an upgrade that didn't go well.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Nov 20, 2020 7:25 AM in response to mikel51

De-selecting the icon just hides it. Aside from that cosmetic change it doesn't do anything.


If you don't want to elicit Apple's assistance just yet, then create a Time Machine backup: Back up your files with Time Machine on Mac. Forget third party "clone" products. You don't need them. Then, erase the startup drive, reinstall macOS, and when asked to transfer information select the Time Machine backup.


That's certain to fix it, although you'll never know why it happened. Obviously it's the result of an upgrade that didn't go well.

Nov 19, 2020 9:54 PM in response to John Galt

I actually have reinstalled the system from mac OS recovery. It didn't help. Even weirder. If I uncheck one of the duplicates when I customize the display, both of the duplicates disappear.


The other issue I am having is with Parallels desktop. It won't launch. I am sorry I upgraded. I had cloned my hard drive using Carbon copy cloner prior to upgrading, but somehow that clone is corrupted. It is still a bootable drive, but all my applications and files are gone. So I can't easily downgrade back to 10.15.7

Nov 23, 2020 8:55 AM in response to DavidGoggins

The suggestion from John Galt solved the problem for me. I created a time machine backup. I then installed Big Sur (erasing the hard drive in the process). I then used migration assistant to move my settings, applications, documents and desktop (I.e. everything) to the Big Sur install. Not only did that solve the double icons in system preferences, but also solved other problems such as Parallels Desktop not running and other minor weirdnesses.


My conclusion is to avoid upgrading from Catalyst to Big Sur on top of Catalyst. Just do a clean install of Big Sur and then use migration assistant to restore “yourself.”


it really helps to have a nice fast NVME Thunderbolt drive for the backup and restore.


Thank you John Galt!!!!!!!

Double System preferences icons after upgrade (?) to Big Sur

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