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Cannot open System Preferences

I cannot open system preferences. When I click on the icon on dock, it bounces up and down as it would normally do, but nothing happens. I’ve already tried to delete some caches, reset smc and prm etc. But it still doesn’t work. Your help will be greatly appreciated.

MacBook Air 11", macOS 10.13

Posted on Jun 17, 2019 1:55 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 17, 2019 2:03 AM

Try restarting in Safe Boot Mode (by powering off, powering on, holding down shift immediately for 30 seconds and let go) to see if it works in there. If so, restart normally and see if you can now get inside System Preferences during a normal boot.


If this doesn't work boot into recovery mode (COMMAND R on power-on) and select to Reinstall macOS. This will do a refresh reinstall, it won't erase any data, apps, content, etc. It will just replace any corrupted system files.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 17, 2019 2:03 AM in response to scheisseapfel

Try restarting in Safe Boot Mode (by powering off, powering on, holding down shift immediately for 30 seconds and let go) to see if it works in there. If so, restart normally and see if you can now get inside System Preferences during a normal boot.


If this doesn't work boot into recovery mode (COMMAND R on power-on) and select to Reinstall macOS. This will do a refresh reinstall, it won't erase any data, apps, content, etc. It will just replace any corrupted system files.

Cannot open System Preferences

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