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TICKET ARCHIVE -> lost all prefs in osx 10 on ibook

ebora - Aug 8, 2006 - 7:57 am

did not rename home, how can I return the ibook to it's previous settings.

Cheryl - Aug 9, 2006 - 1:46 am

Rick,

When you say you lost all prefs, exactly what preferences are you talking about?

Have you created a new user and are logged into that user, rather than your original account? Did you install anything just prior to this problem?

Answers to these questions will help me determine the next step.

Cheryl

ebora - Aug 9, 2006 - 4:57 am

Lost all info in the dock, it reverted to factory settings. Mail asked for account settings, back to factory settings. Address book lost all addresses. Safari lost all bookmarks. The odd thing, this all happened after playing a DVD. No new software installation. I'm logging in as the origional user.

Cheryl - Aug 9, 2006 - 8:10 am

Rick,

Did you move your Home folder or delete a preference in hard drive>Library or Home>Library? Check the Trash to see what files or folders are in there.

Double check that you have a preference folder in Home>Library.

Also, did you notice if any programs you have installed have disappeared?

The only thing I can think of that would cause this is if you had moved your home folder or Library folder in Home folder, or if you reinstalled the OS and did not do an archive & preserve install.

Cheryl

ebora - Aug 10, 2006 - 5:23 am

I didn't delete any folders. There is a prefrence folder in the home library. Only the alias of programs are gone from the dock. I have not lost a program. No reinstall of OS. By the way what is the difference between the hard drive library and home library. Should they be the same or not?

Thank you for your time,
Rick

Cheryl - Aug 10, 2006 - 7:37 am

Rick,

The Library folder on Hard drive is for the system itself. It holds receipts of software and updates installed, main computer preferences (like date & Time, appearance, etc).
The Library folder in Home is with your particular preferences. Like the high scores of games that you played and registration of programs you installed. While some preference files may look the same, they hold slightly different information.
If you were to create a new user, that new user would also have a library folder with his/her preferences.

Your problem is odd, but there a few things you should do before resetting everything manually.

Go to Applications>Utilities and start up Disk Utility.
When that opens, click on the second icon in the side bar at the far left.
Now click on Repair Permissions. Repair Disk will be grayed out.
Let it repair the permissions, then quit Disk Utility.
Now log out - or restart the computer.

Do those icons come back?

Cheryl