system preferences disappeared

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So I accidentally removed my Systems Preferences icon from my Dock, and now I can't find it ANYWHERE. It's not in my Applications folder. I can't find it with Spotlight. When I click on Systems Preferences under the upper left apple icon, nothing happens. WHERE DID IT GO??? Any ideas? Thanks.
 

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Hey,

Try going to the PreferencePanes folder in your Library folder. You should have some .prefPane files in there. If you do, what happens when you click on one?

Which version of OS X do you have installed currently? Do you keep backups?

Ryan
 

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What happens if you click the Apple menu and go to System Preferences?
 
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Thanks for your replies. My Preferences Pane folder is empty; there is a file under Preferences entitles com.apple.systempreferences.plist; when I click on it it opens TextEdit and a strange black box appears.

When I click System Preferences under the Apple menu, nothing happens. Thanks again.
 
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Even not at the application folder ?
There should System Preference.app
Drag it to you taskbar
Or use the Launchpad to run System Preference
 

chscag

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Thanks for your replies. My Preferences Pane folder is empty; there is a file under Preferences entitles com.apple.systempreferences.plist; when I click on it it opens TextEdit and a strange black box appears.

When I click System Preferences under the Apple menu, nothing happens. Thanks again.

You're going to need to reinstall OS X in order to get back System Preferences which it appears you accidentally deleted. Unless you have a recent backup or any backup, reinstalling is going to be your only solution.
 
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You're going to need to reinstall OS X in order to get back System Preferences which it appears you accidentally deleted. Unless you have a recent backup or any backup, reinstalling is going to be your only solution.

I try to move System Preference to trash .
But it did not allow me to do so
So how can somebody delete it by accident .
BTW I am running Lion .
 

chscag

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I'm not sure how he did it (perhaps the permissions were changed) but there is no other explanation of why it's no longer there. We have had other folks report the same thing happen to them as reported by the OP.

Regardless of how it was removed, the only way to get it back is to reinstall.
 

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I'm not sure how he did it (perhaps the permissions were changed) but there is no other explanation of why it's no longer there. We have had other folks report the same thing happen to them as reported by the OP.

Regardless of how it was removed, the only way to get it back is to reinstall.

Couldn't you use Pacifist to pull it off the system discs?
 

chscag

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Couldn't you use Pacifist to pull it off the system discs?

Good point, I had forgotten about that.

@tmccarvi

Pacifist should work and can be downloaded from here. LINK It's $20 to buy a license.
 

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