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Jack9034

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 17, 2011
96
0
How do I restore System Preferences to its default settings without reinstalling Lion?

Thanks in advance
 
Last edited:

Jack9034

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 17, 2011
96
0
Are you having problems with a given preference - if so which one?

I was playing around with the screen saver. Now I want it back to how it was when I first used the computer. But I do not want to restore Lion.
 

iMikeT

macrumors 68020
Jul 8, 2006
2,304
1
California
I was playing around with the screen saver. Now I want it back to how it was when I first used the computer. But I do not want to restore Lion.


What exactly do you mean by "back to how it was when [you] first used it"? You mean back to the specific screen saver you were using or the settings (the time it takes for the screen saver to become active, for example) that were set by default?
 

Jack9034

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 17, 2011
96
0
What exactly do you mean by "back to how it was when [you] first used it"? You mean back to the specific screen saver you were using or the settings (the time it takes for the screen saver to become active, for example) that were set by default?

I want to restore the System Preferences to the factory default settings.
 

robgendreau

macrumors 68040
Jul 13, 2008
3,465
329
There are an awful lot of system preferences. Since you don't want to be specific, you can march through each and use the "restore to default" button, if there is one. Many don't have one, including the Desktop & Screen Saver.

You could try creating a new user, then reboot into that user account. Then make note of the various settings you are interested in. Then reboot back into the first account and apply them.

Or just be more specific.
 

kpgh554

macrumors regular
Dec 29, 2011
201
1
iver england
I want to restore the System Preferences to the factory default settings.

go to users/your named user/preferences .com. apple system preferences.plist move to trash empty trash restart comp system prefs set to default just have to set them how you want.
 

Mal

macrumors 603
Jan 6, 2002
6,252
18
Orlando
go to users/your named user/preferences .com. apple system preferences.plist move to trash empty trash restart comp system prefs set to default just have to set them how you want.

Not only is this a very difficult post to read, it's absolutely false. That will reset the System Preferences application's preferences, not the various preferences that it can set.

However, OP, if you delete ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.screensaver.plist, it will recreate it with the default settings. I'd also suggest you calm down significantly, as your tone is getting fairly annoying.

jW
 
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