Solution did not work for me
I have the same problem, but this solution did not work for me. When I start up my computer, it automatically logs me into an administrator account, but not the root account. When I try to adjust this via accounts, System Preferences crashes. I really hope someone can help! Here is the crash report:
Process: System Preferences [12494]
Path: /Applications/System Preferences.app/Contents/MacOS/System Preferences
Identifier: com.apple.systempreferences
Version: 7.0 (7.0)
Build Info: SystemPrefsApp-1750100~19
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [133]
Date/Time: 2011-12-29 21:21:52.139 -0500
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.6.8 (10K549)
Report Version: 6
Interval Since Last Report: 396546 sec
Crashes Since Last Report: 1
Per-App Interval Since Last Report: 10 sec
Per-App Crashes Since Last Report: 1
Anonymous UUID: 1D4A57A2-F5A3-4B7F-BC15-8D561CA1AA0F
Exception Type: EXC_BAD_ACCESS (SIGSEGV)
Exception Codes: KERN_INVALID_ADDRESS at 0x0000000115625860
Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
Application Specific Information:
objc_msgSend() selector name: willSelect
objc[12494]: garbage collection is ON
Thread 0 Crashed: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 libobjc.A.dylib 0x00007fff89d47f0c objc_msgSend + 40
1 com.apple.systempreferences 0x0000000100008426 0x100000000 + 33830
2 com.apple.systempreferences 0x0000000100011bec 0x100000000 + 72684
3 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff87b567dc -[NSApplication _doOpenFile

k:tryTemp:] + 330
4 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff87ba7c57 -[NSApplication(NSAppleEventHandling) _handleAEOpenDocumentsForURLs:] + 766
5 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff87bd9098 -[NSApplication(NSScripting) handleOpenScriptCommand:] + 323
6 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff854db93c __invoking___ + 140
7 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff854db80d -[NSInvocation invoke] + 141
8 com.apple.CoreFoundation 0x00007fff854f76e1 -[NSInvocation invokeWithTarget:] + 49
9 com.apple.Foundation 0x00007fff848e32f8 -[NSScriptCommand _sendToRemainingReceivers] + 478
10 com.apple.Foundation 0x00007fff848e3f3d -[NSScriptCommand executeCommand] + 845
11 com.apple.Foundation 0x00007fff848faf86 -[NSScriptingAppleEventHandler handleCommandEvent:withReplyEvent:] + 222
12 com.apple.Foundation 0x00007fff847f20d6 -[NSAppleEventManager dispatchRawAppleEvent:withRawReply:handlerRefCon:] + 360
13 com.apple.Foundation 0x00007fff847f1f06 _NSAppleEventManagerGenericHandler + 114
14 com.apple.Foundation 0x00007fff8484a12e _NSAppleEventManagerPreDispatchHandler + 347
15 com.apple.AE 0x00007fff89aa032b aeDispatchAppleEvent(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*, unsigned int, unsigned char*) + 162
16 com.apple.AE 0x00007fff89aa0224 dispatchEventAndSendReply(AEDesc const*, AEDesc*) + 32
17 com.apple.AE 0x00007fff89aa012b aeProcessAppleEvent + 210
18 com.apple.HIToolbox 0x00007fff83959619 AEProcessAppleEvent + 48
19 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff87979095 _DPSNextEvent + 1191
20 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff87978801 -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] + 155
21 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff8793e68f -[NSApplication run] + 395
22 com.apple.AppKit 0x00007fff879373b0 NSApplicationMain + 364
23 com.apple.systempreferences 0x0000000100001cf4 0x100000000 + 7412
Thread 1: Dispatch queue: com.apple.libdispatch-manager
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a193c0a kevent + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a195add _dispatch_mgr_invoke + 154
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a1957b4 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 185
3 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a1952de _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 252
4 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194c08 _pthread_wqthread + 353
5 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194aa5 start_wqthread + 13
Thread 2:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194a2a __workq_kernreturn + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194e3c _pthread_wqthread + 917
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194aa5 start_wqthread + 13
Thread 3:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194a2a __workq_kernreturn + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194e3c _pthread_wqthread + 917
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194aa5 start_wqthread + 13
Thread 4:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194a2a __workq_kernreturn + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194e3c _pthread_wqthread + 917
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194aa5 start_wqthread + 13
Thread 5:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a1b5a6a __semwait_signal + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a1b58f9 nanosleep + 148
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a2029ac sleep + 61
3 ??? 0x00000001155d4947 0 + 4653402439
4 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a1b6d64 _dispatch_call_block_and_release + 15
5 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a1958d2 _dispatch_queue_drain + 251
6 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a195734 _dispatch_queue_invoke + 57
7 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a1952de _dispatch_worker_thread2 + 252
8 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194c08 _pthread_wqthread + 353
9 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194aa5 start_wqthread + 13
Thread 6:
0 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194a2a __workq_kernreturn + 10
1 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194e3c _pthread_wqthread + 917
2 libSystem.B.dylib 0x00007fff8a194aa5 start_wqthread + 13
Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (64-bit):
rax: 0x0000000000000001 rbx: 0x0000000200038b20 rcx: 0x00000002000b4171 rdx: 0x00007fff5fbfe5e0
rdi: 0x000000020035d4e0 rsi: 0x00007fff8004f6bc rbp: 0x00007fff5fbfeaf0 rsp: 0x00007fff5fbfe8b8
r8: 0x0000000000000008 r9: 0x0000000000000000 r10: 0x0000000000000001 r11: 0x0000000115625850
r12: 0x0000000000000002 r13: 0x000000020035d4e0 r14: 0x00000002000b5300 r15: 0x0000000200042480
rip: 0x00007fff89d47f0c rfl: 0x0000000000010202 cr2: 0x0000000115625860
----------
The crash report was too long to put in one post, so please let me know if you need the rest to diagnose the problem
