Where are the prefs in System Preferences located?

[Caleb531]

I'm not talking about the System Preferences app itself, I'm talking about the settings within the app. So for instance, the security settings, and the mouse settings, energy saver, etc.

Where can I find the settings files on my Mac so I can back them up?

 

[Mal]

/Library/Preferences
and
~/Library/Preferences (the ~ represents your user folder).

They'll have names like com.apple.***.plist, with the *** representing the name of the preference pane generally, though not always exactly. Usually you can identify them pretty easily by the name though.

jW

 

[Caleb531]

Thanks. I've been looking in the user prefs folder, but I forgot about the main one (in the top Library folder).

 

[Gregg2]

They'll have names like com.apple.***.plist, with the *** representing the name of the preference pane generally, though not always ...

I'd say not frequently. Here's what I found in my Home Folder:

/Users/MyUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systempreferences.plist
/Users/MyUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.dashboard.plist
/Users/MyUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.SoftwareUpdate.plist
/Users/MyUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.soundpref.plist
/Users/MyUserName/Library/Preferences/com.apple.systemsound.plist