IMac – Can’t open iCloud in system preferences

imacmacos

I'm trying to open iCloud prefs in System Preferences, but I get a preferences error saying "could not load iCloud preference pane" (see screenshot). I have run disk permissions, and even installed a new OS using recovery mode, i can however open iCloud prefs using another user account on the same computer, any ideas anyone?

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Best Answer

Well you have already given us the first clue as to where the issue is:

i can however open iCloud prefs using another user account on the same computer

While it is possible that a combo updater will fix the issue it is more likely (IMHO) something specific to your user profile. How I would do it.

  1. Hold down the Option key while in Finder and select "Library" from the Go menu.
  2. You want to look for items with "icloud" in their name and move them elsewhere. I usually use the desktop or a folder on the desktop.
  3. There will be files in "Preferences" and "Application Support" and possibly elsewhere. Don't remove the folders, just any files within making note of the path each file was at.
  4. It is possible that there are other files in the same locations that deal with iCloud. poke around and move ones that might qualify.
  5. Once that is done, reboot and try opening that preference pane.

Note that you don't just delete the file in case the law of unintended consequences rears it's ugly head. So if things get worse put the files back. But I am betting that won't happen.

I am thinking that there is a damaged preference or icloud support file somewhere in your user folder and "/Users/[USERNAME]/Library/" is the most likely place for said file to be.

A reboot should cause macOS to rebuild the missing files and opening the iCloud preference pane should finish the job.

Note that it is possible that you will need to re-enter your iCloud account information once you get it working.

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