how to install a prefPane on mac osx from commandline?

macos command-line osx-snow-leopard installation

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Simple preference panes can be "installed" by moving them to

/Users/yourname/Library/PreferencePanes/

and "uninstalled" by removing them from there (just tested it with Secrets).

You can "launch" them using open.

Many preference panes install additional daemons/agents or system components upon launch or user action. You should be able to use AppleScript to perform these UI actions, but they're custom to each preference pane.

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Vitaly Kushner

I'm one of the founders of Astrails Ltd - a web development company with focus on Ruby on Rails and other latest technologies (Erlang anyone?). I have more then 15 years of professional experience. Using Rails from 2005. If you need help with anything Web related: prototyping, development, deployment, code/security audits, usability assessments, Rails training etc, you can contact us and we'll be happy to help. More info: astrails.com LinkedIn profile Twitter profile

Updated on September 17, 2022

Comments

Vitaly Kushner over 1 year

I'm automating some system installs and I need to install a prefPane.

something like installer -pkg xxx.pkg -target / that I use for installing .pkg files.
cregox about 7 years

might be worth to mention the /System/Library/PreferencePanes as well. and, since I've already said that, why not rather than /Users/yourname/ simply using the tilde expansion ~/?
Evelina over 6 years

One tip if using command line - use cp -r something.prefPane ~/Library/PreferencePanes to install a pref pane for personal use. Don't put a / after the prefPane argument - it is directory but the / makes cp do the wrong thing.