About This Mac dialog box does not open

[Diogones]

Hey all,

A friend of mine has a 2007 Macbook Pro with a fresh install of Lion on it, updated to the latest version. However, after he performed the clean install, the About This Mac dialog box did not report a serial number, and just gave the message, "Serial Number #". In an attempt to fix it, he deleted the AboutThisMac.string file located in /System/Library/CoreServices/loginwindow.app/Contents/Resources/English.lproj.

Naturally, the About This Mac dialog box no longer appears, and it was at this point he brought it to me. I've never encountered this problem, and I'm unsure of how to proceed.

I followed all the usual Mac troubleshooting steps, including repairing permissions, running in Safe Mode, and checking the disc for errors. Sadly, the dialog box and the strings file remain missing.

Is there any way that I can get the strings file to replace itself via a system command? Or do I have to completely reinstall Lion to fix the problem?

Does anyone have an idea of how I can go about recreating this file? I can always fill in the required fields with the necessary info, but I am unsure of what the original format of the file is.

 

[Kaveman]

No you will need to get one from a different computer. the .strings does not have "user" strings it has Application strings, so it won't go without it.

 

[Diogones]

Thanks for your prompt reply Kaveman! But I'm somewhat confused by what you're saying. I do understand that I need to copy one from another Mac, thanks. But what I don't get is when you say, "it won't go without it." What do you mean by that? The Mac will boot and run fine without the .strings file, unless you were referring to something else.

And I've never worked with this type of file before, so what do you mean when you say it has Applications strings, and not user strings?

Finally, I don't have another Mac on hand, so I can't copy the file. Is there a way you could upload a copy from your computer, and make it plain, without your serial number, so that I have a workable copy? I can understand if you don't want to do this, but I'm out of ideas at this point.

 

[Kaveman]

I'm meaning the "About This Mac dialog box no longer appears" won't appear without that .string file.