How to reset the Maya Preferences to Default

Autodesk Support

Jul 2, 2020

Products and versions covered

Issue:

Corrupted or unintentionally changed preferences are causing functionality and stability issues in Maya. The resulting behavior may include, but is not limited to:

  • Missing UI elements.
  • Loss of keyboard shortcuts.
  • Lagging performance.
  • Incorrect tool behavior.
  • Improper display settings.
  • Tools, buttons, or settings are missing.
  • Plug-ins failing to load.
  • Frequent crashing or failure starting up.
  • Grids or objects disappeared.

Causes:

Corrupted preferences are causing functionality and stability issues in Maya; after extended use and scene manipulation, the Maya preferences may become corrupted.

Solution:

Reset the Maya preferences using the following steps based on the applicable operating system:
 

Resetting preferences on Mac:

  1. In the Finder, click the Go menu and then click "Go to folder..."

    /Users/<username>/Library/Preferences/Autodesk/Maya/<version>/

Note: If copy/pasting the path from above, edit USERNAME (custom username for the computer/account) and VERSION (version of the software in use) as appropriate​​
 

  1. Click "Go" or press Enter
  2. Locate the prefs folder and rename it to prefsOld.
  3. Restart Maya. If prompted to, select the option to Create Default Preferences.


Resetting preferences on Windows:

  1. Use explorer to navigate to the following directory:

    C:\Users\<username>\My Documents\Maya\<version>\

Note: If copy/pasting the path from above, edit USERNAME (custom username for the computer/account) and VERSION (version of the software in use) as appropriate​​.​​
 

  1. Locate the prefs folder and rename it to prefsOld.
  2. Restart Maya. If prompted to, select the option to Create Default Preferences.

 

Resetting preferences on Linux:

  1. Use file explorer to navigate to the following directory

    ~<username>/Maya/<version>/ 

Note: If copy/pasting the path from above, edit USERNAME (custom username for the computer/account) and VERSION (version of the software in use) as appropriate​​
 

  1. Locate the prefs folder and rename it to prefsOld.
  2. Restart Maya. If prompted to, select the option to Create Default Preferences.


On all operating systems, it is possible to rename the preferences folder rather than deleting it, for instance "Documents/maya/2016" can be renamed "Documents/maya/2016Old".


Missing Prefs folder:

If the prefs folder is missing, use the following guides to find it: 

Products:

Maya;

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