I’ve come across many statements of this issue, but I have yet to find a solution.
When I try to open a “User Preferences” window, Blender crashes. (It’s happening on 2.71 64-bit now, but it’s been doing this consistently for the last several versions.)
I can use the workaround of converting another window to UP. But I’m working with two monitors and would really like to be able to open an independent Blender window on my second screen.
Perhaps there are solutions that I may have missed?