Zedley

Q: Stop apps from reopening on restart in Yosemite

I've been Googling the answer to this for the past several days, but I think a lack of common nomenclature is making it difficult to find the answer.

 

Here's the problem: Let's say I have Chrome w/ three tabs and Pages open on my Mac Mini. If I go to the Apple Menu and restart, when the computer restarts I want to see nothing other than my desktop. However, regardless of whether "Close windows when quitting an app" in System Preferences > General is checked, the apps (and their respective tabs/windows/documents) pop up, too.

 

App state persistence, reopening apps on start, resume — whatever it's called, I want to disable it. It's super annoying. As mentioned, I tried the checkbox in System Preferences (checked and unchecked), and cannot find anything else that even refers to this. Happens on my Late 2012 Mac Mini and Late 2012 13" MacBook Pro.

 

Can anyone help?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2012), OS X Yosemite (10.10.1)

Posted on Dec 2, 2014 3:29 PM

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Q: Stop apps from reopening on restart in Yosemite

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  • Helpful answers

  • by Kappy,Solvedanswer

    Kappy Kappy Dec 2, 2014 3:33 PM in response to Zedley
    Level 10 (271,472 points)
    Desktops
    Dec 2, 2014 3:33 PM in response to Zedley

    When you shutdown or restart the computer you should see this dialog:

     

    Shutdown Dialog.png

     

    Uncheck the box.

  • by sberman,

    sberman sberman Dec 2, 2014 3:36 PM in response to Zedley
    Level 8 (40,465 points)
    Dec 2, 2014 3:36 PM in response to Zedley

    When you request your restart (or shut down), a check box appears stating something like "Reopen windows when logging back in".  Make sure it is checked or unchecked as you wish.

     

    Also check System Preferences > Users & Groups > Login Items

  • by fermusic01,

    fermusic01 fermusic01 Mar 24, 2015 6:54 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 24, 2015 6:54 AM in response to Kappy

    ....this is obvious but

    how to disable resume after install drivers or after a system crash?

    This is very bad situation because when a system crash happens i do not want wait 20 minutes!ì in order that all apps that was openeg and maybe there is the one that have caused the system crash ...

    I know about use "Shift during startup but this is not always possible and this requires a lot of time because restart as SAFE MODE is not a solution of this question

     

    how to permanently disable this not professional feature?

     

    Thanks

  • by Kappy,

    Kappy Kappy Mar 24, 2015 9:19 AM in response to fermusic01
    Level 10 (271,472 points)
    Desktops
    Mar 24, 2015 9:19 AM in response to fermusic01

    There are only two other areas you can check. First, open Users & Groups and click on Login Items tab. Disable any entries you don't want started at login by selecting them and clicking on the Delete [-] button.

     

    Next, open General preferences and check the second option here:

     

    Screen Shot 2015-03-24 at 12.18.44 PM.png

  • by interactivenyc,

    interactivenyc interactivenyc Jul 24, 2015 8:09 PM in response to fermusic01
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jul 24, 2015 8:09 PM in response to fermusic01

    I have this same problem. There should be a way to disable this in Preferences. I believe I've unchecked the box when I manually restart, and the apps open anyway.

  • by bobfliesaloneatnightwithhisdog,

    bobfliesaloneatnightwithhisdog bobfliesaloneatnightwithhisdog Aug 4, 2015 9:46 PM in response to sberman
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 4, 2015 9:46 PM in response to sberman

    Very helpful as clicking that "OBVIOUS box" doesn't override a locked assignment in the Login Items Start up menu.

  • by sberman,

    sberman sberman Aug 4, 2015 9:53 PM in response to bobfliesaloneatnightwithhisdog
    Level 8 (40,465 points)
    Aug 4, 2015 9:53 PM in response to bobfliesaloneatnightwithhisdog

    bobfliesaloneatnightwithhisdog wrote:

     

    Very helpful as clicking that "OBVIOUS box" doesn't override a locked assignment in the Login Items Start up menu.

    Nor should it override a locked assignment.  If an assignment is locked and not removed with a password, there is a reason.

  • by Joseph Lurie,

    Joseph Lurie Joseph Lurie Aug 13, 2015 12:07 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 13, 2015 12:07 AM in response to Kappy

    It's a good start: now, how do I make the box default to being unchecked? I presume there should be some command I can launch in Terminal to change that setting.

  • by Rowdy Man,

    Rowdy Man Rowdy Man Sep 3, 2015 8:13 AM in response to Zedley
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 3, 2015 8:13 AM in response to Zedley

    Yes, good to find this thread.  I too had trouble finding the correct nomenclature for the problem. 

     

    I think at least some of my problems with Yosemite's slowness has to do with the inordinate amount of time it takes to reload everything after a crash. And when things crash you don't get that window with the "are you sure you want to shut down your computer now" message.  Strangely, I remembering see, on some of the other accounts on my iMac, a message that would pop up when I'd restart an account asking, "do you want to reload the programs that were open when the computer crashed", or something like that.  However, I never get this message on my account.  I hope someone comes up with a simple way to prevent everything from reloading on reboot.

  • by ssk23,

    ssk23 ssk23 Sep 8, 2015 1:36 AM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 8, 2015 1:36 AM in response to Kappy

    As the author notes in his original post, unchecking the box does not actually work. All windows still reopen upon restarting.

     

    (It's also regardless of whether they are checked "login items" for that user or not.)

     

    I've had this problem throughout OSX versions... and have a very standard setup: Macbook Pro, this year, with all regular upgrades.

  • by J Foster,

    J Foster J Foster Sep 9, 2015 4:33 PM in response to ssk23
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 9, 2015 4:33 PM in response to ssk23

    My question is not so much with the previously open apps reloading after a restart, but what about an app that wasn't open when it was shut down. Every time I have to force quit, Keynote opens. Why? Any ideas about how can I eliminate that?

  • by markoholl,

    markoholl markoholl Sep 29, 2015 7:30 PM in response to Kappy
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Sep 29, 2015 7:30 PM in response to Kappy

    Thank you so much for your answer!  Chrome was driving me nuts!  Going to the Users and Groups settings did the trick.