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Where is application autostarting from

I have installed Canon misd-mac-ijscanner16s-4_2_0-ea21_3 driver for Canon MB5420 on Macbook Air M1 running Big Sur 11.6.1. On startup for my user (Admin) only, scanutilitylite and scanutility2 both startup. I do not know where they are coming from. Neither has an autostart preference. Neither is in user login items, and neither is any of the following:


/System/Library/LaunchAgents

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons

/Library/LaunchAgents

/Library/LaunchDaemons

~/Library/LaunchAgents

/System/Library/StartupItems

/Library/StartupItems


Output from launchctl list shows:


- 0 jp.co.canon.ij.scanutilitylite.CIJSULAgent

- 0 jp.co.canon.ij.scanutility2.CIJSUAgent


How are they getting started?

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.6

Posted on Nov 25, 2021 11:37 AM

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Posted on Nov 26, 2021 9:17 AM

Amongst many others. Where are the "user login items" coming from when not in any of the common places mentioned in my OP?

See my original reply, and as noted by Etrecheck, the modern login items are embedded in the app bundle.

The main controlling app should have a preference item to enable starting at login. If it doesn't, contact the developer.

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Question marked as Best reply

Nov 26, 2021 9:17 AM in response to todivefor

Amongst many others. Where are the "user login items" coming from when not in any of the common places mentioned in my OP?

See my original reply, and as noted by Etrecheck, the modern login items are embedded in the app bundle.

The main controlling app should have a preference item to enable starting at login. If it doesn't, contact the developer.

Nov 26, 2021 8:56 AM in response to Barney-15E

I've been through preferences and see nothing. Even if there is a preference, it has to be recorded somewhere to get started?

I ran etrecheck and get:


User Login Items:


[Loaded] CIJSULAgent (Canon Inc. - installed 2021-11-13)

Modern Login Item

/Applications/Canon Utilities/IJ Scan Utility/Canon IJ Scan Utility Lite.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CIJSULAgent.app


[Loaded] CIJSUAgent (Canon Inc. - installed 2021-11-13)

Modern Login Item

/Applications/Canon Utilities/IJ Scan Utility/Canon IJ Scan Utility2.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CIJSUAgent.app


[Not Loaded] CanonIJExtendedSurveyLaunchAgent (Canon Inc. - installed 2021-11-13)

Modern Login Item

/Applications/Canon Utilities/Inkjet Extended Survey Program/Inkjet Extended Survey Program.app/Contents/MacOS/ESPController.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/CanonIJExtendedSurveyLaunchAgent.app


Amongst many others. Where are the "user login items" coming from when not in any of the common places mentioned in my OP?

Nov 26, 2021 11:40 AM in response to todivefor

todivefor wrote:

Gotcha! There must be someway to control this or are the app bundles searched for LogInItems at each startup.

Maybe there is, maybe there isn't. Apple recommends that apps allow a way to control this. Apple enforces this in the Mac App Store. They will reject any app that doesn't have an obvious way to control login items. But outside of the Mac App Store, you're on your own.


But otherwise, especially in the context of an EtreCheck report, this is very tricky. EtreCheck's status field of "Not loaded", "Loaded", and "Running" for these items is strictly a best guess. There is no actual system API to verify this. The best I can do is look to see if a login item exists, and then check to see whether or not it is running. But EtreCheck can't actually tell if the app was launched via a login item or if you manually started it. And even though it is managed and persisted as a Login Item, it still goes through the launchd system (as everything does). There may be other ways the app manages these tasks via the launchd system. In the "normal" case for Login Items, they are either "Running" or "Not Loaded". Your printer drives are obviously doing something a little more funky to have a status of "Loaded".


The nice part about this is that if you want to uninstall the app, you can just drag it to the trash. The login item will get deleted along with the app. This isn't the case with true Launch Daemons and Launch Agents.



Nov 26, 2021 12:35 PM in response to etresoft

Never new apps could startup without being in lauchagents, launchdaemons, startupitems (deprecated), or login items. I guess etrecheck looks through the app bundles looking for .../Contents/Library/LoginItems/xxxxxxx.app? First time aware of this. I could delete the app and eliminate the startup, but then lose the use of the app, or just quit out of the app at startup.


This is not a big deal, just my OCD kicking in. I don't like things happening I can't explain. It always seems like print drivers do something funky once out of warranty and after installing into a later OS.


Thanks all.

Nov 26, 2021 1:13 PM in response to todivefor

todivefor wrote:

Never new apps could startup without being in lauchagents, launchdaemons, startupitems (deprecated), or login items.

Startup items have gone past deprecation. They are simply non-functional now. There is also another category of apps that are restarted automatically after a system restart. And then there are XPC processes and other random apps that are started on demand via launchd. Luckily, there are few 3rd party developers that know about those more esoteric options.

I guess etrecheck looks through the app bundles looking for .../Contents/Library/LoginItems/xxxxxxx.app?

Actually, EtreCheck looks at the output of the "lsregister" tool, conveniently located at:


/System/Library/Frameworks/CoreServices.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/LaunchServices.framework/Versions/A/Support/lsregister


It is usually up-to-date. Usually.

First time aware of this. I could delete the app and eliminate the startup, but then lose the use of the app, or just quit out of the app at startup.

This is not a big deal, just my OCD kicking in. I don't like things happening I can't explain. It always seems like print drivers do something funky once out of warranty and after installing into a later OS.

Yes. Those modern login items are completely out of the user's control. You can control them only if the app decides to let you.


All that being said, there aren't many developers that are even aware of these modern login items. Those that do know about them and use them are usually pretty good about it. These are the "cream of the crop" among Mac software developers.

Where is application autostarting from

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