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When I restart my Mac and login as user X, the Mac tries to restart apps that were previously running, and crashes. I have read that there is a way to prevent apps from restarting, but it requires that you are already logged in as user X. How do I turn this off without being logged in?
iMac Line (2012 and Later)
Usually: Prevent apps and windows from reopening - Apple Support
If that’s inaccessible, restart into Safe Mode, and try again.
If the Mac is crashing hard, that may well be a hardware issue, or a low-level software app. Safe Mode tends to disable the most problematic of the low-level software apps.
Usually: Prevent apps and windows from reopening - Apple Support
If that’s inaccessible, restart into Safe Mode, and try again.
If the Mac is crashing hard, that may well be a hardware issue, or a low-level software app. Safe Mode tends to disable the most problematic of the low-level software apps.
Download and run EtreCheck, and share the report to the clipboard. Then open a new reply here, and press the button that looks like a printed page (additional text, text attachment) to get a text input box big enough to paste the hardware and software report here, and paste the report here.
The controls here are called system integrity protection, and that can be disabled. But if the app bundle is truly bad, the easiest way to recover from that is to re-install macOS, either via reloading the Combo update, or by reloading macOS itself. But if random hunks of app bundles are bad, there is usually a deeper trigger; some problem hardware, or a corruption elsewhere.
Get a backup immediately, as your hard disk drive is failing.
You’re headed for a repair, or an external SSD, or a replacement.
This iMac has Thunderbolt and USB 3, so an external SSD can be a means to avoid a repair or replacement.
https://discussions.apple.com/docs/DOC-250003583
Geoff1234 wrote:
I ran the report. Here are the highlights…
Please open a new reply here, and press the button that looks like a printed page (additional text, text attachment) to get a text input box big enough to paste the hardware and software report here, and paste the entire report here.
Posting a partial EtreCheck report can leave out a whole lot of detail, as there are a wide range of (other) potential problems…
But deal wih the backup and the failing hard disk as your highest priority.
Thanks. I will try safe mode.
It doesn’t crash when I login as a different user.
I was hoping that I could change a user setting using Terminal, but that might be too dangerous. There is probably some file I could delete to accomplish this.
Safe Mode is the usual approach for cleaning up these sorts of messes.
I don’t know of nor see any documentation for erasing the list of apps to be started.
Closest I’ve seen to this that might work here, if Safe Mode doesn’t:
Safe mode doesn’t work. It freezes on the apple screen with the progress bar at 100%. (Just before the login screen)
I think the Photos app is causing the problem. Unfortunately, Apple has some controls in place to prevent me from renaming Photos.app with “mv”, and also deleting the app entirely.
Thanks for your help. This is happening to an old iMac that I’m primarily using as an external monitor for a MacBook. Over the years the iMac has gotten slower and slower. It is not pegging the CPU, 16 gb ram, plenty available, and there is 72 gb on the disk. Maybe that’s not enough - I’ll try deleting some stuff. Perhaps I just need to give up on this computer. I can still use it as a monitor using a different login.
One of the usual suspects in an old iMac is a failing HDD, and a failing HDD can cause performance problems, beachballing, and eventually corruptions and hangs. EtreCheck can show some HDD errors, as can other diagnostics. There can be other causes.
Hi,
I ran the report. Here are the highlights. You were correct about the hard disk. I don't think it is worth replacing a hard disk in a nine year old computer.
I logged in as a different user, used Terminal to rename the photo library so that when Photos starts, it can't find the library. There was probably something wrong with the data in that section of the hard drive. In any event, now I'm able to login to the primary user account as well. I've already transferred useful data somewhere else, so I can just keep using the computer as is (so I can use the monitor with my laptop.) Eventually that won't be possible either, and at that point I'll need a new computer or monitor.
Thanks for your help. Marked as solved.
Download EtreCheckPro from https://etrecheck.com
Runtime: 30:09
Performance: Poor
Problem: Computer is too slow
Description:
Computer is very slow
Major Issues:
Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.
Failing hard drive - This computer has a hard drive that appears to be failing.
Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed that could be adware and should be reviewed.
Security updates disabled - Security updates are disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.
Kernel panics - This system has experienced kernel panics. This could be a sign of hardware failure.
Apple security disabled - Apple security software is disabled. This computer is at risk of malware infection.
[ ]
Hardware Information:
iMac (21.5-inch, Late 2013) - Vintage!
iMac Model: iMac14,3
2.9 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i5 (i5-4570S) CPU: 4-core
16 GB RAM - Upgradeable by an Apple Authorized Service Provider
BANK 0/DIMM0 - 8 GB DDR3 1600
BANK 1/DIMM0 - 8 GB DDR3 1600
[ ]
Drives:
disk0 - APPLE HDD HTS541010A9E662 1.00 TB (Mechanical - 5400 RPM)
Internal SATA 3 Gigabit Serial ATA
disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB
disk0s2 [APFS Container] 1000.00 GB
disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 1000.00 GB (Shared by 5 volumes)
disk1s1 - Macintosh HD - Data (APFS) [APFS Virtual drive] (Shared - 905.99 GB used)
disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared - 88 MB used)
disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared - 529 MB used)
disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 8.59 GB used)
disk1s5 - Macintosh HD (APFS) (Shared - 11.58 GB used
Did you log in while holding down the shift key? Not on restart, but when you log in.
That should stop anything from reopening.
No, I only tried shift at startup. I’ll try at login. Thanks.
Don’t start app when logging in
