Automator App to force quit process by name with admin privileges

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Level 1

72 points

Automator App to force quit process by name with admin privileges

Hi, I've seen this question many times but just for common app names as Finder, which is easy to address with killall Finder.

But I'm looking for closing com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent which looks to need admin privileges, I'm using this script in automator in order to reset the preview icons that aren't working time to time in monterey:

do shell script "killall com.apple.quicklook.ThumbnailsAgent" user name "****" password "********" with administrator privileges


do shell script "killall Finder"

It worked the first time I tried, it wont now....

Finder reboots but the process still in Activity monitor , you can see the process won't quit.

No error message...

I tried with a delay 10 between but that doesnt makes any sense (and dont work either)

Mac Studio

Posted on May 17, 2022 2:57 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Owl-53

Level 10

102,475 points

May 17, 2022 3:32 AM in response to guguii

IMHO having to Force Quit a native Apple Process may be a more serious underlying issue that needs to be addressed.

1 - Suggest restarting in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.

2 - Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.

3 - Does the issue present in this mode ?

4 - If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.

5 - If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.

6 - If after performing each of the above steps is the order that have been presents and still have issues - please advise for possible further assistance.

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Answer 2

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,126 points

May 18, 2022 3:46 AM in response to guguii

guguii wrote:

nope, it changes...

Then, it is being killed and launchd restarts it.

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Answer 3

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,126 points

May 21, 2022 4:22 AM in response to guguii

What is the purpose of user name and password? I couldn't find any syntax, but what I found indicates it is to pass the user name and password to the shell script command (killall). with administrator privileges will execute the shell script as root.

However, I can't get any shell script to kill that process from AppleScript or Terminal.

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Answer 4

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,126 points

May 19, 2022 3:01 PM in response to guguii

guguii wrote:

nope, it changes...

So which is it? Does the PID change when you run the script or not?

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Answer 5

guguii Author

Level 1

72 points

May 18, 2022 1:58 PM in response to Owl-53

didn't work

Mac is brand new, just adobe suite installed, no plugins or addons, no time machine restored...

using “resetting quicklookd” in terminal also works.

but I dont know how to use it in a automator script

It seems is a bug in Monterey

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/quick-look-not-working-properly.2322209/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/com-apple-quicklook-thumbnails-agent-problem.2335013/

quicklook not working - Apple Community

https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/259504/quicklook-not-working

I reported it to Apple Feedback

but I need the script working 🙏

tried this also:

any help?

Barney, it changes when I force quit in Activity Monitor , but not the script OP is about how to fix the script not how to fix Quick Look problem as that is in Apple's hand.

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