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imac does not start after I deleted login plist

I had a popup message that my imac was not able to connect to my wifes computer. After reading on this forum that others had the same issue and it had been resolved by deleting com.apple.login...plist .... I did the same.

Now my computer is not starting at all. It shows the apple sign, gives the start sound and then white screen with rotating sign. Here it remains. If I could open the computer somehow I could restore that file because I didn't empty trash.

Considering that imac has the wireless keyboard I thing that it doesn't connect to it any more because all the methods to boot it in safe mode didn't make any difference.

Any suggestions?

iMac (21.5-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Mar 13, 2013 8:46 AM

Best reply

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

Posted on Mar 13, 2013 9:22 AM

Removing either the loginwindow.plist (or the loginitems.plist) in the User or HD Libraries shouldn't prevent booting. Can you confirm exactly which item you trashed? Maybe find that thread where you saw this suggested? Was it one of these?

/Users/yourusername/Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist

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36 replies

Madrian Author

Level 1

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Mar 13, 2013 12:11 PM in response to Madrian

The popup window posted by dlamija on the first page is the one that i also got each 10 sec. This is what I wanted to solve when I deleted the file because the computer was almost not usable because of that popup window.

I do something wrong because after making all the steps described by you I get no such file or directory. I admit that I didn't use the username until now and I am not confident that I got it right. I kept trying all versions that I could remember but no luck so far. Now I beginn to be very stressed about this situation.

Anyway I really appreciate your help and patience.

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

Mar 13, 2013 12:28 PM in response to Madrian

What happened when running fsck -y?

What backup, if any, do you have? Time Machine, a bootable clone?

It may be time for a reinstall.

http://www.apple.com/osx/recovery/

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-install-or-reinstall-mac-os-x-mount ain-lion.html

Madrian Author

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Mar 13, 2013 1:01 PM in response to Madrian

Executing fsck_fhs (version diskdev_cmds-557-393).

Checking journaled HFS Plus volume

Volume is journaled. No checking performed.

Use the -f option to force checking.

*****the volume was modified*****

I didnt make a backup. The external drive I have didn't had enough free space and I didn't know what to delete. I didn't manage to buy a drive especially for backup so it seems I am now a little fried.

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

Mar 13, 2013 3:56 PM in response to Madrian

Let's actually see what you put in the trash. Go back into single user mode and run

fsck -y and mount -uw / as before.

Then enter ls /Users/"yourusername"/.Trash

"yourusername" is the short name of your account, the way it appears next to your home folder. Remember to only use quotes if your user name has spaces in it.

Madrian Author

Level 1

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Mar 13, 2013 4:35 PM in response to WZZZ

Is it ls then space /Users...?

I remember the username (or at least in my head I think I do) but the answer comes no such file or directory

Username is with 2 words with space so I used " I do not know where I am wrong.

I am now installing os mountain lion on an usb stick.

If I boot from the stick do you think that I could restore the deleted file?

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

Mar 13, 2013 5:13 PM in response to Madrian

Try entering ls /Users to see the short name of your account.

If I boot from the stick do you think that I could restore the deleted file?

But you would still have to know which file to move over and how to move it.

See the links I gave you above to reinstall.

Is it ls then space /Users...?

Yes.

Madrian Author

Level 1

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Mar 13, 2013 5:19 PM in response to WZZZ

Finally I got the username. The listed file is com.apple.loginwindow.plist

I tried again the solution written by you with the correct username tis time and I still get no such file or directory. Is it a space between mv and /Users?

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

Mar 13, 2013 5:35 PM in response to Madrian

Is it a space between mv and /Users?

Yes.

EDIT: if that doesn't work you may have to first run this command

cd /Users

Then

mv /Users/"yourusername"/.Trash/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginwindow.plist /Library/Preferences/

Message was edited by: WZZZ

Madrian Author

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Mar 13, 2013 5:30 PM in response to Madrian

I have input mv Users/username/.trash/com.apple.loginwindow.plist /Users/preferences

So I left out the /user/preferences between .trash and file. The answer this time was Override rw-r--r-- root/staff for /library/preferences/filename y/n

I hit n

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

Mar 13, 2013 5:36 PM in response to Madrian

You should write out the command very carefully on paper first. Then enter it. Watch every space and whether upper or lower case.

Madrian Author

Level 1

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Mar 13, 2013 5:49 PM in response to Madrian

I did it allready 5 times and doublechecked. If I input the complete comandline as you have it written the last part overwrites root and when I hit enter - no such file or directory. If there would be videocall possible I would show you exactly what happens.

As I understood the comand line: mv= move

Then location of the file the space then new location. If it is correct what I understood then it does not find the file because the comand is mv Users/name/.Trash/Library/Preferences/file then new location.

When I inputed mv Users/name/.trash/file library/preferences I didn't receive the error message that it does not find the file.

When it was asking if to override or not doesn't it mean that this file allready exists there?

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

Mar 13, 2013 6:19 PM in response to Madrian

First, you are certain you are leaving a space between the first part of the command and the location to which you are moving it? between .plist and /Library/Preferences.

Did you try using cd /Users first? Then hit return, then enter the full command?

When I inputed mv Users/name/.trash/file library/preferences I didn't receive the error message that it does not find the file.

That's not the correct command.

Assuming it has a space, you put your user name inside quotes?

When it was asking if to override or not doesn't it mean that this file allready exists there?

I really don't understand why that's happening. If you moved it to the trash, it's gone from it's original location. I'm sorry, I don't know what else to suggest, except that you do a reinstall. It will probably turn out to be much less painful than what you are going through now.

Madrian Author

Level 1

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Mar 14, 2013 3:16 AM in response to Madrian

I managed to boot from an memory stick and accessed the trash. If my memory serves me right I deleted the file from system/library/launchdaemons.

I copied the file back to the location but it still does not boot. Any ideas of another location that could contain this file? Is it possibe that if I copy the file from trash back to the location, the file will not be recognized by the system?

WZZZ

Level 6

13,226 points

Mar 14, 2013 5:51 AM in response to Madrian

OK, if that's the file you trashed, then finally, that explains why the Mac won't boot and explains a lot of things. You should never have gone into /System/Library and you have learned an unfortunately very painful lesson about doing things you don't know anything about.

You are clearly seeing that file in the Trash booted from the USB drive?

Since you moved that file back using the Finder, its ownership will be wrong, and that might explain why it still won't boot. (And you are certain you moved it back to the Mac's startup volume, probably called Macintosh HD, not to /System/Library/LaunchDaemons on the USB drive?) What you can try now is to boot from the USB drive, open Disk Utility there, select the startup disk of the Mac, if it's present--it may be called Macintosh HD, unless you have renamed it, and run Permissions repair. Then, if you are able to boot normally from the Mac, go back into Disk Utility again, but from the Mac, not the USB drive, and run a new Permissions repair.

Message was edited by: WZZZ

Madrian Author

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Mar 14, 2013 8:05 AM in response to Madrian

You are my personal hero! My iMac is functional again.

After sending you the path of the file I realized what I have done. The popup window was driving me so crazy that I didn't filter with logic my actions when deleting this file.

I used terminal (show all files) to find trash on mac hd in finder.

May I dare to ask you what could be the cause of that popup window as shown in the link posted by me earlier? Do you have any idea? There are 2 topics on this mather and I followed all the actions described there but no result.

Also as my personal curiosity: when booting from usb flash drive it took more then half hour to start. I was expecting to react as from a ssd. Why is it soooo slooow from flash drive?

THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ALL THE HELP!!!

imac does not start after I deleted login plist