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Macbook Spontaneously Logging Out Upon "Show Desktop" Command

Ever since I upgraded to Mavericks, I'm having an issue where my Macbook spontaneously logs me out whenever I use the "Show Desktop" command. At first I thought it was BetterTouchTool, which I use all the time, and which I had set to use a four-finger tap to "show desktop." So I changed the BetterTouchTool settings. But to no avail. Even when I use the preset F11 command to "show desktop," it logs me out!! It doesn't do it every time, which is frustrating; it's very sporadic. Is anyone else having this issue or does anyone have any ideas about how to fix it???

MacBook (13-inch Aluminum Late 2008), Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on Dec 18, 2013 12:29 PM

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14 replies

May 28, 2014 12:11 PM in response to ngmall

As a matter of fact... Yes I do. I'm using a maxtor USB display adaptor, the thought crossed my mind if it isn't something to do with that, as I also get logged out frequently when I unplug the thunderbolt cable, and the adaptor is plugged into one of my thunderbolt displays. Might have to go down to the three monitors and unplug the 4th to see if this helps.

Jun 3, 2014 9:47 AM in response to chgboyd

My understanding is that the window animation for Show Desktop and Mission Control has an issue when paired with a displaylink USB adapter that causes the WindowServer to crash (which, depending on your settings, would result in an instant logout).


I don't get logged out, but the WindowServer crash without logout is nearly as disruptive. I've found that things have gotten a lot more stable by disabling the animation. Open up a terminal window, and run the following two commands. It makes the transitions more abrupt, but that's far less jarring than getting logged out (or having all applications restart)! This way I can still use my displaylink screen, too.



BlakeyBook:~$ defaults write com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration -float 0

BlakeyBook:~$ killall Dock

Jun 12, 2014 9:52 AM in response to chgboyd

Well, I don't have displaylink USB and I still get logged out when I use the fnF11 shortcut to display the Desktop. This started with Mavericks and it took me a while to figure out what was going on.


I am using an external Apple Cinematic LED Display, which connects to my MacBook via Thunderbolt and USB. Could that be causing the problem?


Are there any other solutions to fixing this other than the fix suggested for users of Displaylink USB?

Jul 2, 2014 11:11 AM in response to philliprodo

You could always try the fix I suggested (setting the expose-animation-duration to 0) and see if that helps in your situation as well even though you aren't using a DisplayLink device. If not, just set it back to what it was before and no harm done.


If you want to see what the normal value is before setting it to zero, you can use the read command:


MyCompy:~$ defaults read com.apple.dock expose-animation-duration

Macbook Spontaneously Logging Out Upon "Show Desktop" Command

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