Apple's own MSCONFIG?

[rolfea]

Does Apple's OS X 10.5.5 have it's own version of Window's MSCONFIG?

 

I'd like to change some of the start up options so some of the processes don't run on login.

[AntonioRocco]

What processes/daemons do you want to control? Bear in mind you have to be careful with most of what is there as they are set to launch for good reasons. The main one being they make most things work.

 

If there is something similar to MSCONFIG then I'm guessing that would be launchd and its utility launchctl? If you're familiar with Linux/Unix there is also Cron available although Apple are dropping this in favour of launchd. Most of the files launchd uses are located here:

 

~/Library/LaunchAgents

/Library/LaunchAgents

/Library/LaunchDaemons

 

/System/Library/LaunchAgents

/System/Library/LaunchDaemons

 

If you issue:

 

ls /System/Library/LaunchDaemons

 

using the command line you'll see some of the files being accessed by launchd which in turn is invoked by the kernel.

 

All of these are .plists or Property Lists which can be edited using Property List Editor. Alternatively you could use nano, pico, vi or emacs via the command line.

 

Another place to look is /etc. Within /etc are just about all of the BSD config files the system refers to. For example /etc/hosts is something you may be familiar with? If you look at /etc/protocols you'll see which ports are assigned to what services. Some of these can be altered/modified to suit a specific purpose. I would be careful fiddling with /etc or /var as you could break the OS?

 

However I might have misunderstood? Perhaps you simply want to control which applications or utilities start at login time? You can modify these by selecting System Preferences > Accounts > Login Items. Browse for what you want and add/remove it.

 

Antonio Rocco (ACSA)

[rolfea]

Your post was very helpful.

 

All the problem is, a process called hpdot4d is not being allowed to run due to application control, at least I think it's the process, i can't find anything else with the same name. This is then stopping the ability to use the scan function on an All In One HP scanner / printer.

 

I was thinking by stopping this process the Scanner / Printer will then be able to work without the hpdot4d process being blocked and stopping it.

 

There are also processes like the HP Scheduler and HP Feedback which run every time a user logs again, and again showing error messages saying it cannot run.

 

The only place I can find these are in the process list in Activity Monitor, which I do not have the knowledge of allowing the processes in Workgroup Manager on the XServe.

[HodgeHi]

I had a similar issue with perian. The easiest way to solve this i found was to give a user who has restricted access to the applications access to the console.

 

Then when the user logs in filter the console logs by using the name of the app that is blocked. This "should" list the location of the application and from there you should then be able to allow the application.

 

Some are buried inside the application itself (package contents) and some are buried inside the library/application support folder.