removing startup item from com.apple.launchd

Question

I installed a program a few months ago, it had a startup option that I did install. Later, I decided to remove the program, but it seems to have left the startup script or item even after I uninstalled it.... and its trying to start every few seconds.

How can I remove this item?

Here is it from the console


$ com.apple.launchd[1] (com.jft.PdaNetMac[24476]): Exited with exit code: 1
$ com.apple.launchd[1] (com.jft.PdaNetMac): Throttling respawn: Will start in 10 second

score 17 · Accepted Answer · edited Aug 04 '13 at 17:51

17

Those are indeed the standard locations that launchd looks in. Make sure to check the locations of your home directory as well as the ones of the root.

If you can't find the file, you can also try the following in the Terminal:

$ launchctl remove com.jft.PdaNetMac

To see a list of all launchd jobs:

$ launchctl list
PID Status  Label
78960   -   0x7fe25c1052f0.anonymous.launchctl
78923   -   0x7fe25c008e40.anonymous.pppd
78922   -   0x7fe25c007e50.anonymous.pppd
78841   -   0x7fe25ae0c470.anonymous.Google Chrome H
78704   -   0x7fe25c006c90.anonymous.Google Chrome H
84037   -   0x7fe25ac258c0.anonymous.dbfseventsd
31909   -   0x7fe25c0081c0.anonymous.Google Chrome H
25351   -   [0x0-0x1e51e5].com.skype.skype
...

For more information, try man launchd and man launchctl.

edited Aug 04 '13 at 17:51

nc4pk

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answered Mar 06 '11 at 02:45

Jonathan

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You're welcome. Glad I could help. – Jonathan Mar 06 '11 at 03:21
This response works, but for me, it was missing the `sudo` at the beginning. Because I was listing the items with `sudo launchctl list`, so this might suit your case. PS: They are treated individually, so make sure you remove them both for your user context (`launchctl list`) and for sudo context (`sudo launchctl list`) – Henrique Aron Apr 04 '23 at 12:14

score 5 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 06 '11 at 01:24

5

Check the following locations ~/Library/LaunchDaemons, ~/Library/LaunchAgents ,/Library/LaunchDaemons,/Library/LaunchAgents/,/System/Library/LaunchDaemons/, and /System/Library/LaunchAgents more then likely there will be a file named com.jft.PdaNetMac within one of those directories. Simply move it to the trash and restart.

answered Mar 06 '11 at 01:24

iklier

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Just watch what you are deleting in /Library and /System – eric.s Mar 06 '11 at 01:29
I've checked all those folders, it isnt there. Where else could they be? – Peter Mar 06 '11 at 02:13
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@peter Try running `launchctl list` in Terminal. Then once you find the process name unload it with launchctl(don't know the full command off hand) Run `man launchctl` in Terminal for more info – iklier Mar 06 '11 at 06:42

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 02 '12 at 04:00

PdaNetMac currently comes with an uninstallation script like this:

sudo rm /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.jft.PdaNetMac.plist 
sudo rm -R /System/Library/Extensions/PdaNetDrv.kext 
sudo rm -R /Applications/PdaNetMac.app 
sudo rm ~/PdaNetUninstall.sh 
echo "PdaNet has been uninstalled, please reboot your computer"

So the launchd property list is in /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/. The kernel extension should probably also be removed.

removing startup item from com.apple.launchd

3 Answers3