How to: stop Finder opening after start up?

[John Purple]

Since installing Leopard the Finder window pops up automatically after staring my Mac. This didn't happen any time before (from System 1 to 10.4.10!). I hate it but I don't know where to change that setting.
Does anybody know?

 

[MBX]

same here.

i often experience this and just hate it.

could it be happening when you leave a finder window open when shutting down?

 

[thesdx]

It might be an application that's opening the window. Has this only been happening since Leopard?

 

[TEG]

Close all windows, then shut down. It saves your last state, so if a window is open when you shut down, it will reopen. You may also need to check the Finder Preferences.

TEG

 

[waterskier2007]

try looking in system preferences>accounts>login items, and see if finder is checked?

 

[John Purple]

same here.
i often experience this and just hate it.
could it be happening when you leave a finder window open when shutting down?

It happens as well when the Finder window is open as when the Finder window is closed before shutting the Mac down. That doesn't matter

It might be an application that's opening the window. Has this only been happening since Leopard?

It never happened before installing Leopard.

Close all windows, then shut down. It saves your last state, so if a window is open when you shut down, it will reopen. You may also need to check the Finder Preferences.TEG

Closing the windows doesn't help. It will reopen at startup. I checked the Finder preferences but I found nothing that made a change in behaviour

try looking in system preferences>accounts>login items, and see if finder is checked?

There is no line with the Finder. Only other applications that work well.

Thanks but there should be another way (hopefully)

 

[John Purple]

I just solved the problem by deleting the preference file 'com.apple.systempreferences.plist' from the user's library.

 

[Jrpars]

I'm having the same problem. Finder window appears upon startup.

Have already checked the following:
1. Finder does not appear in my log in items under user
2. Have deleted the following files in user/library/preferences: com.apple.finder.plist; com.apple.systempreferences.plist; com.apple.loginitems.plist
3. I've also tried closing the finder window and rebooting, closing the finder window and logging out/in, etc.

This is really starting to bug me Any ideas?

 

[macusrngm]

Stop finder opening after startup?

Since installing Leopard the Finder window pops up automatically after staring my Mac. This didn't happen any time before (from System 1 to 10.4.10!). I hate it but I don't know where to change that setting.
Does anybody know?

I found this in my login items

Deleted the highlighted item and no finder window on the next login

 

[m1ss1ontomars]

I found this in my login items

Deleted the highlighted item and no finder window on the next login

Well, you had the Finder in your login items, so it opened on login.

 

[macusrngm]

Totally correct.

Yes, you are totally correct.

The mystery is how it got there.

I do not remember this behavior before I upgraded to Leopard. After I upgraded; every time I signed in, I got the window on my desktop. I did not think to even look into my startup items since I had not modified it. It was not until I found this forum that I was alerted to look there. And; there it was.

Not sure if the upgrade did it or not.

 

[pinktank]

it mightve assigned it once you shut it down with a finder open, might be one of those harmless bugs that go unnoticed/confused with common bheaviour

 

[zeket]

Got It!!

what worked for me was this:

Close all apps and windows
Force power off by holding power button until it powered off.

That's it!!!

Gone

 

[commandnotapple]

Found a Fix

I know this is an old thread, but I figure I should post this for posterity.

Over at the Apple Support forums, I found this link:
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1425019&tstart=1703

As a synopsis, this will fix the random Finder window opening at login:

1) Go to: Your User Folder/Preferences/com.apple.finder.plist
2) Delete it
3) Control + Option click on the Finder in the Dock. Choose "Relaunch"
4) Restart

It was that simple for me. If it doesn't work for you post back and we'll try something else!