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rmger

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 26, 2013
34
0
Hi.
How can I completely, fully and correctly disable Spotlight?

P.S. I do not use it and I do not need.
 

ABC5S

Suspended
Sep 10, 2013
3,395
1,646
Florida
What I did was go into > System Preference > Click on Spotlight > Unchecked all the boxes.
 

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Weaselboy

Moderator
Staff member
Jan 23, 2005
34,398
16,058
California
Hi.
How can I completely, fully and correctly disable Spotlight?

P.S. I do not use it and I do not need.

Try the Terminal command at this page to disable it completely. The command there is from Mavericks, and I have not tested it in Yosemite.

Here is the command from the article.

Code:
sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
 

stol

macrumors regular
Apr 11, 2011
106
37
Greece
You can also try adding your "Macintosh HD" (or whatever is your boot drive) on the Privacy tab on Spotlight settings. It will warn you about search not working properly.

This won't prevent it from indexing other drives though, such as external ones.
 

Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,049
13,077
This terminal command disables spotlight from indexing:

sudo mdutil -a -i off

There are also apps out there that can help.

"Spotless" used to work -- don't know if it works with Yosemite.

There is an app called "Deeper" which can do this, as well.
 

Small White Car

macrumors G4
Aug 29, 2006
10,971
1,466
Washington DC
You can also try adding your "Macintosh HD" (or whatever is your boot drive) on the Privacy tab on Spotlight settings. It will warn you about search not working properly.

This won't prevent it from indexing other drives though, such as external ones.

This is definitely the easiest solution for most people.
 

rmger

macrumors member
Original poster
Jan 26, 2013
34
0
I work very often with different USB and I can not add everyone to the list of exceptions.

Code:
sudo mdutil -a -i off
did not help.
When I insert the USB, anyway Spotlight begins to work for it.
 

chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,408
9,110
Hi.
How can I completely, fully and correctly disable Spotlight?

P.S. I do not use it and I do not need.

Do you use the App Store?
Do you use LaunchPad?
Do you use Time Machine?

They all require Spotlight.

Just because you don't think you use it, doesn't mean you should break it.
 

jasnw

macrumors 65816
Nov 15, 2013
1,029
1,131
Seattle Area (NOT! Microsoft)
Do you use the App Store?
Do you use LaunchPad?
Do you use Time Machine?

They all require Spotlight.

Just because you don't think you use it, doesn't mean you should break it.

OK, so what is the truth of the matter here? What are the side effects of making Spotlight go away completely using the various Terminal commands? Is there an Apple source that spells this out? Some say the side effect is simply that all the annoyances of Spotlight go away, others such as the quote above say bad things will happen because other apps use Spotlight to do their (necessary) jobs. I actively dislike Spotlight, never use it directly, and would very much like to disable it completely, but I keep it going because I cannot get a straight answer to this question.
 

chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,408
9,110
OK, so what is the truth of the matter here? What are the side effects of making Spotlight go away completely using the various Terminal commands? Is there an Apple source that spells this out? Some say the side effect is simply that all the annoyances of Spotlight go away, others such as the quote above say bad things will happen because other apps use Spotlight to do their (necessary) jobs. I actively dislike Spotlight, never use it directly, and would very much like to disable it completely, but I keep it going because I cannot get a straight answer to this question.

If you never use, what's to dislike? That little menu bar magnifying glass isn't in your face.
 

jasnw

macrumors 65816
Nov 15, 2013
1,029
1,131
Seattle Area (NOT! Microsoft)
If you never use, what's to dislike? That little menu bar magnifying glass isn't in your face.

I removed the Spotlight menu bar icon a long time ago. I have had to rebuild Spotlight's indexes several times on both Mavericks and Yosemite systems to fix problems with the beast, and I must live with Spotlight's (well, mdsworker and its minions) churning in the background beating on the system HD and eating CPU cycles. If for no other reason than here's yet another beast doing things on my system that I don't want and don't need. At least I think I don't need it, which is why I ask this question.
 

chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,408
9,110
I can't help, but I was genuinely curious. I just don't pay any attention to things that "churn" my HD and "eat CPU cycles." Life is too short. :(
 
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