Login items missing from menu bar

[Tertuliano]

Hello.

This morning when I booted up my computer and I logged into Lion all of my login items were missing on the menu bar. I could only see time, Bluetooth, and sound. All other menu bar items are gone, and since I use a microsoft mouse (which has it's own preferences pane and login settings which override apple mouse preferences and settings ) was not working the way it should. In other words, my login preferences were gone. I restarted the computer, and the problem persists. The day before yesterday I repaired permissions on my hard drive, but I've booted up the computer at least twice since then, and I didn't have this problem, so I don't think they're related.

I keep a clone of my hard drive, so I'm sure the preferences for these login items are saved on my backup disk. My question is: how do I get them back? Which files pertain exclusively to System Settings and particularly to login items? How should I proceed here?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

PS.- I'm running Lion 10.7.2

 

[GGJstudios]

Hello.

This morning when I booted up my computer and I logged into Lion all of my login items were missing on the menu bar. I could only see time, Bluetooth, and sound. All other menu bar items are gone, and since I use a microsoft mouse (which has it's own preferences pane and login settings which override apple mouse preferences and settings ) was not working the way it should. In other words, my login preferences were gone.

Have you verified that those login items are still listed?

Check the following locations:

• System Preferences > Accounts > yourusername > Login Items
  (Lion users: System Preferences > Users & Groups > yourusername > Login Items)
  
  
• /Library/LaunchAgents/ and ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
  (Lion users: In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > then enter the path)
  
  
• /Library/StartupItems/
  (Lion users: In Finder, click Go > Go to Folder > then enter the path)

 

[Tertuliano]

Thanks for your reply.


[*]System Preferences > Accounts > yourusername > Login Items

They were gone when I first noticed the problem. Some of them are back now since I launched some of the apps myself.


[*]/Library/LaunchAgents/ and ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
[*]/Library/StartupItems/

I never opened these folders in the past, but after reading your comment I compared the folders on both my Lion and Backup drive, and the contents seem identical. I don't know much, but this seems like a problem specifically with System Preferences login items? What do you think?

Thanks again.

 

[GGJstudios]

I don't know much, but this seems like a problem specifically with System Preferences login items? What do you think?

I would add the apps back to your Login items, then restart your computer. If they stick there, I wouldn't worry about it anymore. If they don't stick, more troubleshooting is in order.

 

[Tertuliano]

Thanks again for your reply. After adding the items back and restarting the computer, most of them launched at login, except for one. I had to launch it manually, so I hope that next time I restart it does launch at login. I don't care much about this particular app, but I don't know if I should be concerned for not launching at login.

Anyway, I don't know if this is worth mentioning, but in the last month, Apple Mail has asked me twice (days apart one from the other) to re-enter the password for my multiple mail accounts. That is the reason why I repaired permissions on my disk a couple of days ago. I don't know if these two things are related, or if it's just a coincidence.

Anyway, it all seems normal for now. Please let me know if you find suspicious the behavior of my Mac after reading this post. If not, I thank you for your prompt help.

Cheers.

 

[GGJstudios]

Anyway, I don't know if this is worth mentioning, but in the last month, Apple Mail has asked me twice (days apart one from the other) to re-enter the password for my multiple mail accounts. That is the reason why I repaired permissions on my disk a couple of days ago. I don't know if these two things are related, or if it's just a coincidence.

No, they're not related, and repairing permissions won't help, as they only apply to certain situations.

 

[Tertuliano]

Thank you very much for your input. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

 

[Tertuliano]

Hi again.

So this morning I power on my computer and I'm facing the same scenario as in my first post. I know I can add the programs back to the Login Items list, but should I be concerned that the problem happened again in a period of 2 weeks? If so, what can I do about it? Thanks in advance.