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From: MC on 8 Jan 2010 09:03
I was fiddling with files I should have left alone and have managed to
delete my Account login items.

I'd like to restore them with Time Machine rather than reconstruct them
manually, but so far haven't located the file(s).

Can someone tell me where to look and what the name of the file is?

Thanks in advance.

--

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones
From: David Empson on 8 Jan 2010 09:38
MC <copespaz(a)mapca.inter.net> wrote:

> I was fiddling with files I should have left alone and have managed to
> delete my Account login items.
>
> I'd like to restore them with Time Machine rather than reconstruct them
> manually, but so far haven't located the file(s).
>
> Can someone tell me where to look and what the name of the file is?

For Leopard and Snow Leopard, the login items are in a separate file
without any other extraneous information, so it should be easy to
restore from Time Machine.

The file is ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist

The ~ means "your home directory", so start with Go > Home (or just open
a new Finder window), then go into the Library folder, then the
Preferences folder; entering Time Machine should then let you move back
and restore that file.

It is a binary-encoded property list. Viewing it is best achieved by
installing Apple's Developer Tools, which include Property List Editor.

You can also view binary-encoded property lists using TextWrangler
(free) or BBEdit, both from BareBones Software. It will convert the file
to the text-based XML format.

(TextWrangler and BBEdit achieve the conversion via the 'plutil' command
line utility, which can convert property lists between binary and XML
formats.)

Editing a property list manually should be done sparingly, as you have
to be very careful to preserve the structure, and the content also has
to follow strict rules. Property List Editor is much safer, but still
requires a fair degree of knowledge to make changes safely.

--
David Empson
dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
From: MC on 8 Jan 2010 10:06
In article <1jc1822.hf2ljd1ypslbdN%dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz>,
dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:

> MC <copespaz(a)mapca.inter.net> wrote:
>
> > I was fiddling with files I should have left alone and have managed to
> > delete my Account login items.
> >
> > I'd like to restore them with Time Machine rather than reconstruct them
> > manually, but so far haven't located the file(s).
> >
> > Can someone tell me where to look and what the name of the file is?
>
> For Leopard and Snow Leopard, the login items are in a separate file
> without any other extraneous information, so it should be easy to
> restore from Time Machine.
>
> The file is ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist

<SNIP>

Many thanks....

--

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones
From: MC on 8 Jan 2010 10:31
In article <copespaz-8E34CF.10063808012010(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
MC <copespaz(a)mapca.inter.net> wrote:

> In article <1jc1822.hf2ljd1ypslbdN%dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz>,
> dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:
>
> > MC <copespaz(a)mapca.inter.net> wrote:
> >
> > > I was fiddling with files I should have left alone and have managed to
> > > delete my Account login items.
> > >
> > > I'd like to restore them with Time Machine rather than reconstruct them
> > > manually, but so far haven't located the file(s).
> > >
> > > Can someone tell me where to look and what the name of the file is?
> >
> > For Leopard and Snow Leopard, the login items are in a separate file
> > without any other extraneous information, so it should be easy to
> > restore from Time Machine.
> >
> > The file is ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist
>
> <SNIP>
>
> Many thanks....

Update - I did the Time Machine restore - but it didn't work. No big
problem. I just restored it all manually.

--

"If you can, tell me something happy."
- Marybones
From: David Empson on 8 Jan 2010 16:42
MC <copespaz(a)mapca.inter.net> wrote:

> In article <copespaz-8E34CF.10063808012010(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
> MC <copespaz(a)mapca.inter.net> wrote:
>
> > In article <1jc1822.hf2ljd1ypslbdN%dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz>,
> > dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz (David Empson) wrote:
> >
> > > MC <copespaz(a)mapca.inter.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > > I was fiddling with files I should have left alone and have managed to
> > > > delete my Account login items.
> > > >
> > > > I'd like to restore them with Time Machine rather than reconstruct them
> > > > manually, but so far haven't located the file(s).
> > > >
> > > > Can someone tell me where to look and what the name of the file is?
> > >
> > > For Leopard and Snow Leopard, the login items are in a separate file
> > > without any other extraneous information, so it should be easy to
> > > restore from Time Machine.
> > >
> > > The file is ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist
> >
> > <SNIP>
> >
> > Many thanks....
>
> Update - I did the Time Machine restore - but it didn't work. No big
> problem. I just restored it all manually.

The most likely cause of this would be if you were running System
Preferences at the time you did the restore. It probably loads the file
into memory so it can display the login items, and writes it back out
again when you quit System Preferences.

This results in the restored copy being overwritten with the previously
active copy.

I wouldn't expect this to happen in other circumstances - the
com.apple.loginitems.plist file should only be needed by the system at
the point you are logging in, since everything in there is a one-off
action.

--
David Empson
dempson(a)actrix.gen.nz
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