Re: Quicksilver won't auto start at login

[Jon Stovell]

Strange. I would have suspected a problem with a plugin, except that you can start it manually without any difficulties. The only thing I can think of is a permissions error on ~/Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist. Please enter the following in Terminal, and report back with the result:

ls -l ~/Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist

On Saturday, August 4, 2012 10:41:12 PM UTC-4, Jennifer Morrisroe wrote:

Upon installing Mountain Lion, Quicksilver will not start automatically upon login.  I tried uninstalling and reinstalling.  I reinstalled ML.  Works fine when I manually start it up. Have have it added to User Log In items. I have the startup on login checked.  What can I do to get it to work properly?

[Armin]

Same here:

-rw-------  1 armin  armin  2002 Aug  1 13:11 /Users/armin/Library/Preferences/loginwindow.plist

[Jon Stovell]

Well, since there are multiple users with the problem, and nothing looks out of place with the permissions on loginwindow.plist for anyone, I don't know what the cause is (we'd need to bring the coders in to figure that out). But there are a couple of workarounds I can suggest in the meantime.

Option 1: Create a service to launch Quicksilver

Open Automator, and select the option to create a new service. At the top, set it to receive no input. In the sidebar search box, type "Run Shell Script" to locate the Run Shell Script Automator action. Drag this action into the main workflow area. Change the content of the shell script to read the following:

if [[ $(killall -s Quicksilver 2>/dev/null) != "" ]]

then 

open -b com.blacktree.Quicksilver

else 

open -b com.blacktree.Quicksilver

open -b com.blacktree.Quicksilver

fi

Save the service as "Open Quicksilver". Now, click on the application menu (i.e. the one called "Automator" when Automator is the front application), select the Services menu item, and then click on the Services Preferences... menu item. In the window that opens, find your Open Quicksilver service and assign it the same keyboard shortcut that you use to activate Quicksilver when it is running. For example, if you use ⌃Space to activate Quicksilver, assign ⌃Space to this service (note: you may have to temporarily quit Quicksilver in order to enter the keyboard shortcut into the window). Tada! Now, whenever Quicksilver isn't running, you can press the same keyboard shortcut that you always do and it will start on demand for you. If Quicksilver is already running, it will catch the key-press itself before it ever filters down to the service.

Here is a picture of what the Automator window should look like when you create the service:

Option 2: Create a launch agent to kickstart Quicksilver when you login

Open Terminal and enter the following two commands:

mkdir -p ~/Library/LaunchAgents
nano ~/Library/LaunchAgents/launchQuicksilverAtLogin.plist

This will open an editor window within Terminal. Paste in the following text:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<!DOCTYPE plist PUBLIC "-//Apple//DTD PLIST 1.0//EN" "http://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">

<plist version="1.0">

<dict>

<key>Label</key>

<string>launchQuicksilverAtLogin</string>

<key>ProgramArguments</key>

<array>

<string>open</string>

<string>-b</string>

<string>com.blacktree.Quicksilver</string>

</array>

<key>RunAtLoad</key>

<true/>

</dict>

</plist>

Press ⌃O to save the file (answering Y for yes when it prompts you to confirm), and then ⌃X to exit the editor. Next time you log in, Quicksilver should start. You should probably disable the Start at Login option in Quicksilver's own preferences.

[Rob McBroom]

On Aug 4, 2012, at 10:41 PM, Jennifer Morrisroe <jennimo...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Upon installing Mountain Lion, Quicksilver will not start automatically upon login. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling. I reinstalled ML. Works fine when I manually start it up. Have have it added to User Log In items. I have the startup on login checked. What can I do to get it to work properly?

This sounds like https://github.com/quicksilver/Quicksilver/issues/831

The checkbox in Quicksilver's preferences doesn't do anything, but (for me anyway) manually adding it to Login Items in System Preferences is working.

--
Rob McBroom
<http://www.skurfer.com/>

[Armin]

Thanks, I don't know why I didn't try this earlier. Adding it to the Login Items in my System Preferences works fine. Seems like the easiest solution right now. Otherwise QS works magnificently as usual...