On 2026-08-16 10:53, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/6/26 8:27 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
On Thu, 6 Aug 2026 09:37:03 -0400, Tom Elam wrote:
So, likely something in my user account. I'll try duplicating my
account using Migration Assistant and see if the problem goes away
in the copy.
On actual (non-trademark) Unix systems, like Linux, user preferences
are kept in separate files, unique to each particular app/subsystem
the user might be running.
Back in the 20th century, these preference files (called rCLdotfilesrCY
because their names began with a dot) cluttered up the top level of
your home directory. And still do, to some extent. But the modern
trend is to group them in a small number of top-level directories,
like rCL~/.local/rCY and rCL~/.config/rCY, with separate subdirectories within
there for each app/subsystem, to reduce the clutter.
What IrCOm trying to say is, on such a 21st-century-Unix system, if one
particular app is misbehaving, you can try resetting/deleting/renaming
just the prefs for that app, rather than having to recreate your
entire user account.
Spotlight is not an app as such. It's baked into Finder and the OS.
How do I know that? Search Apps for Spotlight and you get nada. Open
Spotlight from Spotlight and Finder comes up.
Your utter lack of understanding of such matters is staggering.
Spotlight may not have an icon you can click on, but that doesn't mean
it can't have all the standard settings files, etc. that applications
with such icons have.
<https://duckduckgo.com/? q=how+to+reset+all+spotlight+preferences+for+one+user+macOS&t=osx&ia=web>
'To reset all Spotlight preferences for a specific user on macOS, you
can delete the Spotlight preferences file located at ~/Library/ Preferences/com.apple.spotlight.plist. After deleting this file, restart your Mac to allow Spotlight to recreate the preferences. This will reset
all Spotlight settings for that user.'
(Now just you all wait: in a few monthsrComaybe later in this thread
should it last a few days, Liarboy will parrot this back to me as if he discovered it.)
Click done
On 8/16/26 8:36 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2026-08-16 10:53, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/6/26 8:27 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
On Thu, 6 Aug 2026 09:37:03 -0400, Tom Elam wrote:
So, likely something in my user account. I'll try duplicating my
account using Migration Assistant and see if the problem goes away
in the copy.
On actual (non-trademark) Unix systems, like Linux, user preferences
are kept in separate files, unique to each particular app/subsystem
the user might be running.
Back in the 20th century, these preference files (called rCLdotfilesrCY >>>> because their names began with a dot) cluttered up the top level of
your home directory. And still do, to some extent. But the modern
trend is to group them in a small number of top-level directories,
like rCL~/.local/rCY and rCL~/.config/rCY, with separate subdirectories within
there for each app/subsystem, to reduce the clutter.
What IrCOm trying to say is, on such a 21st-century-Unix system, if one >>>> particular app is misbehaving, you can try resetting/deleting/renaming >>>> just the prefs for that app, rather than having to recreate your
entire user account.
Spotlight is not an app as such. It's baked into Finder and the OS.
How do I know that? Search Apps for Spotlight and you get nada. Open
Spotlight from Spotlight and Finder comes up.
Your utter lack of understanding of such matters is staggering.
Spotlight may not have an icon you can click on, but that doesn't mean
it can't have all the standard settings files, etc. that applications
with such icons have.
<https://duckduckgo.com/?
q=how+to+reset+all+spotlight+preferences+for+one+user+macOS&t=osx&ia=web>
'To reset all Spotlight preferences for a specific user on macOS, you
can delete the Spotlight preferences file located at ~/Library/
Preferences/com.apple.spotlight.plist. After deleting this file,
restart your Mac to allow Spotlight to recreate the preferences. This
will reset all Spotlight settings for that user.'
(Now just you all wait: in a few monthsrComaybe later in this thread
should it last a few days, Liarboy will parrot this back to me as if
he discovered it.)
There IS another way.
Settings>Spotlight>Search Privacy>Drag your drive into the Locations box>Click done
Repeat but take the drive out of the box. Deletes the search index and rebuilds it. Not obvious but done within the GUI.
It does have settings, but nothing in the menu bar.
On 8/5/26 11:29 AM, Tom Elam wrote:
Followup to last post on Spotlight issue.0
Well, after re-indexing Spotlight it worked until I logged off and back
on using Touch ID. Searched "Spotlight broken after sleep" and found
this gem on an Apple forum:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254673402?sortBy=rank
With this reply by the post author:
"Disabling Touch ID on my iMac solved the problem. Have to type my
password to login after sleep but small price to pay for working spotlight."
So I tried that suggestion. It works, so I made a screen recording video
to show there is a Spotlight issue somehow connected to logging on with Touch ID. Apparently not a common issue, but has happened to at least
one other person.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1djyfiNv5h-n943TevtjV2fwA_rhJgqKy/view? usp=sharing
Any ideas? I may be headed to the local Genius Bar to see if they have
any clue. In the meantime I'll be logging on with the password!
I also posted this issue in the Apple forums. Not hopeful for anything
from that.
Well, well...
A very long Apple forum reply with these instructions among others seems
to have worked:
1 - killall Spotlight
2 - killall corespotlightd
Ran these as Terminal SUDO commands and shutdown/rebooted. Cycled
through restart, shutdown, lock screen and sleep logons via both Touch
ID and password. Spotlight is now working normally. Very similar to
killing a Windows process in Task Manager and rebooting, but that is a
GUI process. Interesting, but not the least bit obvious.
Should I create another video?
On Aug 5, 2026, Tom Elam wrote
(in article <114vs5d$36mql$1@dont-email.me>):
On 8/5/26 11:29 AM, Tom Elam wrote:
Followup to last post on Spotlight issue.0
Well, after re-indexing Spotlight it worked until I logged off and back
on using Touch ID. Searched "Spotlight broken after sleep" and found
this gem on an Apple forum:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/254673402?sortBy=rank
With this reply by the post author:
"Disabling Touch ID on my iMac solved the problem. Have to type my
password to login after sleep but small price to pay for working
spotlight."
So I tried that suggestion. It works, so I made a screen recording video >>> to show there is a Spotlight issue somehow connected to logging on with
Touch ID. Apparently not a common issue, but has happened to at least
one other person.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1djyfiNv5h-n943TevtjV2fwA_rhJgqKy/view?
usp=sharing
Any ideas? I may be headed to the local Genius Bar to see if they have
any clue. In the meantime I'll be logging on with the password!
I also posted this issue in the Apple forums. Not hopeful for anything
from that.
Well, well...
A very long Apple forum reply with these instructions among others seems
to have worked:
1 - killall Spotlight
2 - killall corespotlightd
Errr... why didnrCOt you just launch Activity Monitor, search for rCOspotlightrCO, then force quit those two processes? No need for Terminal...
Ran these as Terminal SUDO commands and shutdown/rebooted. Cycled
through restart, shutdown, lock screen and sleep logons via both Touch
ID and password. Spotlight is now working normally. Very similar to
killing a Windows process in Task Manager and rebooting, but that is a
GUI process. Interesting, but not the least bit obvious.
Should I create another video?
On 2026-09-11 04:43, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/16/26 8:36 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2026-08-16 10:53, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/6/26 8:27 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
On Thu, 6 Aug 2026 09:37:03 -0400, Tom Elam wrote:
So, likely something in my user account. I'll try duplicating my
account using Migration Assistant and see if the problem goes away >>>>>> in the copy.
On actual (non-trademark) Unix systems, like Linux, user preferences >>>>> are kept in separate files, unique to each particular app/subsystem
the user might be running.
Back in the 20th century, these preference files (called rCLdotfilesrCY >>>>> because their names began with a dot) cluttered up the top level of
your home directory. And still do, to some extent. But the modern
trend is to group them in a small number of top-level directories,
like rCL~/.local/rCY and rCL~/.config/rCY, with separate subdirectories within
there for each app/subsystem, to reduce the clutter.
What IrCOm trying to say is, on such a 21st-century-Unix system, if one >>>>> particular app is misbehaving, you can try resetting/deleting/renaming >>>>> just the prefs for that app, rather than having to recreate your
entire user account.
Spotlight is not an app as such. It's baked into Finder and the OS.
How do I know that? Search Apps for Spotlight and you get nada. Open
Spotlight from Spotlight and Finder comes up.
Your utter lack of understanding of such matters is staggering.
Spotlight may not have an icon you can click on, but that doesn't
mean it can't have all the standard settings files, etc. that
applications with such icons have.
<https://duckduckgo.com/?
q=how+to+reset+all+spotlight+preferences+for+one+user+macOS&t=osx&ia=web> >>>
'To reset all Spotlight preferences for a specific user on macOS, you
can delete the Spotlight preferences file located at ~/Library/
Preferences/com.apple.spotlight.plist. After deleting this file,
restart your Mac to allow Spotlight to recreate the preferences. This
will reset all Spotlight settings for that user.'
(Now just you all wait: in a few monthsrComaybe later in this thread
should it last a few days, Liarboy will parrot this back to me as if
he discovered it.)
There IS another way.
Settings>Spotlight>Search Privacy>Drag your drive into the Locations
Click done
Repeat but take the drive out of the box. Deletes the search index and
rebuilds it. Not obvious but done within the GUI.
It does have settings, but nothing in the menu bar.
And here we go again with the Liarboy parroting back to me something I
told HIM.
On 9/11/26 3:07 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2026-09-11 04:43, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/16/26 8:36 PM, Alan wrote:
On 2026-08-16 10:53, Tom Elam wrote:
On 8/6/26 8:27 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:
On Thu, 6 Aug 2026 09:37:03 -0400, Tom Elam wrote:
So, likely something in my user account. I'll try duplicating my >>>>>>> account using Migration Assistant and see if the problem goes away >>>>>>> in the copy.
On actual (non-trademark) Unix systems, like Linux, user preferences >>>>>> are kept in separate files, unique to each particular app/subsystem >>>>>> the user might be running.
Back in the 20th century, these preference files (called rCLdotfilesrCY >>>>>> because their names began with a dot) cluttered up the top level of >>>>>> your home directory. And still do, to some extent. But the modern
trend is to group them in a small number of top-level directories, >>>>>> like rCL~/.local/rCY and rCL~/.config/rCY, with separate subdirectories >>>>>> within
there for each app/subsystem, to reduce the clutter.
What IrCOm trying to say is, on such a 21st-century-Unix system, if one >>>>>> particular app is misbehaving, you can try resetting/deleting/
renaming
just the prefs for that app, rather than having to recreate your
entire user account.
Spotlight is not an app as such. It's baked into Finder and the OS. >>>>> How do I know that? Search Apps for Spotlight and you get nada.
Open Spotlight from Spotlight and Finder comes up.
Your utter lack of understanding of such matters is staggering.
Spotlight may not have an icon you can click on, but that doesn't
mean it can't have all the standard settings files, etc. that
applications with such icons have.
<https://duckduckgo.com/?
q=how+to+reset+all+spotlight+preferences+for+one+user+macOS&t=osx&ia=web> >>>>
'To reset all Spotlight preferences for a specific user on macOS,
you can delete the Spotlight preferences file located at ~/Library/
Preferences/com.apple.spotlight.plist. After deleting this file,
restart your Mac to allow Spotlight to recreate the preferences.
This will reset all Spotlight settings for that user.'
(Now just you all wait: in a few monthsrComaybe later in this thread
should it last a few days, Liarboy will parrot this back to me as if
he discovered it.)
There IS another way.
Settings>Spotlight>Search Privacy>Drag your drive into the Locations
Click done
Repeat but take the drive out of the box. Deletes the search index
and rebuilds it. Not obvious but done within the GUI.
It does have settings, but nothing in the menu bar.
And here we go again with the Liarboy parroting back to me something I
told HIM.
That solution is also easy to find with Google. Not the first one I
found. Bottom line it did not solve the problem.
Last week I wiped the hard drive and did a complete restore of the OS
and the account using Time Machine. Still have the issue. Next step is
to delete my user account and rebuild it by manually reloading apps and restoring data from either iCloud or my external drive. Or, maybe I'll
just put up with having to logon with my user account password to get Spotlight working.
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