Disabling Spotlight Indexing

[TrentWilliams]

Hey all,

Just working back through the optimisation guide and noticed spotlight had been re-enabled, on trying to disable it permanently again I'm getting a kickback in terminal.

--

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

Unload failed: 5: Input/output error
Try running `launchctl bootout` as root for richer errors.

--

I'm able to disable it until reboot using - "sudo mdutil -a -I off"

Running the same command with SIP disabled in recovery mode yields "Command not found".


Is anyone able to give some insight before I reach out to support?

[Darryl Ramm]

What macOS version are you running? Is 11.6 in your signature correct? What have you been doing to it? Major InSitu updates?

As the error message said what does bootout show? e.g.

[edit: Bzzt wrong bootout example, see comment below it does not help anyhow]

(Works fine for me on an Intel MBP running a fresh install of Sonoma).

Spotlight is a mess, but if you want to index say some of your drives you can mark the other drives private... but just look out if you do for Spotlight indexing still getting upset/spinning/chewing CPU (or I/O on HDD).

[TrentWilliams]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

What macOS version are you running? Is 11.6 in your signature correct? What have you been doing to it? Major InSitu updates?

As the error message said what does bootout show? e.g.

$ sudo launchctl bootout load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

(Works fine for me on an Intel MBP running a fresh install of Sonoma).

Spotlight is a mess, but if you want to index say some of your drives you can mark the other drives private... but just look out if you do for Spotlight indexing still getting upset/spinning/chewing CPU (or I/O on HDD).

Thanks for the reply,

Sorry, signature is out of date - running 13.6

Running bootout gives back

"Usage: launchctl bootout <domain-target> [service-path1, service-path2, ...] | <service-target>"

[Darryl Ramm]

Doh Ya already unloaded it.

Try putting it back..

$ sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

then taking it away...

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

[TrentWilliams]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Doh Ya already unloaded it.

Try putting it back..

$ sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

then taking it away...

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

Ah, thanks for your help with this.

Is there a way I can see current enabled/disabled status of spotlight in terminal?

Running: sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

Yields: Load failed: 5: Input/output error
Try running `launchctl bootstrap` as root for richer errors.

[Darryl Ramm]

Oops and my bad for messing up the bootout example. Which would actually not have given any more clues anyhow, e.g. on my system...

$ sudo launchctl list | grep mds                       
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.scan
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.index
-	0	com.apple.msrpc.mdssvc
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.spindump

$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist 
Unload failed: 5: Input/output error
Try running `launchctl bootout` as root for richer errors.

$ sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist 

$ sudo launchctl list | grep mds                                                     
4584	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.scan
4583	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.index
-	0	com.apple.msrpc.mdssvc
4581	0	com.apple.metadata.mds
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.spindump

$ sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.metadata.mds                              

$ sudo launchctl list | grep mds                       
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.scan
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.index
-	0	com.apple.msrpc.mdssvc
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.spindump

$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
Unload failed: 5: Input/output error
Try running `launchctl bootout` as root for richer errors.

$ sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.metadata.mds
Boot-out failed: 3: No such process

[massivekerry]

I’ve been using AppTamer to throttle Spotlight Indexing and force it to the Efficiency cores.

[its2loud]

Spotlight should be enabled. Which optimizations are you looking at.

Spotlight needs to be enabled for Workspace to function.
Unless you’re doing long record passes.
https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...ng/Optimize-12

[TrentWilliams]

Originally Posted by its2loud

Spotlight should be enabled. Which optimizations are you looking at.

Spotlight needs to be enabled for Workspace to function.
Unless you’re doing long record passes.
https://avid.secure.force.com/pkb/ar...ng/Optimize-12

In the optimisation guide for Ventura:


Disable Spotlight Indexing

Running Spotlight on macOS Ventura can impact Pro Tools playback performance.

To turn off Spotlight permanently:

In the Terminal, run "sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist"
To turn off Spotlight until reboot:

In the terminal, run ”sudo mdutil -a -i off”. Consider running this command when you know you will be using Pro Tools on startup.
Exclude any folder or drives from Spotlight indexing and parsing that may be causing Spotlight to parse files during audio playback. This is particularly relevant when parsing large image or video files.

[TrentWilliams]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

Oops and my bad for messing up the bootout example. Which would actually not have given any more clues anyhow, e.g. on my system...

$ sudo launchctl list | grep mds                       
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.scan
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.index
-	0	com.apple.msrpc.mdssvc
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.spindump

$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist 
Unload failed: 5: Input/output error
Try running `launchctl bootout` as root for richer errors.

$ sudo launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist 

$ sudo launchctl list | grep mds                                                     
4584	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.scan
4583	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.index
-	0	com.apple.msrpc.mdssvc
4581	0	com.apple.metadata.mds
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.spindump

$ sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.metadata.mds                              

$ sudo launchctl list | grep mds                       
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.scan
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.index
-	0	com.apple.msrpc.mdssvc
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.spindump

$ sudo launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist
Unload failed: 5: Input/output error
Try running `launchctl bootout` as root for richer errors.

$ sudo launchctl bootout system/com.apple.metadata.mds
Boot-out failed: 3: No such process

Thanks again for your help with this,

Running:

 sudo launchctl list | grep mds

Yields:

-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.scan
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.index
-	0	com.apple.msrpc.mdssvc
111	0	com.apple.metadata.mds
-	0	com.apple.metadata.mds.spindump

This appears as though it's unloaded, I'm unsure about:

111	0	com.apple.metadata.mds