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You are here: MacNN Forums > Software - Troubleshooting and Discussion > macOS > systemuiserver - What's It Do???

systemuiserver - What's It Do???
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Richard Clark
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May 15, 2003, 02:29 PM
 
G4/867 DP
512 MB
10.2.6

When addressing a problem on the machine (ATM Deluxe running in Classic) it was noticed that there was a program running that we hadn't seen - systemuiserver. It would not quit or be force quit.

Since then I deleted the Plist preferences to the program and also deleted the program after restarting into OS 9.

After that though we found that the user couldn't burn CDs in X. I ended up re-installing 10.2.6.

What does systemuiserver do? I have looked here at MacNN, and tried to find information in Apple's Knowledge Base to no avail.

Isn't it a program that should be running behind the scenes and not in the dock?

Is the User Interface running a server in the background we don't know about?

I called Apple and they weren't very helpful. In fact I made two phone calls. One didn't know and started to look it up. But I had to get off the phone due to another workstation problem. The second call had the rep tell me he wasn't going to help since the machine is past 90 days old since purchase. Thanks!

We've got about 20 machines running X and I've never seen the systemuiserver program come up in the dock before except on this one machine. It hasn't happened since either.

If anyone can enlighten me on what it does I'd appreciate it.

Thanks in advance!
"Tough Little Ship" - Riker
"LITTLE?" - Worf after having the Defiant salvaged by the Enterprise (First Contact)
     
wataru
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May 15, 2003, 02:45 PM
 
SystemUIServer is the app that controls the menu items on the right side of the menu bar. Sometimes it goes haywire. When that happens just figure out its PID and kill it.

I have no idea why it would show up on the dock, but it is completely standard and should NOT be deleted.
     
Telusman
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May 15, 2003, 03:32 PM
 
Your not an administrator are you? deleting system components.... you shouldnt be touching anything in /System/Library/CoreServices, which i beleive is where that is. It controls the widgets in the menu bar, and probably a few other things that arent apparent on the system (might explain ur loss of burning capabilities)

Usually the process will restart itself if it's killed, dies, or malfunctions, it's fairly intuitive.

It's a standard and nessecary System component, and should *not* be deleted.

( Last edited by Telusman; May 15, 2003 at 03:39 PM. )
"No ma'am i'm not angry at you, I'm angry at the cruel twist of fate that directed your call to my extension..."
     
Richard Clark  (op)
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May 15, 2003, 03:32 PM
 
Thanks!

Yeah, I kind of wondered if it was important. OS X 10.2 has been re-installed so the systemuiserver is back where it belongs. And I've run all the updates so it's back to 10.2.6.

Thanks again!
"Tough Little Ship" - Riker
"LITTLE?" - Worf after having the Defiant salvaged by the Enterprise (First Contact)
     
foobars
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May 15, 2003, 04:09 PM
 
I think it also handles most drag and drop capabilites, so you probally want it...
     
philzilla
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May 15, 2003, 04:24 PM
 
Originally posted by Richard Clark:
Yeah, I kind of wondered if it was important.
so you deleted it anyway? awesome. wanna come and look after my network for me? i could use a whizz like you, to keep my machines in tip top condition
"Have sharp knives. Be creative. Cook to music" ~ maxelson
     
Richard Clark  (op)
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May 15, 2003, 04:41 PM
 
The program was on a workstation, not a server. And my boss who is the network administrator was the one who instructed me to delete it.

If our big boss would allow us to attend Mac OS Server training we both would have a solid knowledge and training for the ins and outs of the OS / OS Server. But it looks right now like it's going to be a cold day in H#$$. And because of that my my boss is working blind trying to fix an OS X 10.1 server. It took two major crashes and re-installs as well as downtime before they finally agreed to purchase 10.2 Server which won't be here for another four days.

That's why I wanted to know what the functionality of systemuiserver was on a workstation.

I had everything fixed before posting the question. Just wanted to find out what it was, what it did.

It still doesn't explain why it started showing up in the dock and why we couldn't force quit.

I appreciate the information that has been relayed.

Thanks!
"Tough Little Ship" - Riker
"LITTLE?" - Worf after having the Defiant salvaged by the Enterprise (First Contact)
     
Telusman
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May 15, 2003, 05:11 PM
 
Check ur login items to make sure SystemUIServer isnt in there, its possible thats why its showing up in the dock, if it's there it's safe to remove it as it loads with the system, and not nessecary as a login item.

If thats not, make sure that you dont have a third party software making "invisible" apps appear in the dock, i beleive tinkertool did this.

You cant force quit it because its a system item, and its probably not showing up in the force quit pane and force quit from the dock wont show up because its not misbehaving or locked-up in any manner.

-Telusman
"No ma'am i'm not angry at you, I'm angry at the cruel twist of fate that directed your call to my extension..."
     
Cipher13
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May 16, 2003, 12:59 AM
 
Originally posted by Richard Clark:
The program was on a workstation, not a server. And my boss who is the network administrator was the one who instructed me to delete it.

If our big boss would allow us to attend Mac OS Server training we both would have a solid knowledge and training for the ins and outs of the OS / OS Server. But it looks right now like it's going to be a cold day in H#$$. And because of that my my boss is working blind trying to fix an OS X 10.1 server. It took two major crashes and re-installs as well as downtime before they finally agreed to purchase 10.2 Server which won't be here for another four days.

That's why I wanted to know what the functionality of systemuiserver was on a workstation.

I had everything fixed before posting the question. Just wanted to find out what it was, what it did.

It still doesn't explain why it started showing up in the dock and why we couldn't force quit.

I appreciate the information that has been relayed.

Thanks!
Dude. Get a new boss.
     
King Bob On The Cob
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May 16, 2003, 07:29 PM
 
SystemUIServer handles all media inserted into the computer. It's really bad if you can't run that. It also handles all UI timed events and scripts. (such as Software Update).
     
Angus_D
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May 17, 2003, 05:33 AM
 
Originally posted by King Bob On The Cob:
SystemUIServer handles all media inserted into the computer.
I believe this is actually handled by autodiskmount and the Disk Arbitration framework.

It also handles all UI timed events and scripts. (such as Software Update).
I think this is handled by loginwindow, actually.
     
moki
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May 17, 2003, 11:14 PM
 
The SystemUIServer does more than just the little menus on the right part of the menu bar. It also handles the screen capture facilities in Mac OS X (limited as they are), and it does indeed handle what happens to mounting media (CDs, DVDs, iPods, digital cameras, scanners, etc.), as set in the "CDs and DVDs" System Preference.

It also actually implements the clock, and a few other of the menus displayed in the menu bar directly (battery readout for portables, PPP for dialup connections, etc.).

As of 10.2.x, much to developer's dismay, only sanctioned menu extra's are loaded by the SystemUIServer. Currently, those are:

AirPortExtra
BatteryExtra
CPUExtra
AppleClockExtra
DisplaysExtra
IrDAExtra
PPPConnectExtra
PPPoEConnectExtra
AppleVolumeExtra
EjectExtra
AppleUser
ProcessExtra
AppleVPNConnectExtra
AppleFezExtra
ApplePCCardExtra
WorkspaceMenu
AppleBluetoothExtra
AppleBRExtra
AppleRDExtra
AppleOSAScriptMenu
I've no idea what some of these are...

Also rather annoyingly, in 10.2.x, any hot keys it uses (such as Command-Shift-3) are taken "with exclusion" so that other programs can't override the built-in hot keys (well, not without a little mischief anyway).

Many developers are rather frustrated with the heavy-handedness coded into the SystemUIServer.

In short, it handles a lot of fairly important functions; erasing a program because you don't know what it does isn't really the best thing to do.

As an exercise, open up Terminal.app and type:

ps -auxww

and let your boss look at the output, asking him if you erase all of the processes listed there that he doesn't know what they do.
Andrew Welch / el Presidente / Ambrosia Software, Inc.
     
gatorparrots
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May 17, 2003, 11:48 PM
 
If the SystemUIServer process goes wonky and starts hogging CPU time (as it is wont to do), simply restart it from the command line:
kill -1 `ps auxc | grep SystemUIServer | awk '{print $2}'`
You can also make that command into a simple double-clickable AppleScript application. Open up Script Editor.app and paste this one line of code:
do shell script "kill -1 `ps auxc | grep SystemUIServer | awk '{print $2}'`"
Save it as an application or compiled script and you've got an easy-to deploy admin tool.
     
Moose
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May 18, 2003, 04:33 PM
 
Originally posted by gatorparrots:
If the SystemUIServer process goes wonky and starts hogging CPU time (as it is wont to do), simply restart it from the command line:
kill -1 `ps auxc | grep SystemUIServer | awk '{print $2}'`
You can also make that command into a simple double-clickable AppleScript application. Open up Script Editor.app and paste this one line of code:
do shell script "kill -1 `ps auxc | grep SystemUIServer | awk '{print $2}'`"
Save it as an application or compiled script and you've got an easy-to deploy admin tool.
killall SystemUIServer
     
   
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