Disabling Spotlight under Mac OS X (updated)

If like me you're not a fan of Spotlight and want to disable it completely then you can hese simple steps.

I've provided steps for each of the following flavours of Mac OS X -- Tiger (10.4), Leopard (10.5), Snow Leopard (10.6), Lion (10.7) and Mountain Lion (10.8).

[updated] Added steps for Mac OS X Mavericks (10.9) and Yosemite (10.10).

In Mac OS X Tiger (10.4)

Disable Spotlight

1. Launch terminal and type the following:

   $ sudo nano /etc/hostconfig

2. Locate the string SPOTLIGHT= using arrow keys
3. Change

   SPOTLIGHT=-YES-

   to

   SPOTLIGHT=-NO-

4. Save /etc/hostconfig by pressing Control-O and the return key, next press Control-X to exit the text editor.
5. Next, you need to disable the index by typing the following in the terminal:

   $ mdutil -i off /

6. And to erase the current Spotlight index, type:

   $ mdutil -E /

7. Reboot your macbook pro. spotlight will be completeely disabled.

Re-Enable Spotlight

1. Launch terminal and type the following:

   $ sudo nano /etc/hostconfig

2. Locate the string SPOTLIGHT= using arrow keys
3. Change

   SPOTLIGHT=-NO-

   to

   SPOTLIGHT=-YES-

4. Save /etc/hostconfig by pressing Control-O and the return key, next press Control-X to exit the text editor.
5. and then type in the terminal:

   $ mdutil -i on /

6. Reboot, and spotlight is back as usual

In Mac OS X Leopard (10.5)

Disable Spotlight

To turn off Spotlight in Leopard, use the following

1. Move these two files to another safe location, and then reboot your mac

   /System/Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.Spotlight,plist
   /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plist

Re-Enable Spotlight

1. Re-enable Spotlight by moving those files back to their original location, reboot, and Spotlight will function again

In Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6)

Disable Spotlight

1. Disabling Spotlight in Snow Leopard is pretty easy, launch a terminal and type the following:

   $ sudo mdutil -a -i off

Re-Enable Spotlight

1. Re-enabling Spotlight in Mac OS X 10.6 is just as easy, just reverse the command to:

   $ sudo mdutil -a -i on

In Mac OS X Lion (10.7) and Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8)

Disable Spotlight

1. The primary method is using launchctl

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

Re-Enable Spotlight

1. Te gaurenteed way to reenable Spotlight is to reload it using launchctl:

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

In Mac OS X Mavericks (10.9) and Mac OS X Yosemite (10.10)

Disable Spotlight

1. The primary method is using launchctl

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

Re-Enable Spotlight

1. To re-enable Spotlight, just simply reload it using launchctl:

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