Pulse Secure Stopping from opening at startup Mac

[Zaurian]

I've been a Pulse fan for a decade.  Then we got in to Mac for a specific application.  Now, I am done with Pulse and have replaced our PSA appliance with a Cisco Meraki MX which uses the native Windows/Mac VPN client and doesn't have this issue.

[ndp]

This worked great for me:

From: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/42612508/stop-pulse-secure-from-opening-at-startup-mac
----- BEGIN quote from stackoverflow -----

1. remove the /Library/LaunchAgents/net.pulsesecure.pulsetray.plist so that it does not autoboot at every startup

Every time you need the Pulse Secure VPN utility

1. Show package content in the application bundle: Pulse Secure

2. Go to /Applications/Pulse Secure.app/Contents/Plugins/JamUI

3. Double click on PulseTray

Or from terminal:

open /Applications/Pulse\ Secure.app/Contents/Plugins/JamUI/PulseTray.app

When done, close the PulseTray again.
----- END quote from stackoverflow -----

I took it a step furether by opening /Applications/Pulse\ Secure.app/Contents/Plugins/JamUI/ in the Finder and dragging PulseTray.app to the Dock and presto - PulseSecure whem you need it...

[mattfiocca]

I've taken this a step further from ndp's post:

Remove the .plist file to prevent auto-start at boot:

sudo rm /Library/LaunchAgents/net.pulsesecure.pulsetray.plist

Then, just create a symlink to PulseTray.app:

sudo ln -s /Applications/Pulse\ Secure.app/Contents/Plugins/JamUI/PulseTray.app /Applications/PulseTray.app

This acts as putting PulseTray.app directly inside your /Applications folder, making it just as launchable as "Pulse Secure.app"

[jeffreyEL]

It is absurd to not be able to stop pulse secure from starting on startup. Uninstalling....

[groghe]

Open terminal.app and run the following command:

launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/net.pulsesecure.pulsetray.plist

This should stop PulseTray.app from starting at login and you wont get that annoying PulseSecure splash when your dekstop loads. PulseSecure can still be run from Applications like normal and then it will start the PulseTray.app manually. I have tested this and confirmed it works without breaking PulseSecure and you will still be able to login to your VPN.

There is a tray app nested in the Plugins folder of the PulseSecure.app, namely

/Applications/PulseSecure.app/Contents/Plugins/JamUI/PulseTray.app

and so I went looking in the LaunchDaemons and LaunchAgents folders for both root and local users and found the problem is that the plugin PulseTray.app is starting at login via a LaunchAgent found at

/Library/LaunchAgents/net.pulsesecure.pulsetray.plist

[tralala]

---

@zanyterp wrote:
I would recommend reaching out to your account team and let them know this is a configurable option you would like our product and development teams to investigate (disabling the launch-at-boot option)

---

I'll go out on a limb and guess that disabling malware-type behaviour really isn't that hard. Also, since it precisely isn't optional, this is not a "launch-at-boot option".

[Pulse On Mac Is Stupid]

---

@mattfiocca wrote:

Remove the .plist file to prevent auto-start at boot:

sudo rm /Library/LaunchAgents/net.pulsesecure.pulsetray.plist

Then, just create a symlink to PulseTray.app:

sudo ln -s /Applications/Pulse\ Secure.app/Contents/Plugins/JamUI/PulseTray.app /Applications/PulseTray.app

This acts as putting PulseTray.app directly inside your /Applications folder, making it just as launchable as "Pulse Secure.app"

---

So far, this seems like the best solution.  I'd like to just uninstall Pulse, but I'm sure I'll need it again and don't want to have to reconfigure all of my Connections. 

It would be better if they simply added the feature to disable it like is possible in Windows.

[Pulse On Mac Is Stupid]

---

@groghe wrote:

Open terminal.app and run the following command:

launchctl unload /Library/LaunchAgents/net.pulsesecure.pulsetray.plist

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This didn't work for me.  Terminal reported: "Could not find specified service."

[Pulse On Mac Is Stupid]

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@mattfiocca wrote:

Remove the .plist file to prevent auto-start at boot:

sudo rm /Library/LaunchAgents/net.pulsesecure.pulsetray.plist

Then, just create a symlink to PulseTray.app:

sudo ln -s /Applications/Pulse\ Secure.app/Contents/Plugins/JamUI/PulseTray.app /Applications/PulseTray.app

This acts as putting PulseTray.app directly inside your /Applications folder, making it just as launchable as "Pulse Secure.app"

---

I already posted this, but somehow it got deleted?  Anyway, this worked the best and is the easiest since I can't uninstall it.  There's a way to disable this on Windows, so there should be a way to do it on Mac.

[doctorj]

[This reply comes a pair of years after the OP message]

I declare success! as I was able to turn Pulse Secure (version 9.1.8) under macOS to manual operation -- it will now does not launch automatically at boot-time, and reverts to manual on and off operation.

Exactly "Pulse Secure Stopping from opening at startup Mac".

Procedure:

[Note:  You need admin rights]

1.  Moved the pulsetray .plist from the startup path

Moved /Library/LaunchAgents/net.pulsesecure.pulsetray.plist to a separate directory away from the pulsesecure startup path at boot time.  I moved it to an ad-hoc /Library/LaunchAgents.Manual folder.  (You can use anything you like, obviously.)

2.  Linked the PulseTray.app to an alias on the desktop

The Pulsetray.app (a Java application manager, JAM, application) creates and manages the pulse secure UI on the macOS tray.  It is the pulsetray.app that is invoked unilaterally, and disturbingly, at startup.

2a. The pulsetray.app is at

/Applications/Pulse\ Secure.app/Contents/Plugins/JamUI/PulseTray.app

2b. Make an alias of the afore-mentioned PulseTray.app and move the PulseTray.app alias to your desktop.

2c. [Optional] Rename the PulseTray.app alias now on your desktop to anything you like.  I used Pulse Secure (Manual)

3.  Manually turn-on the Pulse Secure app thru the PulseTray.app alias icon on the desktop

The PulseTray.app alias behaves without unexpected side-effects.  The context of Pulse Secure has been pre-installed and is running or loaded on the background.  The alias only controls the Pulse Secure startup UI, loading the macOS tray with the PulseTray.app.

4.  As before, manually control the behavior of Pulse Secure thru the macOS tray. (No change.)

The Pulse Secure tray app controls the state (connect, disconnect, suspend, resume, extend session, ... exit) of the app just as before.

5.  Enjoy