I imaged our student loan MacBook Airs with 10.9.1 and use Deep Freeze on them. Each time a user logs on, Spotlight starts indexing and slows the Mac to a crawl and drains precious battery power.
Is there a proper way to disable Spotlight so it doesn't run for each new user; and without causing other problems?
Disable
launchctl unload -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plistRe-enable
launchctl load -w /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.apple.metadata.mds.plistThere is also an older method, which can sometimes cause problems:
mdutil -a -i offEnter your E-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.