What is the 'CarbonComponentScannerXPC' process? Do I have a way to remove it?

Question

I am using a m1 MacBook Pro and do not want any intel applications. Therefore all apps I install are either universal or plain arm64. But rosetta2 is still activated because ms office 2019 which updates itself to arm version later is distributed in intel binary. After that, all apps I use are native.

However, the 'CarbonComponentScannerXPC' exists as the only process with Intel code. The Activity Monitor tells me perhaps it is from the AudioToolbox framework. I search on the Internet but cannot find more information. Can anybody tell me what purpose it serves? Is there any way to remove or stop it?

I have this process too, and like you want to nuke it. I don't know what's causing it to execute. — Woodstock, Nov 09 '21 at 09:17
If it's part of the OS, then leave it alone. It could perhaps be something that Rosetta runs inside itself. Incidentally, I downloaded Office 2019 from an MS support page, and it was UB. — benwiggy, Nov 09 '21 at 09:31
@benwiggy R2 is a binary translation engine, one shouldn't see arbitrary Intel apps running. Moreover, the parent process is AudioComponentRegistrar. — Woodstock, Nov 09 '21 at 10:01
@benwiggy My office is offered by my university, which unfortunately is an earlier intel version. — cdowen, Nov 09 '21 at 10:22

tkisme · Answer 1 · 2024-02-04T13:18:44.057

27

UPDATE：14.2.1 CarbonComponentScannerXPC finally disappear UPDATE：there is no clean way to disable Rosetta 2 after enabled you can disable SIP and then remove files. https://developer.apple.com/forums/thread/669486

this process comes with Rosetta 2, and if you enabled Rosetta 2 before the process named CarbonComponentScannerXPC will always start after boot

edited Feb 04 '24 at 13:18

answered Dec 09 '21 at 03:55

tkisme

371

2

Your answer could be improved with additional supporting information. Please [edit] to add further details, such as citations or documentation, so that others can confirm that your answer is correct. You can find more information on how to write good answers in the help center. – Community Dec 09 '21 at 05:34
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Why? It wasn't there in BigSur. – Woodstock Dec 15 '21 at 11:35
Act like a new feature on Monterey, now is removed on Monterey 12.1 – tkisme Dec 16 '21 at 03:51
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@tkisme it's not removed in 12.1 it's still there. – Woodstock Dec 19 '21 at 09:14
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Does CarbonComponentScannerXPC cost anything? (e.g., excessive CPU cycles). And is there a way to disable Rosetta 2? – Helin Wang Dec 25 '21 at 19:56

score 3 · Answer 2 · edited Jul 23 '22 at 13:03

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Did you install Homebrew? I found that after installing Homebrew (even though it said it was made for the M1 chip) my MacBook Pro also has the CarbonComponentScanner process. After resetting my MacBook Pro to factory again and installed all my apps, except Homebrew, everything was back to Apple processes only.

edited Jul 23 '22 at 13:03

grg

201,078

answered Jul 23 '22 at 07:31

Tinh Lac

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I do not think it's related to homebrew. I also did a factory reset and reinstalled everything except x64 apps. Now the process disappears – cdowen Dec 01 '22 at 13:43
I also have Homebrew installed and have noticed this process. Related, idk. – Mint Jul 04 '23 at 03:12

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 13 '23 at 11:52

I've found that it's possible to close all the Intel apps (I have a few which I have to run occasionally) and then via Activity Monitor force quit CarbonComponentScannerXPC.

Double-click on CarbonComponentScannerXPC and then choose Quit in the dialogue at the bottom.

Since most of us have to keep Rosetta2 on our M1 Macs, occasionally going in to check for Intel apps and then force quitting CarbonComponentScannerXPC is probably the most robust solution.

Someone could automate a process to check for CarbonComponentScannerXPC but if any Intel apps are open it will reopen, hence doing so manually is probably the right solution. Most of us run our M1 Macs for a week or two without a restart (some more, but I'm having occasional lockup issues. I have an external dock, lots of USB peripherals and apps so figuring out the issue to get two or three month stability would not be an easy task, working on it slowly, I imagine many fellow AskDifferent users have similarly complex setups with the same issues) so it's not something we'd have to do often.

What is the 'CarbonComponentScannerXPC' process? Do I have a way to remove it?

3 Answers3