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If it's not in "Login Items" then it has to be in launchctl. Always prefer the user interface when there is one rather than messing with files directly:

 launchctl list | grep -i cisco
 launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

 # Load it back
 launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

NB: be careful NOT to run sudo launchctl and NOT to run launchctl from a root terminal, because in this context it would not behave the same way. For example, trying to run sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist results in an error "Could not find specified service", whereas without the sudo it works.

When there's a user interface it's very likely because it does more than just moving one file. Don't take the risk to miss those extra bits; use the official and documented user interface.

launchctl is the equivalent of systemd on Linux or services.msc on Windows. Every mac user should have at least some vague idea of what launchctl does because it manages far more than AnyConnect: basically every process not manually started by the user.

launchctl is documented in (surprise) man launchctl but that's not for the faint of heart. For a friendlier documentation that does not assume you already know the difference between "loading" versus "starting" or between a "daemon" vs a "service" or an "agent" go to http://www.launchd.info/ first.

As a bonus and slightly off-topic answer, here's a clean way to restart the AnyConnect daemon in case it gets stuck as it sometimes does. This is the other, lower-level AnyConnect process(es) without any user interface and running as root that does the actual work:

  sudo launchctl kickstart -kp system/com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd

Avoid kill and killall, see why on http://www.launchd.info/ Be careful where you use sudo since some of the agents and daemons run in user space and some run in system space and different versions of macOS have different syntax and shells.

If it's not in "Login Items" then it has to be in launchctl. Always prefer the user interface when there is one rather than messing with files directly:

 launchctl list | grep -i cisco
 launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

 # Load it back
 launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

NB: be careful NOT to run sudo launchctl and NOT to run launchctl from a root terminal, because launchctl is user-dependent. For example, trying to run sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist results in an error "Could not find specified service", whereas without the sudo it works.

When there's a user interface it's very likely because it does more than just moving one file. Don't take the risk to miss those extra bits; use the official and documented user interface.

launchctl is the equivalent of systemd on Linux or services.msc on Windows. Every mac user should have at least some vague idea of what launchctl does because it manages far more than AnyConnect: basically every process not manually started by the user.

launchctl is documented in (surprise) man launchctl but that's not for the faint of heart. For a friendlier documentation that does not assume you already know the difference between "loading" versus "starting" or between a "daemon" vs a "service" or an "agent" go to http://www.launchd.info/ first.

As a bonus and slightly off-topic answer, here's a clean way to restart the AnyConnect daemon in case it gets stuck as it sometimes does. This is the other, lower-level AnyConnect process(es) without any user interface and running as root that does the actual work:

  sudo launchctl kickstart -kp system/com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd

Avoid kill and killall, see why on http://www.launchd.info/ Be careful where you use sudo since some of the agents and daemons run in user space and some run in system space and different versions of macOS have different syntax and shells.

If it's not in "Login Items" then it has to be in launchctl. Always prefer the user interface when there is one rather than messing with files directly:

 launchctl list | grep -i cisco
 launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

 # Load it back
 launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

When there's a user interface it's very likely because it does more than just moving one file. Don't take the risk to miss those extra bits; use the official and documented user interface.

launchctl is the equivalent of systemd on Linux or services.msc on Windows. Every mac user should have at least some vague idea of what launchctl does because it manages far more than AnyConnect: basically every process not manually started by the user.

launchctl is documented in (surprise) man launchctl but that's not for the faint of heart. For a friendlier documentation that does not assume you already know the difference between "loading" versus "starting" or between a "daemon" vs a "service" or an "agent" go to http://www.launchd.info/ first.

As a bonus and slightly off-topic answer, here's a clean way to restart the AnyConnect daemon in case it gets stuck as it sometimes does. This is the other, lower-level AnyConnect process(es) without any user interface and running as root that does the actual work:

  sudo launchctl kickstart -kp system/com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd

Avoid kill and killall, see why on http://www.launchd.info/ Be careful where you use sudo since some of the agents and daemons run in user space and some run in system space and different versions of macOS have different syntax and shells.

If it's not in "Login Items" then it has to be in launchctl. Always prefer the user interface when there is one rather than messing with files directly:

 launchctl list | grep -i cisco
 launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

 # Load it back
 launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

NB: be careful NOT to run sudo launchctl and NOT to run launchctl from a root terminal, because in this context it would not behave the same way. For example, trying to run sudo launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist results in an error "Could not find specified service", whereas without the sudo it works.

When there's a user interface it's very likely because it does more than just moving one file. Don't take the risk to miss those extra bits; use the official and documented user interface.

launchctl is the equivalent of systemd on Linux or services.msc on Windows. Every mac user should have at least some vague idea of what launchctl does because it manages far more than AnyConnect: basically every process not manually started by the user.

launchctl is documented in (surprise) man launchctl but that's not for the faint of heart. For a friendlier documentation that does not assume you already know the difference between "loading" versus "starting" or between a "daemon" vs a "service" or an "agent" go to http://www.launchd.info/ first.

As a bonus and slightly off-topic answer, here's a clean way to restart the AnyConnect daemon in case it gets stuck as it sometimes does. This is the other, lower-level AnyConnect process(es) without any user interface and running as root that does the actual work:

  sudo launchctl kickstart -kp system/com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd

Avoid kill and killall, see why on http://www.launchd.info/ Be careful where you use sudo since some of the agents and daemons run in user space and some run in system space and different versions of macOS have different syntax and shells.

If it's not in "Login Items" then it has to be in launchctl. Always prefer the user interface when there is one rather than messing with files directly:

 launchctl list | grep -i cisco
 launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

 # Load it back
 launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

When there's a user interface it's very likely because it does more than just moving one file. Don't take the risk to miss those extra bits; use the official and documented user interface.

launchctl is the equivalent of systemd on Linux or services.msc on Windows. Every mac user should have at least some vague idea of what launchctl does because it manages far more than AnyConnect: basically every process not manually started by the user.

launchctl is documented in (surprise) man launchctl but that's not for the faint of heart. For a friendlier documentation that does not assume you already know the difference between "loading" versus "starting" or between a "daemon" vs a "service" or an "agent" go to http://www.launchd.info/ first.

As a bonus and slightly off-topic answer, here's a clean way to restart the AnyConnect daemon in case it gets stuck as it sometimes does. This is the other, lower-level AnyConnect process(es) without any user interface and running as root that does the actual work:

  sudo launchctl kickstart -kp system/com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd

Avoid kill and killall, see why on http://www.launchd.info/

If it's not in "Login Items" then it has to be in launchctl. Always prefer the user interface when there is one rather than messing with files directly:

 launchctl list | grep -i cisco
 launchctl unload -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

 # Load it back
 launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchAgents/com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist
 launchctl list | grep -i cisco

When there's a user interface it's very likely because it does more than just moving one file. Don't take the risk to miss those extra bits; use the official and documented user interface.

launchctl is the equivalent of systemd on Linux or services.msc on Windows. Every mac user should have at least some vague idea of what launchctl does because it manages far more than AnyConnect: basically every process not manually started by the user.

launchctl is documented in (surprise) man launchctl but that's not for the faint of heart. For a friendlier documentation that does not assume you already know the difference between "loading" versus "starting" or between a "daemon" vs a "service" or an "agent" go to http://www.launchd.info/ first.

As a bonus and slightly off-topic answer, here's a clean way to restart the AnyConnect daemon in case it gets stuck as it sometimes does. This is the other, lower-level AnyConnect process(es) without any user interface and running as root that does the actual work:

  sudo launchctl kickstart -kp system/com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd

Avoid kill and killall, see why on http://www.launchd.info/ Be careful where you use sudo since some of the agents and daemons run in user space and some run in system space and different versions of macOS have different syntax and shells.