Learn how to use macOS startup keyboard instructions

The 16-inch MacBook Professional keyboard

Apple’s macOS has lengthy supplied many key combos you possibly can maintain down when your Mac begins. When beginning up your Mac, you would possibly wish to select a unique Startup Disk, boot into Restoration mode, right into a Boot Camp Home windows quantity, or use one in every of Apple’s built-in Mac utilities. Startup key combos help you select what runs when your Mac boots.

For all startup key combos, the precise keys to press could also be totally different relying on whether or not you are utilizing an Apple Silicon-based Mac or an Intel Mac.

Startup Disk choice is totally different relying on whether or not you are utilizing an Intel-based Mac, or an Apple Silicon Mac.

On Intel Macs, if you happen to maintain down the Possibility key earlier than your Mac boots however after you energy it on, you may get a graphical startup disk menu choice which lets you interrupt startup to pick which quantity to begin up from. This menu lives in your Mac’s firmware and lets you change Startup Disks in case your regular Startup Disk turns into unbootable for some purpose:

Inner drives are listed first, then USB, Thunderbolt, FireWire, and different exterior drives. If any network-bootable drives can be found, they’re listed final.

On Apple Silicon Macs, the method is comparable, however as an alternative of holding down the Possibility key, press and maintain the ability button till the quantity listing seems.

When you have an Intel Mac with an Apple T2 Safety Chip, you might have to set safety choices utilizing Startup Safety Utility first earlier than you should use the boot Startup Disk function. This app lets you set a firmware password, and designate if you happen to can boot exterior drives.

The listing of bootable Startup Disks within the Startup Disk choice firmware menu is identical because the drive listing that seems in Startup Disk management panel in Settings.

If you happen to maintain down the Shift key after choosing a Startup Disk, however whereas urgent the Proceed or up-arrow button, your Mac will startup in Secure Mode.

To start out up into Apple Diagnostics on Apple Silicon Macs, which additionally lives in your Mac’s firmware, observe the identical process as Startup Disk Choice above, however as an alternative of constant to a particular Startup Disk, press Command D to enter Diagnostics.

On Intel Macs, as an alternative of the earlier process, merely maintain down the D key on startup. This web page describes the diag process and a few end result codes.

If for some purpose your Mac turns into unbootable, there’s additionally a built-in firmware Restoration Utility. Besides into Restoration Utility, on Intel Macs maintain down the Command R keys on startup till you see the Apple brand.

On Apple Silicon Macs, observe the identical process as in Startup Disk Choice, however as an alternative of choosing a drive in addition from, choose the Choices gear icon. You may proceed to Restoration.

As soon as in Restoration, you will have 4 choices:

Most of those are self-explanatory aside from Reinstall macOS. In that case, the everyday workflow is to pick the Disk Utility choice, erase a drive to reinstall macOS onto, then Stop Disk Utility, which takes you again to the Restoration menu.

Then choose Reinstall macOS to do a clear set up onto the drive you simply erased. Word nonetheless that erasing a drive destroys all current knowledge on it and there is no recovering the information. Watch out when utilizing this feature.

It’s doable to run Reinstall macOS immediately onto a beforehand used drive containing knowledge or a replica of macOS. The installer is sensible sufficient to not destroy any knowledge Apple beforehand created, and it is also good sufficient to protect any third get together software program which will have been beforehand put in on a drive containing a replica of macOS.

However this does not assure you possibly can get better the drive, solely you could set up a brand new copy of macOS onto it to make it bootable.

To make use of one of many Restoration choices, choose it from the menu and click on Proceed. Apple has a full article on startup into and use Restoration.

On Apple Silicon-based Macs, a couple of different Restoration choices can be found:

1. Startup Safety Utilty
2. Terminal
3. Share Disk
4. Startup Disk

For full Restoration choices on Apple Silicon-based Macs, see this text.

When you have an web connection, you can begin up in Web Restoration Mode, which is identical as Firmware Restoration Mode, besides that it hundreds the Restoration app from Apple’s servers over the web. This selection might take longer to begin, for apparent causes. To startup in Web Restoration Mode, maintain down Command+Possibility+R or Command+Possibility+Shift+R on startup.

To start out up in Secure Mode, merely maintain down the Shift key on begin up. Secure Mode boots macOS however disables most extensions, drivers, and different third get together boot-time software program. This function is helpful if a specific piece of software program received put in that hangs on startup.

This keystroke is just out there on Intel-based Macs.

Secure Mode might be induced on Apple Silicon by urgent and holding the ability button till “Loading startup choices” seems. After you choose a quantity, press and maintain the shift key, then click on Proceed in Secure Mode.

That is the oldest of all Mac startup choices, going all the way in which again to the Mac Plus. Higher often known as “zapping-PRAM”, if you happen to maintain down Command Possibility P R on startup, all of the settings within the Normal, Mouse, and Keyboard System Settings are reset to their defaults.

This additionally resets issues comparable to key repeat charge, mouse velocity, acceleration, and secondary mouse choices. Trackpad settings are additionally reset to their defaults. Some Sound settings may additionally be reset.

This selection is just out there on Intel-based Macs. Apple has a lot extra data on the subject.

Use this feature with warning. Some Macs can get right into a state wherein a particular chip on the motherboard known as the System Administration Controller (SMC) will get confused and refuses to permit begin up. Inner followers are additionally managed by the SMC.

On some Macs, unusual fan velocity habits might seem when SMC wants resetting. In such instances, reset the SMC by holding down Shift-Management-Possibility on startup.

Normally a SMC reset is sufficient to get the Mac booting once more, assuming the Startup Disk hasn’t been corrupted. On some Macs to reset the SMC, you’ll have to first unplug, then re-plug the ability twine earlier than utilizing the important thing combo on startup.

On macOS variations sooner than Mojave, you possibly can maintain down Command S on startup and solely the default Administrator person account will probably be out there. This was primarily a safety function and is now not out there on macOS variations Mojave or later.

On Intel-based Macs, if you happen to maintain down the T key on startup, your Mac will boot right into a particular mode known as Goal Disk Mode (TDM). This mode permits a Mac for use as if it was an exterior disk by one other Mac related by way of a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable.

This function was initially developed on older Macs which had FireWire ports, however it nonetheless works at present. To make use of it, join two Macs by way of one of many talked about cables, restart the Mac you wish to use as a disk whereas holding down T, then open System Settings->Startup Disk on the opposite Mac and choose the Mac operating in TDM because the Startup Disk.

While you restart, the non-TDM Mac will boot over the cable into the TDM Mac’s drive. A particular disk icon will seem on the show of the TDM Mac. Apple has an article on switch information between two Macs utilizing Goal Disk Mode. TDM is just out there on Intel-based Macs.

For the same course of on Apple Silicon-based Macs, see this article.

Usually, whereas your Mac is booting and the Apple brand is being displayed, the FreeBSD-based Darwin core system is beginning up a number of system providers, {hardware}, drivers, extensions, and loading the core OS.

There is a hidden method to see precisely what Darwin is doing whereas booting. Maintain down Command V whereas beginning up. As a substitute of the Apple brand, you may see all of the Darwin startup system messages scroll by as every step is accomplished. Verbose Mode is just out there on Intel-based Macs.

On Macs with an optical drive comparable to an inner DVD-R/ROM drive, maintain down the C button to startup from the optical disk. The disk have to be bootable and have a working working system on it to be able to boot from it.

If you cannot begin up your Mac and have an non-bootable optical disk caught within the Mac’s inner optical drive, you possibly can eject the disk previous to startup by holding down the mouse/trackpad button, or the Eject or F12 key on the keyboard when powering on. This selection lets you insert a unique optical disk and take a look at booting once more.

If, for any purpose you must force-restart your Mac, you are able to do so by urgent the energy button twice: in case your Mac is already on, maintain down the energy button till it turns off.

As soon as off, press the energy button once more usually to restart. Laborious-restarting your Mac might lead to elevated boot time the following time you restart as macOS will run some disk test or restore apps behind the scenes to ensure the OS is reset to a steady, bootable state.

If you happen to had beforehand set a non-macOS quantity comparable to a Home windows quantity to be your Startup Disk, you possibly can as an alternative pressure a macOS quantity to be chosen by holding down the X key when beginning up. In case your Mac finds a bootable macOS quantity within the volumes listing, it would begin up from the primary bootable macOS quantity it finds.

You may cease all Login Objects from operating on login, however provided that you maintain down the Shift key after clicking the Login arrow button on the Mac’s login display. Word that that is totally different from Secure Mode above since you maintain down the Shift key instantly after clicking the Login button versus holding down Shift whereas powering in your Mac.

Early variations of Mac OS X Server included a networking expertise known as NetBoot and NetInstall. The server shipped with a separate NetBoot set up CD for including bootable options to a Mac OS X Server. The thought was to retailer widespread set up and boot pictures of Mac OS X on a server, and customers may set up from and boot from these pictures over a community.

It was a superb thought, though it was somewhat gradual.

Later, Mac OS X Server turned a standalone app for macOS which added all of the server options just by downloading and operating a single Server app from the Mac App Retailer. Apple discontinued Server and NetBoot assist in 2021. To start out up from a NetBoot Server on Macs which nonetheless assist it, maintain down the N key whereas beginning up.

On older Macs, to make a server-hosted NetBoot disk picture your Startup Disk, go to System Settings->Startup Disk and search for any disk icon with a globe on it:

NetBoot has largely been changed by a extra fashionable common internet boot expertise known as PXE which works on most platforms. Oddly, third get together builders have stored NetBoot alive by recreating its options in some variations of PXE.

There may be additionally a contemporary NetBoot-like mission known as netboot.xyz which is predicated on iPXE for internet booting. There may be additionally an older article from College of Utah written in 2007 on set up and setup a NetBoot server.

If you happen to occur to be round an outdated “NewWorld” ROM-based Mac from the late 1990’s, you possibly can amaze your folks by exhibiting them boot into Open Firmware. Beginning with the primary iMac and Energy Macintosh G3 computer systems in 1998, and till the transition to Intel CPUs, Macs used Open Firmware and newer, fashionable ROMs known as NewWorld ROMs.

NewWorld contained many of the outdated Mac OS 9 OS within the ROMs on the motherboard, however used Open Firmware for the pre-OS boot sequence.

Besides a NewWorld ROM Mac into Open Firmware whereas powering on, maintain down Command+Possibility+O+F. You may be left on the Open Firmware command immediate, however should know Open Firmware instructions to be able to proceed.