Computers, Laptops & Tablets Apple 160 160 people found this article helpful Mac Startup Keyboard Shortcuts Take control of your Mac's startup process by Tom Nelson Writer Tom Nelson is an engineer, programmer, network manager, and computer network and systems designer who has written for Other World Computing,and others. our editorial process Facebook Twitter Tom Nelson Updated on September 11, 2020 Tweet Share Email The Ultimate Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts The Ultimate Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts Introduction Windows Timesavers The Best Windows 10 Keyboard Shortcuts Essential Keyboard Shortcuts for Better Productivity How to Use the Shortcut Alt + Underline Shortcut to Create New Folders Essential Shortcuts for iTunes Mac, iOS & iPad Quick Tricks The Best Mac Shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts for Finder Mac Startup Keyboard Shortcuts 18 Shortcuts for Apple's iOS Shortcuts App iPad Keyboard Tips and Smart Keyboard Shortcuts Android & iPhone Shortcuts The Best Android Shortcuts You Should Be Using Create and Use iPhone X Shortcuts Email Shortcuts The 30 Best Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts for 2020 How to Use Yahoo Mail Keyboard Shortcuts The Complete Apple Mail Shortcut List Shortcuts in iOS Mail Delete Shortcut Keys for Popular Email Programs How to Use Outlook.com Keyboard Shortcuts Create Text Snippets With Shortcuts in Mac OS X Mail Online & Browser Shortcuts Top 36 Shortcuts for Edge and IE 11 Keyboard Shortcuts: Google Chrome for Windows Create Web Page Shortcuts in Chrome for Windows Control Safari Windows With Keyboard Shortcuts Shortcuts for Safari Toolbars Shortcuts for Safari on OS X & Sierra Excel Shortcuts The 23 Best Excel Shortcuts Shortcut Excel's Fill Down Command Shortcut the Current Date/Time Formatting Numbers Adding Worksheets Shortcut to Saving Your Work Creating a Chart MAX Function Shortcut More Office Shortcuts Top 10 Microsoft Word Shortcuts The 5 Best Hidden Word Shortcuts Add Shortcut Keys to AutoText Entries Uppercase Shortcut Key How to Reset Keyboard Shortcuts in Word Shortcut to Speed Up PowerPoint Presentations Other Useful Shortcuts The Best Google Docs Shortcuts 18 Shortcuts for Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon Changing Linux Mint Cinnamon Shortcuts Fedora GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts Maya Keyboard Shortcuts Create or Reassign Keyboard Shortcuts in MS Office Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Photoshop CC Time-Saving Fill Tool Shortcuts in Photoshop The 5 Most Useful GIMP Keyboard Shortcuts How to Use the GIMP Keyboard Shortcut Editor Shortcuts to Type a Tilde Mark Starting up your Mac is usually just a matter of pressing the power button and waiting for the login screen or the desktop to appear, but once in a while, you might want something different to happen when you start your Mac. Perhaps you are using one of the troubleshooting modes or making use of the Recovery HD. Startup Keyboard Shortcuts With startup keyboard shortcuts, you change the default behavior of your Mac when it starts up. You can enter special modes, such as Safe mode or Single-User mode, both of which are troubleshooting environments, or you can use startup shortcuts to select a boot device other than the default startup drive you usually use. The many startup shortcuts are gathered here. Using a Wired Keyboard When you use a wired keyboard, enter the keyboard shortcut combinations immediately after pressing the Mac's power switch. When you use the Restart command, use them after the Mac's power light goes out or the display goes black. If you're having problems with your Mac and are using the startup keyboard shortcuts to assist in troubleshooting, use a wired keyboard to eliminate any Bluetooth problems that may prevent the Mac from recognizing the use of keyboard shortcuts. Any USB keyboard works in this role; it doesn't need to be an Apple keyboard. If you're using a Windows keyboard, learn about Window's keyboard equivalents for the Mac's special keys to figure out the proper keys to use. Using a Wireless Keyboard If you're using a wireless keyboard, wait until you hear the startup sound and then immediately use the keyboard shortcut. If you hold down a key on your wireless keyboard before you hear the startup chimes, your Mac won't correctly register the key and will likely boot up normally. Some Mac models from late 2016 and later lack the startup chimes. If you're using one of these Mac models, press the appropriate startup key combination immediately after starting your Mac or immediately after the screen goes black during a reset. These startup shortcuts come in handy when you need to troubleshoot your Mac, or you want to boot from a different volume than usual. Startup Shortcuts Hold the "x" key during startup to force the Mac to boot from OS X or macOS, no matter which disk is specified as the startup disk. You may find this useful if you have your Mac set to boot to a non-Mac OS volume, such as Windows or Linux. In some cases, an alternate OS may prevent the Mac's normal boot manager from running.Hold the "c" key during startup to boot from a bootable CD, DVD, or USB flash drive. If you have created a bootable Mac OS installer on a flash drive, this is an easy way to boot from the installer.Hold the "n" key during startup to boot from a networked computer that has a NetBoot volume. NetBoot volumes can be created with OS X or macOS Server, allowing you to boot from, install the Mac OS, or restore the Mac OS from the server on your local network.Hold the Option + "n" key to boot from the NetBoot default startup volume.Hold the "t" key during startup to boot in Target Disk Mode. This mode lets you use any Mac with a FireWire or Thunderbolt port as the source for your boot-up system.Hold the "d" key during startup to boot up using the Apple Hardware Test (AHT) or Apple Diagnostics.Hold the Option + "d" key during startup to boot up using the AHT over the internet or Apple Diagnostics over the internet.Hold the Option key during startup to open the Mac OS startup manager, allowing you to select a disk to boot from. The startup manager searches all the volumes connected to your Mac and displays those that have a bootable operating system.Hold the Shift key during startup to boot your computer in Safe Mode. Safe Mode disables login items and nonessential kernel extensions.Hold the Command (⌘) + "r" keys during startup to cause your Mac to use the Recovery HD partition, which allows you to restore the Mac OS, or use various utilities to troubleshoot your Mac.Hold the Command (⌘) + Option + "r" keys during startup to cause your Mac to boot from the internet using Apple servers. A specialized version of the Mac OS runs that includes a small suite of utilities, including Disk Utility, and the ability to download and install the Mac OS or to restore from a Time Machine backup.Hold Command (⌘) + "v" keys during startup to boot your Mac in Verbose Mode with a descriptive text sent to the display during the startup process.Hold Command (⌘) + "s" during startup to boot your Mac in Single-User Mode, a special mode used for troubleshooting and repairing complex hard drive issues.Hold down the mouse's primary key during startup. On a two- or three-button mouse, the primary key is usually the left button. This shortcut ejects a CD or DVD from the optical drive.Hold Command (⌘) + Option + "p" + "r" during startup to zap the Parameter RAM (PRAM), an option that long-time Mac users will remember. Press and hold the key combination until you hear the second set of chimes. Zapping the PRAM returns it to its default configuration for display and video settings, time and date settings, speaker volume, and DVD region settings. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit