Sep 01, 2019 1. Press and hold the power button on your Mac to completely shut it off. Hard discs and fans need to stop spinning, and the screen needs to go dark. Power on your Mac. Immediately after you hear the startup sound, press and hold the Command + Option + P + R keys. Keep holding them down until you hear the startup sound again. You can also get into Recovery Mode by restarting your Mac and trying to time the keyboard combo of Command+R, but in my experience, starting with your Mac turned off is the most reliable method.
Turn on (start up) your Mac
To turn on your Mac, press its power button, which is usually marked . Some Mac notebooks also turn on when you open them, connect them to power, press any key, or press the trackpad.
Learn more about turning on different Mac models below.
Mac notebooks
On MacBook Pro models that have a Touch Bar, Touch ID (power button) is on the right side of the Touch Bar at the top of the keyboard.
On MacBook Air models introduced in 2018 or later, Touch ID (power button) is on the right side of the function keys at the top of the keyboard.
On Mac notebooks with physical function (F1âF12) keys, the power button is a key in the top-right corner of the keyboard.1
Newer Mac notebooks also turn on when you do these things:
Additionally, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models introduced in 2018 or later turn on when you press any key on the keyboard or press the trackpad.
Mac desktopsMac mini
The power button is a circular button on the back of the computer. With the back of the Mac mini facing you, the power button is on the far-left side.
iMac and iMac Pro
The power button is a circular button on the back of the computer. With the back of the computer facing you, the power button is in the lower-right corner.
Mac Pro (2019)
On Mac Pro (2019), the power button is a circular button on the top of the computer, next to the Thunderbolt 3 ports.3
Mac Pro (Rack, 2019)![]()
On Mac Pro (Rack, 2019), the power button is a pill shaped button on the front of the computer, next to the status indicator light.3
Turn off (shut down) your Mac
The best way to shut down your Mac is to choose Shut Down from the Apple menu .
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Just as your Mac follows a startup process after it turns on, it follows a shutdown process before it turns off. That process includes automatically quitting all open apps and logging out of your macOS user account.
If your Mac doesn't shut down, try Force Quit to close any apps that aren't responding. If that doesn't work, press and hold the power button until the Mac turns off.
Press and hold the power button to turn off your Mac only if it isn't responding. You'll lose unsaved changes to any documents that you have open.
If your Mac doesn't turn on
If your Mac doesn't turn on, check your power connection, and if you're using a Mac notebook, make sure that its battery has some charge. You can also try holding down the power button for ten seconds, then pressing the power button again to see if the Mac turns on. Learn more about what to do if your Mac doesn't turn on.
Mac Computer Cannot Shut Down Because Software Is Being Installing Windows 10
If your Mac turns on but doesn't start up completely, you can use safe mode to isolate issues with your Mac.
Learn more
Mac Computer Cannot Shut Down Because Software Is Being Installing Back
1. On earlier Mac notebook models, the power button is a circular button next to the keyboard.
2. To start up your MacBook Pro or MacBook by plugging it in, make sure to use an AC adapter that provides sufficient power, like the one that came with the computer. Your Mac notebook's battery must have some charge to start up when you connect it to power. 3. On earlier Mac Pro models, the power button is a circular button on the back of the computer or on the front of the computer above the headphone jack.
If youâre reading this, thereâs a good chance your Mac just suffered a kernel panic and youâre searching for what to do next. Weâve got the answer, and itâs simple: Donât panic. Instead, take a deep breath, relax, and know that almost all kernel panics are transitory; events that arenât likely to keep repeating. You donât need to live in fear that in the next minute, your Mac will crash once again.
On the downside, you likely lost any unsaved work up to the point of the kernel panic. Thereâs a remote chance that some work may have been saved in the last Time Machine backup.
What a Kernel Panic Is (The older style kernel panic text stayed until you restarted your Mac.)
In UNIX-based operating systems, such as OS X and macOS, a panic is an unrecoverable error that was detected by the operating system kernel. Itâs unrecoverable because the kernel, the basic heart of the operating system, canât figure out how to get back on track. In essence, itâs lost, and not sure how it got here. When this occurs, the kernel runs the panic function code that tells it what to do in these situations. Unfortunately, about the best the kernel can do once it runs the panic code is collect some data about the current condition of the processors, and what processes were running, and then halt or restart your Mac.
In OS X Lion and earlier, a panic resulted in the screen dimming and a message in multiple languages that said: âYou need to restart your computer. Hold down the Power button for several seconds or press the restart button.â The message was white text on a black background.
Dictation is Appleâs own free dictation software on Mac (and the equivalent of WSR â Windows Speech Recognition) that has been a feature since macOS Sierra. By default itâs only suitable for dictations of 30 seconds or less but you can turn-on Enhanced Dictation for unlimited transcriptions. Apple dictation software.
OS X Mountain Lion changed the look and sequence by automatically restarting the Mac, and then displaying a text message similar to the one above, but with black text on a gray background.
What a Kernel Panic Is Not
Kernel panics are sometimes confused with application crashes, startup problems, or sustained beach balls. The big difference is that with a kernel panic, your Mac will display the kernel panic message as well as halt or restart on its own.
Check for Recurring Kernel Panics (Selecting Open will launch all the apps that were running when your Mac crashed.)
Itâs a bit more difficult in the older versions of OS X to discover if the panic will recur; thatâs because you really need to have the same conditions in place: the same apps running, and the same background processes; you also need to perform the same task that precipitated the panic, such as saving a file, loading a web page, or launching an app.
With OS X Mountain Lion and later, your Mac saves the log of which apps and process were running, and will offer to reopen them when it restarts after a kernel panic. Simply click the Open button on the âYou shut down your computer because of a problem.â dialog box when itâs presented during the login process.
Once your Mac has finished launching all the apps and processes, you should attempt to perform the same tasks you were involved in when the panic originally occurred. If thereâs no panic after a reasonable amount of time, itâs probably not worth further troubleshooting attempts, and can just be chalked up to gremlins and ghosts.
Troubleshooting Recurring Kernel Panics
If, on the other hand, a kernel panic occurs soon after you click the Open button in the dialog box, you likely have a problem you need to track down.
One of the options in the âYour computer was restarted because of a problemâ dialog box is âMore Info.â Pressing this button will cause the dialog box to expand and display the panic report, a detailed look at what occurred at the time of the panic.
(You can view the panic report, which includes details about the kernel panic.)
Donât worry if you already dismissed the dialog box; you can view the panic log with the Console app, located at:
/Applications/Utilities/
Simply launch the Console app, then in the sidebar, select the System Reports item, and then select the Kernel Panic item (the actual name will include the terms kernel and panic, but it will also have the date and the name of your Mac in the title).
(The panic report includes the calling app that was likely involved in the kernel panic, as well as active kernel extensions.)
Mac Computer Cannot Shut Down Because Software Is Being Installing Video
Reading the Panic Report
The panic report includes the memory address and, in most cases, the name of the process that called for the panic function to be invoked. The calling process may be helpful, but it doesnât always indicate what actually caused the event that led up to the panic; only the last process in the chain of events.
Other important information in the panic report is the list of loaded kexts as well as the last loaded kext. Kexts are extensions to the kernel that can be used to add functionality to the operating system. Apple provides many different kexts, but so do some third-party developers. If the last loaded kext was from, say, a third-party system utility you installed, that may be a good indication of what caused the panic, or at least, what was involved in the panic.
Peripherals
Kernel panics can be caused by hardware as well as software. Checking for a hardware cause for a panic is fairly straightforward. Start by isolating all external peripherals you have connected to your Mac, except for the keyboard and mouse or trackpad.
Start your Mac in Safe Mode by holding down the shift key and pressing the power button. Keep pressing the shift key until your Mac finishes starting up.
Mac Computer Cannot Shut Down Because Software Is Being Installing Free
If your Mac is able to start in Safe Mode, then its basic hardware is in good shape. Restart your Mac to leave Safe Mode. Once back in normal mode, try running a few apps. If everything is OK, then the kernel panic was likely a transitory event caused by an app or process in combination with another app, process, or device not getting along; it may also have been caused in part by one of the peripheral items you disconnected.
Shut down your Mac, reconnect a peripheral, and then restart your Mac. Try opening the same apps that were in use at the time of the panic. If everything seems OK, then shut down and connect the next peripheral. Continue the connect-and-test process until all your devices are reconnected.
If you find a device that causes a panic, check for updates to the deviceâs drivers, as well as updates to any apps that are involved.
Apps and Software (Recurring panics can be caused by login items.)
Just like you did for checking the Macâs hardware, you can use Safe Mode to test for apps and other software that are causing the kernel panic. Safe Mode keeps startup items from being loaded, as well as third-party kexts and fonts (other than those used by the system). Once youâre running in Safe Mode, you can disable startup items by using the Users & Groups preference pane.
After you disable startup items, use Font Book to validate your installed fonts. If any fonts come up with errors, use Font Book to disable the indicated fonts.
Go ahead and restart normally. If no kernel panic occurs, add one of the startup items back, then restart. Repeat and test each startup item until all have been restored.
Internal Hardware
Your Macâs internal hardware, including RAM and storage drives, can be a source of kernel panics. You can use Apple diagnostic routines to test your Mac. Youâll find instructions for how to do this in the Rocket Yard Guide: How to Run and Interpret Your Macâs Built-in Diagnostic Routines.
Reinstall the Mac OS
Because the OS can also be a source for kernel panics, usually due to corrupt system files, if you canât resolve the panics, our last tip is to reinstall the OS. You can use the Recovery HD partition to perform the reinstall. Reinstalling the OS should replace any corrupt system files, while retaining user data and apps.
For more Rocket Yard guides and tricks, please visit our Tech Tips section.
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