How to Force Shutdown a Mac Computer

Force shutdown Mac computer

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You need to understand that forcing a shutdown can cause problems for your Mac computer. When forcing a Mac computer to shut down, open programs (if any) will also be forced to close and unsaved data during the session will be lost. In some cases, this can also cause the open program or installer to crash.

To be as safe as possible, you should close all open programs before forcing your Mac to shut down.

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Find your Mac's power button. Most Mac computers have a physical button with a "Power" icon, which you can click to turn off the device:

On MacBooks without a Touch Bar — The power button is located at the top right of the keyboard.

On MacBooks with a Touch Bar — The power button is located in the Touch ID section to the right of the touch bar.

On iMac — The power button is on the back, bottom left side of the iMac screen.

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Press and hold the power button. After finding the power button, press and hold it for five seconds.

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Release the power button after five seconds. At this point, the Mac computer will turn off.

If a dialog box pops up asking if you want to turn off your Mac, you haven't pressed the power button long enough.

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Wait one minute before turning the device back on. This will allow the Mac computer to completely shut down before being turned back on.

Force shutdown of a standing Mac computer

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Determine the severity of the computer. If your Mac freezes and you can't interact with any items on the screen or even move the mouse, skip the next two steps.

If you are still able to interact with some items on the screen, you can try force closing the program that is causing the freeze.

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Try force closing the app. If your Mac freezes after an application launches, you can force quit the application as follows:

Press ⌘ Command+ ⌥ Option+ Escto open the Force Quit window.

Click the program you want to force quit.

Click Force Quit at the bottom of the window.

Click Force Quit if asked.

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Try to save unfinished work. If you determine that you cannot force quit the program that is causing the problem, try to save all unfinished work on any remaining responsive programs. Normally, you can proceed by pressing ⌘ Command+ Son the program's window.

Because forcing your Mac to shut down will also close all open programs, you may lose unsaved sessions.

Many programs, such as those in the Microsoft Office suite, save a backup of your session so you can restore it after restarting your Mac.

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Find your Mac's power button. Most Mac computers have a physical button with a "Power" icon, which you can press to turn off the computer:

On MacBooks without a Touch Bar — The power button is located at the top right of the keyboard.

On MacBooks with a Touch Bar — The power button is located in the Touch ID section to the right of the touch bar.

On iMac — The power button is on the back, bottom left side of the iMac screen.

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Press and hold the power button. After finding the power button, hold it down for five seconds and don't release it until the screen turns off.

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Release the power button when the screen turns off. This sign shows that the Mac computer is powered off.

It may take about a minute for your Mac to completely shut down; you'll need to make sure it's stopped making noise before continuing.

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Reopen your Mac computer after one minute. Once your Mac is completely turned off, you can press the power button to turn it back on. After restarting, your Mac computer will operate normally.

If your computer still freezes after restarting, you need to troubleshoot your Mac computer.

Fix the problem before restarting

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Start the computer in Safe Mode. If the device continues to freeze after being forced to shut down, restart it again. As soon as the device is turned back on, press the key ⇧ Shiftimmediately and release it after you see the Apple logo. The computer will boot into Safe Mode and try to fix the problem with the drive.

Many applications will not work in Safe Mode. Apply Safe Mode for the next steps, then reboot to return the computer to normal state.

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Disable programs that start with the system . Safe Mode will prevent programs from automatically starting with the system. To prevent certain programs from opening automatically after the system starts:

Open the Apple menu .

Click Users & Groups .

Select the user account in the left pane.

Click the Login Items tab .

Select the program that caused the error.

Click the - sign below the program list.

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Uninstall the cause program. If you know the specific program that's causing your Mac to freeze, uninstalling it (and reinstalling it if you like) will fix the problem:

Open Finder.

Click the Applications folder (or click the Go menu and select Applications in the drop-down menu that appears).

Find the program that causes the computer to freeze.

Drag the program and drop it into the Trash.

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Repair the drive. If your computer is still having problems that don't seem to be related to a specific program, follow these steps to repair the drive:

Restart the computer and hold down the ⌘ Command+ key combination Ras soon as it starts.

Click Disk Utility on the startup screen.

Click Continue .

Select the boot drive and click Repair Disk .

Wait for this process to complete (it may take a while), then restart your computer.

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Reset SMC. SMC or System Management Controller is responsible for handling many physical components inside a Mac computer. Just a problem with the SMC can cause the power button to not work properly or the machine to process slowly. If the above steps do not solve the problem, reset SMC:

For laptops with non-removable batteries — Turn off the computer and unplug it from the power source. On the left side of the integrated keyboard, hold down ⇧ Shift+ Control+ ⌥ Optionsimultaneously with the power button, then release all keys and press the power button again.

For laptops with removable batteries — Turn off the computer. Unplug the power adapter and remove the battery, then hold down the power button for five seconds. Release the power button, reinsert the battery, and plug in the computer. Press the power button.

For desktop computers — Power off the iMac and unplug it. Wait fifteen seconds, then plug it back in. Wait another five seconds then press the power button.

Micah Soto

Update 25 June 2024