Apple doesn’t exactly make it obvious that you can hold down keys to access or activate special functions during startup. Throughout the years people have used these to fix various issues with their Mac’s ranging from stuck discs to a computer that doesn’t boot. Some of these commands have changed throughout the years, while others have remained the same. Do keep in mind though, the following list is for Intel Mac’s only, some of these might work on a PPC Mac but we offer no guarantee’s.
Here’s the list, with the key combination on the left and the effect it has on the right.
- Option – Display all bootable volumes (Startup Manager)
- Shift – Perform Safe Boot (start up in Safe Mode)
- C – Start from a bootable disc
- T – Start in FireWire target disk mode
- N – Start from NetBoot server
- X – Force Mac OS X startup (if non-Mac OS X startup volumes are present)
- Command V – Start in Verbose Mode
- Command S – Start in Single User Mode
- Option Command P R (until you hear two beeps) – Reset NVRAM
- Eject or F12 – Eject all removable media (DVD,Floppy,Etc)
Know of any more? Let us know in the comments and we’ll add them to the list!
Holding the trackpad in the new macbooks/mbp’s also yields the removable media.
Command+option+D Hides dock
Command+option+Shift+Q logs out without bubble