Safe Mode For Mac
Safe Mode on Mac, which is commonly termed as Safe Boot is a way actually to boot your operating system by subjugating most of the system softwares and kernel extensions, allowing only the basic essentials required to just run the system. Microsoft Office applications have a built-in Safe Mode feature. This helps when you can’t use Office normally. Perhaps Word crashes every time you open it, or maybe Excel crashes when you open a single file. You can start the application in Safe Mode and there’s a good chance it will work normally. You can use safe mode to help you resolve issues that might keep your Mac from completely starting up. Safe mode is a cure to hundreds of problems in Mac. Also, the safe mode in Mac is different from Safe mode in Windows as it also tries to resolve lots of problem tat it finds. Using Safe Mode can help you resolve issues that are stopping your Mac from starting up, or any issues related to your startup disk. Within the power user community there’s a certain mythology. To enter Safe Mode on your Mac computer, press and hold the Shift key as it boots up. In Windows 10 and Windows 8, you can hold Shift and click Restart to open the Troubleshooting menu and select Safe Mode. For Windows 7 and earlier, press and hold F8 while the computer is booting to open the Advanced Boot Options menu and select Safe Mode. Safe mode (or safe boot) is a diagnostic mode of macOS. Starting your computer in safe mode is one of the most common troubleshooting and maintenance methods. This mode is designed to fix various macOS problems. Macreports has a lot of Mac troubleshooting articles. And most, if not all, suggest activating safe mode. Dec 13, 2017 On such occasions, it is safer to boot Mac using Safe Mode. Why and When We Need to Boot Mac in Safe Mode. Safe Mode on Mac, which is commonly termed as Safe Boot is a way actually to boot your operating system by subjugating most of the system softwares and kernel extensions, allowing only the basic essentials required to just run the system.
Assuming you’ve installed macOS on your computer, and accomplished with the post-installation things like installing VMware Tools or installing extension pack on VirtualBox, everything should be fine, right? But that doesn’t always happen especially macOS running in a virtual machine. If there’s a problem in your Mac, here’s what you need to do.
If you are experiencing some problems with your Mac whether you are on actual Mac or on a virtual machine, booting into built-in Safe Mode feature will help you troubleshoot and go away all the problems even if you can’t boot normally. Booting into Safe Mode is quite different from booting normally. When you boot into Safe Mode, your Mac does a startup check-up, loads only essential kernel extensions and disable third-party startup fonts and options. It won’t load a single third-party startup option, drivers or programs.
While Safe Mode restricts third-party features, this doesn’t necessarily prevent you from accessing important tools. It’s just like Windows Safe Mode which provides you the necessary tools and features to fix those issues. When booting into Safe Mode, it does a large number of operations that some of them are,
- Checking up startup options
- Loading important tools and features while restricting third-party startup services fonts, options
- Deleting dynamic loader cache which fixes blue screen freeze
- Disabling file sharing, audio input-output, and SuperDrive and DVD players
- Disabling external USB modems and devices
While Safe Mode is considered to be accessed only by advanced users, but it’s pretty easy to approach even if are a beginner. This method also works with actual Mac regardless of the version of macOS you use, from previous versions to the recent one which is Mojave. This is super useful when it comes to determining and troubleshooting a Mac.
Boot macOS Into Safe Mode
One of the nice things about Mac is, it’s built in all the important tools including Safe Mode which is built-in already and enabled by default, all you need to do is boot into which is easy to do. Here’s how to do it.
To load your Mac directly into Safe Mode, start your Mac and immediately press and hold the Shift key, (yes Shift key on your Windows keyboard) until you see the login screen. You can release it when you are on the login window.
If you start up disk is encrypted with FileVault, you’ll be asked to log in twice. This will take longer than usual as it will do some startup checkups. On the login screen, you will notice you’re in Safe Boot as it is mentioned there.
Safe Mode
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Once you logged in, you can start troubleshooting the problems. However, while you are in Safe Mode, your Mac automatically does some checkups which may shut down or restart in the result. But this shouldn’t happen continuously.
To exit Safe Mode, simply reboot your Mac without holding the key.
A good idea to determine the problem is restart your Mac. If the issue doesn’t appear in Safe Mode, there might be some incompatible items which you might want to diagnose and disable the app which does this.
After you reboot, if the problem doesn’t happen, congrats, it was likely caused due to caches or issues with your startup disk. Luckily, these issues are solved when you boot into Safe Mode.
At the end, if this didn’t work for you, you could troubleshoot your Mac in another way that may work for you, however, you can take some help fixes from the instructions.
That’s it! If you have questions, suggestions, ideas, we are glad to hear from you. Let us know in the comments down below.
Reasons to start your Mac in Safe Mode
Mac's Safe Mode minimizes the applications you have available on your Mac to help identify where any issues might be coming from. Starting up your computer and making it run in Safe Mode is also known as a safe boot (safe boot is how your Mac starts, Safe Mode is how it runs).
Booting in Safe Mode doesn’t just restrict your applications: A safe boot also checks through your startup drive to make sure there are no problems there.
A fault in your system (like corrupted boot sector) might be preventing you from using your Mac at all. By booting in Safe Mode, your Mac can work with macOS core processes to get back into the system and identify problems, such as floating extensions or rogue applications, that you can then remove.
What happens in Safe Mode
When your computer is prompted to perform a safe boot, it will perform a number of tasks before you can use it, which include:
- A directory check of the startup drive;
- Running on only the bare minimum of necessary kernel extensions;
- Disabling all startup or login applications;
- Deleting the dynamic loader cache, which can help fix blue screen freeze on startup (OS X 10.5.6 or later);
- Disabling all fonts that are not supplied by Apple and moving all font caches to the Trash.
Troubleshooting in Safe Mode
Once your Mac is running in Safe Mode, some applications will no longer be available. If your Mac is working fine in Safe Mode, then it’s likely that one of the restricted applications is responsible for the issues. You can manage the list of startup applications manually, removing the potential buggy apps one at a time to see if it affects the performance.
Open Apple Menu > System Preferences
Click Users & Groups icon
Choose your username, then click Login items
Use [-] sign to remove startup items
There is still a problem though. Manually deleting problem applications still leaves their traces deep in the system, so it’s best to use a dedicated Mac cleanup software like CleanMyMac X to double check your Mac is clear of any problematic files.
If your Mac continues to run into difficulties even in Safe Mode, you may need to use Mac’s native recovery tool, Disk Utility.
Identifying the problem
Here is a list of most common system issues Mac users encounter when their Mac isn’t running at peak performance:
- Corrupted startup files or login applications
- Software conflicts
- Damaged hardware
- Too many apps running, or too much junk cluttering up your disk
To diagnose your Mac more precisely, we recommend performing a full scan with some dedicated Mac cleaning app. As described above, CleanMyMac is our favorite (you can download this app here for free). This app made by the guys from MacPaw sports a handy Dashboard, with hardware health monitors among others, which should give you a clue as to what’s wrong with your system.
How to start your Mac in Safe Mode
Music programs for mac. To restart your Mac in Safe Mode, begin with your Mac switched off or restart it.
1) As soon as your Mac switches on and lights up, press and hold the Shift key.
2) Release the Shift key as soon as the login window appears.
That’s it, your Mac has now been booted in safe mode. Note that it may take longer than usual to boot your computer: This is because there are several checks being performed before it’s ready to use.
If you don’t trust your Mac to turn off and on again without further complications, or for some other reason you would prefer not to safe boot from the startup screen, there is an alternative using the Terminal application.
1) Locate Terminal: Applications > Utilities > Terminal.
2) In the Terminal command line, type the following code and then press Enter:
sudo nvram boot –arg=”-x”
3) You will be asked to enter your password to authorize.
4) Your Mac will now reboot in safe mode. You will not have to hold the Shift key when the computer restarts, simply log in when prompted.
Running your Mac in Safe Mode
If you’re not sure whether your safe boot was successful, there are a couple of ways you can check.
‘Safe Mode’ will appear in red in the menu bar
The boot mode will be listed as ‘Safe Mode’ (instead of ‘Normal’). To find your boot mode, click on the Apple logo in the menu (top left) and select This Mac. Choose System Report, then Software, and from there you will be able to see whether you are in normal or safe mode.
Your performance speed will change. Typically macOS will run slower when it is in Safe Mode due to the reduced processes, but if you have noticed some serious lagging this may be improved by the faulty applications being restricted.
Working in Safe Mode
Safe Mode For Mac Pro
Running your macOS in Safe Mode is normally used to troubleshoot glitches that you have noticed, such as lag, crashing, or spontaneous closures of applications. You should try to use your Mac as you normally do so that you can see if the issues have disappeared in Safe Mode or are still there.
Safe Mode For Macbook Air
You will find that some features aren’t available, such as third-party fonts, the DVD player, and audio in/out devices, which may limit how productive you can be, so it’s best to identify the fault in Safe Mode, fix it, and return to normal mode to work as usual.
Exiting Safe Mode
Safe Mode For Mac Sierra
Once you’re finished in Safe Mode, simply restart your Mac. It should then reboot as normal, hopefully with improved performance.
If you’re using Terminal commands to return to normal, type
sudo nvram boot-args='
It may take a little longer than usual to shut down from safe mode, but don’t become impatient and use the power button to force a hard shut down.
Booting in Safe Mode Unprompted
If your Mac automatically enters Safe Mode itself without you pressing shift or using the Terminal, don’t panic. Your Mac may have detected an issue that it thinks needs repairing in Safe Mode. If this happens only once, then great, your Mac did its job and cleaned up the issue before it could cause any more problems.
If your Mac is stuck restarting in a Safe Mode loop, try entering another startup configuration, the Recovery Mode, by pressing Command (?) + R upon startup. This will perform a Disk Utility scan to check for issues, and, if that doesn’t work and you have backed up your files, you can try a reinstalling a clean copy of macOS to start fresh.
Tip: Check your keyboard is clean and that there is no debris beneath the keys. If the shift key has become stuck, your Mac will think it’s being pressed during startup to initiate a safe boot.
Safe Mode limitations
Unfortunately, the responsibility to locate software issues still resides with the user in Safe Mode. A safe boot will check for disk problems, but if it fails to turn anything up you may be resigned to shifting through your applications list to see what might be causing the problem.
Luckily, some helpful maintenance utilities can be run while in Safe Mode. CleanMyMac X is one of those so check it out. It clears through your junk before it can impact on your system, but if your macOS is starting to lag it might be time to perform a full clean-out of those unused applications. With an average of 62GB of junk cleaned from an average Mac, it's maybe just the tool you need to put your Mac back on track.