13 Lesser Known Startup Shortcuts For Your MAC

By Kaushik

| Published: Saturday, April 11, 2015, 11:40 [IST]

If you own a MAC device then starting it up is a regular ritual. However, it can be made more interesting by a few simple shortcuts. If you are just pressing the power button to turn ON your MAC then we have a few interesting shortcuts for you to access your device.

13 Lesser Known Startup Shortcuts For Your MAC

These startup shortcuts come in handy if you need to troubleshoot your Mac, or you just want to boot from a different way than usual.

In your using an unusual keyboard, you should use the keyboard shortcut combinations immediately after pressing the Mac's power switch, or if you used the Restart command, after the Mac's power light goes out.

13 Lesser Known Startup Shortcuts For Your MAC

1. Hold the 'x' key during startup.

This will force the Mac to boot from OS X, no matter which disk is specified as the startup disk.

2. Hold the 'c' key during startup.

To boot from a bootable CD or DVD, or USB Flash drive.

3. Hold the 'n' key during startup.

To boot from a networked computer that has a NetBoot volume.

4. 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 bootup system.

5. Hold the 'd' key during startup.

Boot up using the AHT (Apple Hardware Test), or Apple Diagnostics.

6. Hold the option + 'd' key during startup.

Boot up using the AHT over the Internet, or Apple Diagnostics over the Internet.ld the option key during startup. The OS X startup manager will appear, allowing you to select a disk to boot from.

7. Hold the shift key during startup.

This will boot your computer in Safe Mode. Safe Mode disables login items and non-essential kernel extensions from starting up.

8. Hold the command + r keys during startup.

This will cause your Mac to use the Recovery HD partition, which will allow you to restore OS X, or use various utilities to troubleshoot your Mac.

9. Hold the Command + Option + 'r' during startup.

Your Mac will boot from the Internet using Apple servers. A specialized version of OS X will be run that includes a small suite of utilities, including Disk Utility and the ability to download and install OS X, or to restore from a Time Machine backup.

10. Hold Command + 'v' during startup.

The command key is the key with the cloverleaf symbol. This shortcut will boot your Mac in Verbose Mode, with descriptive text sent to the display during the startup process.

11. Hold Command + 's' during startup.

This shortcut will boot your Mac in Single-User Mode, a special mode used for troubleshooting and repairing complex hard drive issues.

12. 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 will eject a CD or DVD from the optical drive.

13. Hold Command + Option + 'p' + 'r' during startup.

This zaps the PRAM (Parameter RAM), 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.