Safe Mode For Mac

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Like every other devices, if you are a newcomer to Mac OS X, you might be going through several issues ranging from software malfunctioning to booting issues as there are hell lot of a new things to know for those who haven’t used it before. There could also be some serious problems other than your personal errors, which at times would prevent your operating system from opening. 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. It is often used to troubleshoot your system when you are having trouble with booting your system or any malware has attacked your computer. Malwares are very shrewd in preventing system processes from eradicating their colonial destruction. Thus, booting the system in safe mode prevents the malwares from blocking the process and you can easily get rid of them. Another case is that if you forgot Mac OS admin password, then booting Mac in Safe Mode will help you recover your account password.

Jun 05, 2017  Mac is a computer operating system for Apple computer. A popular feature of the Mac os is updated a new version called Mac OSX, is a desktop interface. To Boot Safe Mode: Step 1: Mac. Oct 13, 2019  Mac safe mode, sometimes called safe boot, is a way to start up your Mac computer. Safe mode OS X was designed for troubleshooting purposes. Mac Safe Mode Start Up. Mac OS X safe mode performs certain checks, such as verifying the startup disk, repairing directory problems, and loading the necessary kernel extensions. In addition, Mac safe mode prevents Startup items and login items from. If you're not sure that your Mac is started in safe mode, you can use System Information to check. The Software section of System Information lists Boot Mode as 'Safe' instead of 'Normal' when you're started in safe mode. The login window also displays 'Safe Boot' in the upper-right corner of the screen when your Mac is in safe mode.

Heeding to the importance of the safe mode on Mac we would thereby demonstrate 2 important ways here to securely boot and exit the safe mode.

Also read: How to Boot in Safe Mode on Windows 10?

Safe Mode Startup For Macbook Pro

Method #1: Enter & Exit Safe Mode using Keyboard

In this section we would make use of certain key commands from the keyboard to activate the safe mode instead of trying out complex procedures, thus it is suitable for those who are not adept with handling system commands in Terminals. Simply go through the instructions given below to activate the Safe Mode:

Step 1. Firstly power down the Mac OS X, by clicking “Shut Down….” option from the sub-menu of the “Apple” logo.

Step 2. Now; once it is shut down, turn it on by pressing the power button.

Step 3. Press the “shift” key and hold it the moment you hear the startup sound. And keep holding it until the Apple logo appears. You can release the key once the logo has turned up.

Step 4. The operating system would now boot in Safe Mode, which might take few moments as the directory structure integrity is being checked by your Mac.

Step 5. Before entering the Safe Mode, you still need to enter your Password and Username as your conformational credentials to your specified account, though you get to see the Safe Mode displayed on the upper right corner of the screen.

Step 6. Once you are in, you can carry out your necessary tasks with the limited basic tools and system softwares, which will prevent malicious viruses or malwares from being activated.

Step 7. After you have done your task, click on “Apple” logo and select “Restart” option which would reboot the system in the normal mode.

Step 8. Click Software and you can see the Boot Mode is Normal or Safe.

Flow

If you are adept with using Terminal commands, then the next method would be the best option for users like you to follow up.

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Method #2: Boot & Exit Mac Safe Mode using Terminal

Here in this section, we would make use of the Terminal tool which is command interface for UNIX-based operating systems, and very much similar to cmd in Windows. All that you have to do is to follow the given steps:

Step 1. Go to the “Utilities” folder from the “Applications” folder and open the “Terminal” option.

Step 2. Once the empty dialog box of the “Terminal” turns up, paste the following command and press “Return”:

sudo nvram boot-args=”-x”

Step 3. Enter your Mac password if asked.

Step 4. Now; reboot your computer by clicking “Restart” option from the context menu of Apple logo.

Step 5. Log-in with your Mac username and password.

Safe Start Macbook Pro

Step 6. Once you are in the Safe Mode, perform all your necessary functions, and once you are done, open the “Terminal’ dialog box again and type in the following command and press “Return”:

sudo nvram boot-args=””

Step 7. Now; reboot your Mac and it would boot in the normal mode once again allowing you to use all the system tools and extensions.

Conclusions:

Safe Mode is a magnificent boot option to enter your operating system in such a way that nothing harmful or serious can sneak in to interrupt your task. But you cannot remain in the safe mode all the time, as you would definitely need to exercise your entire admin privileges to carry out your daily tasks, so simply follow the guidelines outlined above to accurately and securely enter safe mode and exit it afterwards.

Read More:

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

Safe Mode For Apple Mac

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.

Safe Mode Outlook For Mac

That’s it! If you have questions, suggestions, ideas, we are glad to hear from you. Let us know in the comments down below.