There are times when due to software issues (bugs), impatience, Murphy’s Law, or unknown reasons, paranormal activity?, the only reasonable course of action to get your Macbook to respond is to force quit or even do a hard restart on your Mac. My buddy was concerned that the forced restart of her Mac could cause permanent damage, so she asked me if it was possible to do so. There will be no damage done to your Mac’s hardware by performing a force shutdown, often known as a hard reset or shutdown. There is even less of a possibility of something going wrong now that all new Macs come standard with solid-state disks (SSD).In the worst-case scenario, a hard restart could corrupt currently open files on the hard disk. You may have open documents/images/files with changes that haven’t been saved or the file itself becomes unreadable by the software.
Apple computers are built to survive unexpected power failures and restarts. The number of moving parts that could be damaged by power surges is significantly smaller now that all new laptops have solid-state hard drives.
The likelihood of physical damage to your Mac during a hard restart is, therefore, extremely low. Data issues are still a real possibility, though. Let’s examine the many approaches you might take when your computer becomes unresponsive, along with the difficulties you’ll face in doing so.
Graceful shutdown
Graceful shutdowns should be used wherever possible. An orderly shutdown or restart of a Mac can be accomplished in three ways:
- From Apple menu
- From Terminal app
- Scheduled
- Hold the Power button for 2 seconds
From Apple menu
To power down or restart, select the appropriate option from Apple’s menu by clicking the company’s logo in the upper left corner. This will bring up a menu with several power management options, such as Sleep, Restart, and Shutdown. Choose the Shutdown menu item.
Your Mac will display a warning that it is about to shut down, along with a countdown timer that starts at 1 minute. You can stop the procedure at any time, or use the Shut Down option to bypass the timer.
You may be prompted to save your work in progress if you have more than one program open. Your Mac should power down after you’ve closed all applications.
From the Terminal app (for the more technical)
Start the Terminal app by going to the ApplicationsUtilities folder or by pressing Command + Space and typing Terminal.
Type sudo shutdown -h now in the terminal window.
Where -h means “halt”
Enter the password, then press Enter once more. The computer will shut down cleanly, just like when you use the Apple menu to do so, and you won’t have to wait a minute like with the first option.
If you want to restart your computer rather than shut it down, type:
sudo shutdown -r
Scheduled Shutdown
There has been a change in the way scheduled shutdowns and reboots are handled in macOS Ventura. Read on to find out how to plan out your Mac’s power usage with the most recent OS.
There are many situations in which setting a timer to put your Mac to sleep, wake, or reboot would be helpful. You may find it more convenient if your Mac shuts down automatically when you leave for the day. Alternatively, maybe you like to reboot once a week to clear out any leftover junk from the week before and get a fresh start.
Schedule automation was much simpler in earlier versions of macOS. Creating a schedule that works for you is as easy as going to the System Preferences > Energy Saver/Battery panel. As a result of System Preferences being replaced by System Settings in macOS Ventura, however, Apple has decided to hide these controls from the user interface.
It’s unclear why Apple removed these preferences from System Preferences, but the company didn’t eliminate them completely. The good news is that in macOS Ventura you can still set up a schedule for your Mac to automatically power off, sleep, wake up, or reboot. The bad news is that it’s more difficult than usual.
Power Management Scheduling in macOS Ventura
Timed wakeups, shutdowns, reboots, and sleeps can only be programmed from the command line in Ventura. Using the Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app) and the “pmset” command, you can set a schedule by combining various arguments.
Day, date, and time are all understood by the pmset command; the date is read as MM/DD/YY, and the time is read as HH:MM:SS. That’s why you’d write 1/10/24 07:00:00 for January 10, 2024. In addition to numbers, you can use the following letters to specify days of the week:
- Monday is M
- Tuesday is T
- Wednesday is W
- Thursday is R
- Friday is F
- Saturday is S
- Sunday is U
Let’s take a look at some of the scheduling choices available to you, as well as how to see the current schedule and clear it out entirely.
You Can Set Your Mac to Power On/Off and Wake Up Automatically
You can set your Mac to automatically wake up or boot up every weekday morning at 7am by entering:
sudo pmset repeat wakeorpoweron MTWRF 07:00:00
Keep in mind that the “sudo” command prompts the Terminal to execute the program with root privileges; as a result, your Mac may request your password before continuing to execute the command.
Set a Time for Your Mac to Shut Down
You would enter the following information to set your Mac to automatically shut down every day at 7 p.m.
sudo pmset repeat shutdown MTWRF 19:00:00
Set a Restart Timer on Your Mac
You can set your Mac to restart automatically every night at midnight by entering:
sudo pmset repeat restart MTWRFSU 00:00:00
View the Current Schedule
You can use this command to see the current schedule (or to double-check a schedule you just made, if you’re paranoid like that).
pmset -g sched
Delete the Active Schedule
Use the following command to remove the current power management schedule from your Mac:
sudo pmset repeat cancel
Hold the Power button for 2 seconds
Press and hold the Power button for 2 seconds. MacBook will display a list of options: Restart, Sleep, Cancel or Shutdown. Immediately release the Power button.
Choose the option you need. On Mac laptops, the Power button is usually in the right top corner. The new MacBooks with touch bars have a Touch ID instead in the same place where the Power button is used to be. The Touch ID is used to log in to the computer but it also serves as a Power button when needed.
Note however that if you hold the Power button for less than 2 seconds and release the button the MacBook will go to a sleep mode.
If Mac does not immediately shut down then give it some time. Shutdown process can be a long process because MacOS doing things to make sure that no data is lost or corrupted especially if you have a lot of open applications. So close all open applications and give the computer at least 5 minutes before proceeding with more radical measures.
Forced Shutdown
What if the computer becomes unresponsive and refuses to power down? What would you do if the Mac wouldn’t shut down even though the Finder app and all your apps had vanished? You can’t gracefully shut down your computer, and now it’s not responding. A force shutdown could be used in these circumstances.
The Mac can be shut down or restarted in a few different ways:
- Keep holding the Power button until the screen turns black.
- Hold down the Control, Option, and Command keys and click the Power button.
- To restart your MacBook, press the Power button while holding down the Control and Command keys.
The last two options are noticeably faster, and you won’t waste several seconds waiting for Mac to understand that you want to turn it off.
How dangerous is a hard restart or shutdown?
Data loss is the first thing that comes to mind. If you were editing a document and your Mac unexpectedly restarted, you probably won’t be able to recover your most recent changes.
It really depends on the type of app you’re using; some apps save your work in progress automatically, while others only save your changes when you explicitly ask them to.
But what about the software itself — the OS? Macs use a technology called File System Journaling, which helps to reduce the potential for directory corruption due to power outages, making occasional hard restarts unlikely to damage the file system.
However, even journaling can eventually fail, leading to a corrupted hard drive directory if you frequently press the Power button. When a hard drive directory becomes damaged, it can lead to file corruption or loss.
When new information is saved within a corrupted folder, the amount of free space on the disk may be more accurately reflected. Kernel panics, which occur in the Mac if system files become corrupted, are precautions taken by the OS in the event of catastrophic data loss or fatal errors.
Once you force quit Mac OS, what happens?
After a Mac has been unexpectedly shut down, the MacOS will perform a file system check and attempt to repair any problems it finds. Because a disk check is currently in progress, startup time may be longer than usual. In the console, you may come across messages like “Previous Shutdown Cause: ” followed by a number. Detailed explanations of each error message are provided below.
You can check if there are any issues with the disk by using a Disk Utility, which can be found in the ApplicationsUtilities folder. Disk Utility can also be launched by pressing Command + Space and entering its name.
To perform a disk error check, select the First Aid option. In the event that problems exist, the app will fix them.
Like shooting a fly with a bazooka, turning off a computer in the middle of a task will kill the insect but will also destroy the entire room. Therefore, it may be preferable to terminate the problematic program rather than forcibly shutting down or restarting a Mac.
How to Force Quit Applications
The Windows shortcut keys Ctrl, Alt, and Del bring up the Task Manager, where unwanted programs can be terminated. Sadly, MacOS does not support the current combination. If you’re using a Mac, you can use the force quit command instead. Applications can be terminated in one of five ways:
- From Apple Menu
- Using Command + Option + Esc combination
- From Activity Monitor
- From the Dock
- Using Terminal app
From Apple Menu
Consider this a top pick. Click the Apple menu’s logo in the upper left corner of the screen to force quit a stuck program. Select Force Quit from the list of options that appears. Windows for terminating applications by force will open.
Choose the problematic program and hit the Force Quit button. If you exit the application without saving any changes, you will see this message again.
There will be a confirmation dialog after the program has been terminated.
Using Command + Option + Esc combination
You can access the same Force Quit window more quickly by pressing the Command + Option + Esc key combination. It works the same way as the first choice. If the mouse is unresponsive, this method will come in very handy.
From Activity Monitor
Launch Activity Monitor from the Finder’s Applications folder’s Utilities subfolder. If you prefer, you can also open a Spotlight Search window by pressing Command + Space and then typing Activity Monitor.
Track down the stuck program (it will have a “Not Responding” note). To force a halt to an application, choose it and then click the Stop Sign icon in the lower left of the Activity Monitor toolbar. When you select an app in the Activity Monitor, it will prompt you for confirmation before closing it.
From the Dock
Right-clicking an application in the Dock reveals a “Quit” option if the app is currently active. The Force Quit option appears when the app becomes unresponsive. If that doesn’t work, you can use the right mouse button while holding the Alt key to change Quit to Force Quit. To terminate the program immediately, click it.
Using Terminal app
The terminal app can be used to terminate the process, but the process identifier (PID) must be known first (process identifier).
In Terminal, you can look for a PID by typing:
ps -ax
This will generate a list of all active processes. Locate your application and make note of the left-hand number.
Enter the following text next:
kill [your PID]
where [your PID] is a PID of the application I found with the ps -ax command.
In many ways, forcing Mac to quit the application is similar to forcing shutdown, but with fewer implications. The correct way to close an application will finish any background tasks and prevent the program from closing without saving any changes.
While a force quit may cause you to lose your work, it has no effect on the Mac itself. The former is vastly preferable to the latter when faced with a choice between them.
FAQs
Is it better to restart or shut down Mac?
When it comes to the debate of whether it’s better to restart or shut down a Mac, there are various factors that come into play. The keyword here is “better,” and the answer can vary depending on the situation at hand. Restarting your Mac can be likened to hitting the refresh button on a webpage; it clears out temporary files, closes all applications, and gives your device a fresh start.
This method is useful when you experience glitches or slowdowns that might have been caused by a specific application or process running in the background. On the other hand, shutting down your Mac completely puts it into an inactive state, allowing for proper cooling and conserving battery life if you’re using a laptop.
It’s especially recommended when you won’t be using your Mac for an extended period as this helps prevent unnecessary wear and tear on its components while saving energy in the process. Ultimately, determining whether to restart or shut down depends on what issues you’re facing or how long you plan not to use your trusty Macbook.
How to force quit a Mac?
To force quit an application on a Mac, you can follow these steps:
1. Option 1: Using the Menu Bar
- Click on the Apple menu () in the top-left corner of the screen.
- Select “Force Quit” from the drop-down menu. This will open the “Force Quit Applications” window.
2. Option 2: Using Keyboard Shortcuts
- Press the Command (⌘) + Option (⌥) + Escape (⎋) keys simultaneously. This will directly open the “Force Quit Applications” window.
Once the “Force Quit Applications” window is open, you will see a list of currently running applications. Select the application you want to force quit by clicking on it, and then click on the “Force Quit” button. Alternatively, you can use the keyboard shortcut Command (⌘) + Shift (⇧) + Option (⌥) + Escape (⎋) to force quit the currently selected application without opening the “Force Quit Applications” window.
Keep in mind that if you force quit an app, it will close immediately without saving any data. If an app is unresponsive or frozen, this is your last resort.
How do you restart a frozen Mac?
If your Mac becomes completely unresponsive or frozen, you can force it to restart by following these steps:
1. Option 1: Using Keyboard Shortcuts
- Press and hold the Power button (located on the top-right or top-left of your keyboard) until your Mac shuts down.
- Once the Mac is completely powered off, wait for a few seconds, and then press the Power button again to turn it back on.
2. Option 2: Using the Power Button
- If your Mac has a physical power button, press and hold it until your Mac shuts down.
- Wait for a few seconds, and then press the Power button again to turn it back on.
3. Option 3: Using a Power Adapter (for MacBooks)
- If you’re using a MacBook, connect it to its power adapter.
- Press and hold the Control (Ctrl) + Command (⌘) + Power buttons simultaneously.
- Keep holding these keys for about 10 seconds until your MacBook restarts.
Any of these operations should force a restart of your Mac, at which point it should function normally again. If you haven’t been saving your work regularly, you should be aware that a hard restart of your Mac could result in the loss of any unsaved work or data.
Appendix
Mac OS X shutdown reasons list
| ID | Description |
| 5 | Correct ShutDown. The shutdown was initiated from the menu or command |
| 3 | Hard shutdown. Check power button |
| 0 | Power disconnected. Check the power supply/battery |
| -2 | Previous Shutdown Cause |
| -3 | Multiple temperature sensors exceeded the defined limit |
| -60 | Bad master directory block (badMDBErr) |
| -61 | The incorrect current value coming from the battery |
| -62 | The watchdog timer detected an unresponsive application, restarting the system |
| -64 | Random Kernel Panics with Shutdown Cause |
| -65 | unknown. Potentially linked to operating system issue |
| -71 | SO-DIMM Memory temperature exceeds limits |
| -74 | Battery temperature exceeds limits |
| -75 | Communication issue with AC adapter |
| -78 | unknown. Potentially linked to the operating system issue |
| -79 | The incorrect current value coming from the AC adapter |
| -86 | Proximity temperature exceeds limits |
| -95 | CPU temperature exceeds limits |
| -100 | Power supply temperature exceeds limits |
| -103 | Battery cell under voltage detected |
| -104 | Battery issue |
| -108 | Memory issue |
| -127 | PMU forced shutdown |
| -128 | unknown |