On a modern Mac with a chip like the M1 or M2, power off the Mac and then hold down the power button until you see a message saying startup options are loading. On an Intel Mac, boot the Mac and hold a key like Shift, Command+R, Option, D, Command+S, T, or other keys to access a variety of boot options.
You can use your Mac’s various startup modes to help fix problems with your Mac, run diagnostic tools, or reinstall macOS from scratch. How you access these modes depends on whether you have an Apple Silicon or Intel-based Mac.
Determine if You Have an Apple Silicon or Intel-based Mac
Accessing startup options differs depending on the type of Mac you have. You can figure out which Mac model you have from within macOS by clicking on the Apple logo and then selecting “About This Mac” at the top of the drop-down menu.
Your model should be listed along with the chip that powers it. Modern Apple Silicon Macs will have a number like M1, M2, or some variation thereon. If you see “Intel” listed then you have an Intel-based Mac.
Alternatively, if you know your Mac model and year of manufacture, you can also get some idea of which type of chip you have. If you have a 2020 MacBook Air, 13-inch 2020 MacBook Pro, 2021 14-inch or 16-inch MacBook Pro, 2020 Mac mini, 2021 iMac, 2022 Mac Studio, or one of these machines manufactured after this date, then there’s a good chance you have an Apple Silicon chip.
Apple Silicon Mac Boot Options
Apple Silicon doesn’t use the traditional method of holding down buttons while your Mac boots to access various boot options. There is some degree of button pressing, but many options can be accessed from a simple menu instead.
First, you’ll need to shut your Mac down either using Apple > Shut Down or by pressing and holding the power button to cut the power (only do this if your Mac isn’t booting, is stuck in a boot loop, or you’re unable to shut down normally for some reason).
With your Mac off, press and hold the power button. Keep holding the power button and you’ll see a message that says “Continue holding for startup options…” so keep your finger held down until this changes. Eventually, you’ll see a message that informs you that startup options are loading and you can let go of the power button.
You’ll now see a menu with all available boot volumes on display. This is how you go about booting macOS from an external drive or booting an alternative operating system like Linux.
Boot Safe Mode
While you’re on this screen, you can boot your Mac in safe mode. To do this, click on your chosen volume (likely “Macintosh HD”), then hold the Shift key. Now click “Continue in Safe Mode” to start booting. In safe mode, your Mac will disable all startup items, run system integrity checks, delete caches, only load system fonts, and more.
Learn more about fixing macOS problems with Safe Mode.
Boot macOS Recovery Mode
Next to your volumes in the startup options is a button with the “Options” label. Click on it, and your computer will boot into Recovery Mode. Once macOS has booted, you will need to select an admin user and log in to make changes. Once you’ve done so you’ll see a few options appear:
- Restore from Time Machine: Choose this to restore your Mac’s data from a recent Time Machine backup. Plug in your drive, select this option, and wait for the process to complete.
- Reinstall macOS: Depending on the version of macOS, you’ll see an option to reinstall or install the operating system. This will download the required files from the internet.
- Safari: Browse the web. A nice failsafe to have if you need to search for solutions to a problem you’re fixing in Recovery Mode. Safari extensions and plug-ins are disabled.
- Disk Utility: Apple’s built-in storage utility allows you to format drives, create partitions, run First Aid, create or restore disk images, and more.
At the top of the screen, you’ll see “Recovery” on the menu bar along with a Utilities drop-down menu. In the Utilities section are a few more useful tools:
- Startup Security Utility: Change your startup disk security policy. Use this to enable third-party kernel extension and remote management or kernel extensions and software updates.
- Terminal: Use the macOS command line to edit preferences, copy files, and perform all manner of other operations.
- Share Disk: Use this to share the contents of your drive with another Mac for data transfer purposes.
Run Apple Diagnostics
Apple Diagnostics is a troubleshooting tool that checks your Mac for problems. You can enable it by launching into the Startup Options menu by holding the power button down at boot, then pressing and holding Command+D.
The troubleshooter will run and may give you a reference code to check on Apple’s website for more information. You can then choose whether to repeat the rest, restart, or shut down your Mac.
What About Single-User Mode?
Single-user mode is a mode on Intel-based Macs that loads only the bare minimum services and extensions and dumps you in front of a command line. Though Apple Silicon doesn’t have anything quite the same, you can access everything through Terminal in Recovery Mode.
When you log in to an admin account on Recovery Mode startup, your main startup disk should be mounted. If it’s not, launch Disk Utility and click on your startup volume (probably “Macintosh HD”). Use the “Mount” button and enter your password if prompted. Now quit Disk Utility and choose Terminal from the Utilities drop-down menu.
You can now perform similar operations on your startup drive using the command line as you could in good old single-user mode. You’ll find your drive under the “Volumes” directory. Assuming this volume is labeled “Macintosh HD” you can get there by typing:
cd /
cd Volumes/Macintosh\ HD
Check out some other Mac Terminal commands you might find useful in this mode.
Intel-based Mac Startup Keys
On an Intel Mac, these options are accessed using a keyboard shortcut which must be held down while your Mac boots. For these to work, make sure you press and hold the relevant key right as your Mac boots or you may miss the window. Too slow? Simply restart and try again.
Shift: Boot a Mac in Safe Mode
To boot directly into Safe Mode, press and hold Shift while your Mac boots. This will prevent startup items from running, run a First Aid style disk check, delete several caches including the system cache, and impose other restrictions like disabling third-party fonts and only loading essential kernel extensions.
Some older Mac models may notice that some things like accelerated graphics, wireless networking, sharing, and more won’t work while in Safe Mode.
Command+R: Boot macOS Recovery Mode
To access Recovery Mode, press and hold Command+R while your Mac boots. This allows you to do things like reinstall macOS, access Disk Utility to attempt to repair any drives, execute commands using the Terminal, or restore from a Time Machine backup.
Option: Choose Which Volume to Boot
If you want to boot from a different partition or volume then hold Option while your Mac boots to see a list of eligible boot disks. This includes USB drives that are plugged in while your computer starts up, Windows partitions created with Boot Camp, or additional macOS installs that are stored on external drives.
D: Troubleshoot With Apple Diagnostics
Run Apple Diagnostics to check your Mac for known issues, then cross-reference any error codes you get with Apple Support. You can also launch Apple Diagnostics from the internet by holding Option+D at startup, which is handy if you can’t get online.
Command+Option+P+R: Reset NVRAM/PRAM
Non-volatile RAM (NVRAM) or parameter RAM (PRAM) stores information while your Mac is off. This includes things like screen resolution, which drive to boot from, volume, and more. This is only present on older Intel-based Mac models, so Apple Silicon users don’t have the option to reset it.
There are all sorts of reasons to reset your NVRAM or PRAM, like if you’re having trouble getting your machine to start, starting from the wrong volume, or are simply having unexplained issues. Press and hold Command+Option+P+R while your Mac boots to reset it.
Command+S: Single-User Mode
Press and hold Command+S while your Mac boots to access single-user mode. Before long, you’ll see a command line prompt where you may need to authenticate with your password. After this, you can perform standard Terminal operations.
Note: Mac models with a T2 chip may need to mount the startup volume before this will work, which instead requires booting into Recovery Mode and then following the same instructions as Apple Silicon models as described above.
T: Target Disk Mode
If you have an Intel-based Mac user Target Disk Mode to make your drive available to another Mac using a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable. If either computer has macOS 11 or later, you’ll need to use a Thunderbolt cable for this.
Start up in Target Disk Mode by holding T on startup on the Mac you want to share. On the corresponding Mac the drive should appear as a mounted volume, allowing you to transfer files to or from it freely. Eject the disk when you’re done, like any other removable drive.
Command+V: Verbose mode
Get detailed information about what macOS is doing on boot using verbose mode, which replaces the boot animation with a scrolling list of commands. This is useful for troubleshooting a Mac that hangs on boot so you can (hopefully) see what is causing the problem.
N: Boot From a NetBoot Server
Before the T2 chip and Apple Silicon, Apple computers could boot macOS from a network drive. Known as NetBoot, this is still possible by holding N on boot.
More Troubleshooting Tips
Intel-based Mac owners may also want to try resetting the System Management Controller (SMC) to fix problems relating to power management, keyboard backlighting, external display issues, and more.
Using a Windows keyboard? Non-Apple keys should work just fine to trigger these keyboard shortcuts using the standard replacements. This means that:
- Shift on a Mac keyboard is Left Shift on a Windows keyboard.
- Command on a Mac keyboard is Windows key on a Windows keyboard.
- Option on a Mac keyboard is Left Alt on a Windows keyboard.
There are a lot of Mac troubleshooting tips that don’t involve these startup modes. These include fixing a slow Mac, diagnosing crashing Mac apps, resolving problems where apps refuse to start, fixing crackly audio and other sound problems, fixing your Mac’s microphone, and getting your MacBook webcam working.
