As the night winds out, it’s time to leave the next episodes of that Netflix show for another day. You close the Safari browser, hit your Mac’s power off button…and nothing happens.
You try again. No reaction comes.
If you ever get stuck in this scenario, rest assured there are a multitude of fixes you can get for your Mac to shut down. But what are these fixes, and how can you implement them?
Well, wonder no longer! We’re here to give you our guide on what to do when your Mac won’t shut down!
But enough talk, right? Let’s plunge right into things.
Mac Won’t Shut Down? Give It Some Time
The first thing to do when your Mac won’t shut down is to give it some time to work. Mac computers have to go through a multi-stage process when they shut down, which includes saving documents and making a digital note of the applications open at shutdown to reopen them the next time you boot the Mac up. Macs also have to wipe temporary files and clean out the cache at this time, so giving your Mac an extra minute could be all you need.
Too Much Stuff Running
If that extra minute didn’t do the trick, take a look at your Dock (the toolbar at the bottom of your screen). If you see any app icons bouncing up and down, that’s a signal that those apps are having difficulty closing and are preventing the Mac from shutting down. Some apps will also provide alerts or dialogue boxes to let you know they cannot shut down.
If this happens, right-click on the app icon and select the Force Quit button. If that doesn’t do the trick, press the Command key in conjunction with the Option and Escape key. This will open a special menu that allows you to view all the active applications on your computer and force quit them from there.
If the culprit isn’t a faulty application, it could lie in some other process your Mac runs. In this case, go into the Utilities folder in your Applications tab within Finder. Once there, click on an application called Activity Monitor.
Activity Monitor will give you a comprehensive list of the programs operating on your computer and how much CPU they eat up. Click on any red or huge CPU-consuming programs and then hit the button in the top left of the box that looks like a stop sign with an X in the middle (the Stop button). This will force quit these processes and allow your computer to shut down.
Getting these processes out will also improve the speed and performance of your computer, as more CPU will get freed up to work on other tasks.
Your Mac Doesn’t Like Your External Device
Another issue that causes shutdown issues with Macs comes with using third-party external devices like outside keyboards or trackpads. This happens because the Mac OS doesn’t know how to respond to third-party devices written in different computer languages and “panics”, causing some functions of both devices to get disrupted.
If you suspect your external devices, click on them in Finder and try to safely eject them. If that doesn’t work, go into the Utilties folder again and find the Terminal application. Once there, type in “diskutil unmountDisk force /Volumes/VOLUMENAME”, but replace “VOLUMENAME” with the name of whatever device you want to disconnect.
In a pinch, you can unplug your external devices to disconnect them without initiating a process within the computer. If you eject them by force, however, you risk data or some level of functionality on the device getting corrupted.
The Nuclear Option
When all else fails, find the power button on your Mac and hold it down. You should also press the Command and Control keys alongside it. After a few seconds, your Mac should switch off.
If there’s no formal power button on the Mac, you do the same thing but look instead for an Eject or Touch ID button to use in place of the power button. If you suspect your shutdown problems are due to a computer virus, you’ll want to put your Mac in Safe Mode the next time you boot it up so you can fix things (you do this by holding the Shift key down right as you turn it on)
Preventing Further Shutdown Blocks
Of course, it’s far better to make sure your computer doesn’t run into these problems than to always fix them when they arise. One way to accomplish this is by making sure you always look at your current Mac OS. While common wisdom says to always grab the newest update post-haste to make sure you aren’t stuck with any bugs or missing features, knowing when to stick with an old OS for a bit also helps here.
After all, there are some cases where Apple has to backpedal on OS changes because the upgraded OS caused problems with computer performance and function. Making sure you stay current with knowledge about the state of Apple’s OS updates will help you avoid this problem.
Bonus Tricks
Another tip to keep your Mac from refusing to shut down is running a diagnostics check to make sure everything is running as it should. You can do this by restarting your Mac and holding the “D” key down as it boots up.
It’s also worth looking if you have the FileVault option on in your System Preferences. While this file protection program can prove useful, it does mess with your Mac’s ability to shut down at times, so it’s worth switching off if you don’t use it much.
You can also double-check if the problem lies with your start-up disk. Find the Utilities folder again, click Disk Utility, and find your start-up disk. From there, click the First Aid tab and run a checkup on your startup disk to see if there’s a problem that needs fixing.
Let Your Mac Get Some Sleep
And that’s all there is to it! Now that you know all about what to do when your Mac won’t shut down, you and your Mac can both go get some well-deserved sleep. Don’t forget, if you experience continued computer issues, there are plenty of resources out there to help get you back in control.
If you are having start up issues with your Apple Mac, you can checkout our article on How to resolve common Mac startup issues.
