Despite the fact that Apple constructs a few of the most trustworthy computer systems around, you may still struggle with a frozen Mac sometimes. When this occurs, apps end up being unresponsive, the cursor develops into a spinning beach ball, and your computer system fans whir at a high speed.

We’ll reveal you how to repair your frozen Mac with a force shutdown. Unlike a basic shutdown or reboot, a force shutdown powers off your Mac without letting it close or conserve files down apps initially. You likewise may hear this described as a tough reset, a force reboot, or a force reboot.

You need to just utilize a force shutdown on your Mac as an outright last hope. It can trigger you to lose unsaved development in open files and may even lead to damaged files in your os.

It’s an especially bad concept to require closed down your Mac throughout a software application upgrade, which may leave your Mac with only half an os set up.

Attempt to shut down your Mac generally by opening the Apple menu and clicking Shut Down from the menu bar if possible. This is much more secure, however you may discover your Mac takes a very long time to close down if it requires to close or complete updates down apps initially.

Utilize the following actions to decrease the danger of information loss prior to requiring your Mac to shut down if your Mac will not shut down typically.

Hold the Power Button

Every Mac has a power button. On a laptop—like a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air—you usually find it at the top-right of your keyboard or Touch Bar. It may have a power symbol or an eject symbol on it, or it may be a blank Touch ID sensor.

On an iMac, you’ll find the power button behind the bottom-left corner of the screen. If you’re looking at the back of your iMac, it’s on the bottom-right. On a Mac mini, it’s a small button on the back.

To force shut down your Mac, press and hold the power button until the screen goes black. This might take 10 seconds or more; just keep holding the button. After your Mac shuts down, wait a few moments to let it cool off, then briefly press the power button again to restart it.

If the screen was already black when you started, keep holding the power button until the Apple logo appears.

Use a Keyboard Shortcut

There are two keyboard shortcuts you can use to shut down your Mac: the first shortcut attempts to safely close apps first; the second forces your Mac to shut down without closing anything. Because of this, it’s best to try the first shortcut first.

To safely shut down your Mac, press Control + Option + Cmd + Power. Don’t hold down the power button or you’ll force shut down your Mac; give it a brief press with the other buttons instead.

That shortcut might not work if your Mac can’t safely close every app, in which case you need to force your Mac to shut down instead. Press Control + Cmd + Power (without Option) to do so. This time you need to hold the keys for a few seconds before your Mac shuts down.

Drain the Battery

Even when your Mac is frozen, you can usually force it to shut down using one of the two methods above. Still, there are some rare situations when they don’t work either.

If that’s the case, the next best method is to remove the power supply or drain the battery. Again, it’s important to know that powering off your Mac this way is potentially damaging. You might lose unsaved data—or worse, you might create corrupt files on your hard drive.

You should only remove the power supply from your Mac as a last resort.

If you have a MacBook, a MacBook Air, or a MacBook Pro, unplug the power cable and wait for the battery to die. You might need to wait overnight for this to happen, depending on the health of your battery. But eventually your Mac will power off. When it does, charge it back up and turn it on.

With older MacBook models, you can remove the battery from the bottom of the computer instead. This is a quicker way to force your MacBook to shut down.

If you have an iMac, a Mac mini, or a Mac Pro, simply unplug the power cable from the back of the computer. Wait a few moments to let your Mac cool down, then reconnect the power cable and power it back on.