The “StartUp Sound” in Apple Macintosh Computers is the sound or chime which is played each time the computer is turned on. There were many startup tones introduced with time for Macintosh computers such as Happy Mac, Sad Mac, Chimes of death, etc.
The Happy Mac sound used to indicate that the Macintosh computer has successfully run the usual diagnostics and the system is running in normal conditions. Whereas, the Sad Mac or Chimes of death used to indicate a problem in the hardware. All the old versions earlier used to have different chimes. After the release of MacBook Pro 2016, these startup sounds were removed for Macintosh computers, except for MacBook Air 2017.
You can permanently turn off the Mac startup sound using a terminal command. Here's how to silence the Mac startup chime for good: Open a Terminal window by pressing Command + Space, start typing. I have disabled the startup sound on my Mac in terminal, but now I would like to enable it. I red a discussion on this forum and I tried several times with the prompt:sudo nvram AutoBoot=%03 but there were no results. I have Mac OS Sierra installed on my iMac 27' 5K.
There can be many reasons that you don’t want the startup sound every time you turn on your computer. Maybe you work late at night and don’t want the sound to disturb your family’s sleep. Or you are attending a meeting and you don’t want everyone to notice you when you turn on your computer. Or any other reason.
If you have the earlier version of Mac and you don’t want the startup sound, everytime you Turn On your Mac, then we have some easy tricks for you that you can use. You can either Mute it temporarily or permanently with these hacks.
How to Temporary Disable Mac Startup sound?
This is a temporary solution for MacBook users and a quick fix too. If you want that when you next turn on your computer you don’t want to hear the MacBook startup sound, you can just turn off the volume or turn it to the lowest level or mute it before shutting down the computer.
In this way the next time you turn on your computer you will not hear the Startup sound. But this is only a temporary fix and you will have to repeat it every time you turn off your computer. Follow the steps below to temporarily mute the startup sound.
First Method
- Press the Mute tab or F10 on the upper right corner of your MacBook.
- Icon displaying Mute will appear on the screen and it means that the volume is turned to mute.
Second Method
- Click on the Apple menu on the upper left corner of the desktop screen.
- A drop-down menu will appear. Select the System Preferences from the drop-down menu.
Mac Startup Sound Mp3
- A new window will appear. Click on “Sound” on the new window.
- Turn down the Output volume and the alert volume.
Third Method
If turning down the volume every time before Shutting down your MacBook is not the thing for you, or you forget to do so every time then we have another hack for you. This is known as the Auto Mute app. After installing this app you don’t need to worry about turning down your MacBook volume before turning it off. Auto Mute will automatically run and turn the volume down when you turn off your MacBook, resulting in a quiet and no sound when you turn on your MacBook next time. But this is a third party app. You can choose among any of the Auto Mute apps from the app store and try it if you wish. These apps will ensure that the sound is automatically muted every time you turn off or turn o
If you were not looking for a temporary fix like this one, you can continue to the next step to permanently disable or mute the startup sound.
Permanent Fix to Turn Off the Startup Sound on your Mac
The Permanent Fix ensures that if the volume of your Mac is turned to the maximum level, still you won’t hear the startup sound when you turn on your Macintosh computer. This fix is useful when you don’t want to remember to turn down your systems volume every time before you turn off your system. In the following steps, we will direct you how to use the Terminal command to permanently mute the startup sound on your Mac.
- Click on the Finder icon in the lower-left corner of the home screen.
- On the search box in the Finder window search for “Applications” and click on the “Application” folder. Drag-down to the “Utilities” folder and click on it.
- Launch the Terminal Command from the options.
- Copy and paste any of the commands from below. If one command doesn’t work use another one from the options because at times different versions of Macbook respond to different commands. So you can try for urself.
- sudo
nvram SystemAudioVolume=%80 - sudo
nvram SystemAudioVolume=%01 - sudo
nvram SystemAudioVolume=%00 - sudo
nvram SystemAudioVolume=” “
After typing any one of the commands that work for your system, you are prompted to type your system “password” and press “Enter”. This will mute your startup sounds and you will no longer be bothered by the startup noise at any time.
If any point you wish to enable the startup sound, you can follow the same steps and except giving the above command, you can type in the below command to enable the startup sounds.
- sudo nvram -d SystemAudioVolume
Note: If your MacBook is in Sleep or Standby mode, you will not hear the Startup sound. The Startup Sound will only be heard when the system is Turned off completely first and then Turned On.
I hope this information about how to turn off mac startup sound? helps you! For the
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| Click here to return to the 'Adjust your startup chime volume' hint |
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Wow... so obvious. Once you know the answer.
Can't believe I never thought to try that. Thanks.
The startup chime simply plays at whatever volume your computer was set to when it shut down. So rather than mucking around in Sound Preferences, just press the mute button on your keyboard before shutting down.
Not so, Sesquipedalian. On my 2008 Mac Pro running 10.7.4, the startup chime doesn't 'simply' play at the volume you've set. It's true that muting the sound does suppress the startup chime, which I hadn't realized. But this hint was a revelation to me because I ALSO didn't realize I could set volumes for the internal and external speakers separately and have them STICK independently.
My startup chime plays through the internal speakers, and I want it always set at a low volume (but not muted). Other audio plays through my external amplifier and speakers, and I'm constantly adjusting that volume to suit what I'm listening to. Thanks, S.Patton, for the helpful hint!
Have you tried the startup sound pref pane?
http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~arcana/software.en.html#StartupSound
I used it on my Mom's iMac and it worked nicely. I am not sure how it operates in Lion, however.
You could also install the Arcana StartupSound Preference pane, that mutes the startup chime without altering your volume settings (actually it sets volume to zero at shutdown and resets it after boot, but gets the job done). You can find it on Macupdate.
Currently it doesn't work under Lion.
Another simple solution is using two scripts, one running at shutdown and the other at startup, that do the same thing: set volume to zero wen shutting down and reset to custom preferences at login.
Their website (http://www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~arcana/index.en.html) states the incompatibility with Lion as well. It was a useful utility to me until now. And, I hope that it will be updated to work with Lion and Mountain Lion.
Mac Startup Sound Disable
Is this really a hint?
Yes! Absolutely it is! It just needs to add one additional step:
5) don't touch the volume ever ever ever again in fact rip the keys off your keyboard because this is a Mac OS X Hints hint.
Is this really a reply?
The hint is: volume control is separate for internal and external speakers. Seems to me that that is rather obvious to anyone who has ever plugged in headphones.
Being reader for a long time, I had to register just to make things clearer about this! (two things to understand):
- Starting chime ALWAYS sounds from the speaker/s of your mac,
- All Apple machines remember independient volume settings; just adjust each (your macios knows the last volume level you chose without a line out connected, so unplug the wire -ex. speakers/earphones- and JUST set volume down, even till mute, if you want. Plug on the sound line out, and JUST choose the volume level. On next startup, chime will sound even muted -as playing trough int. speakers, and every else will sound as plugged)
In all, is a very consistent behavior, and forget going to Preferences; it's not needed.
(I once spent some time searching for an app to mute startup... and it was all much easier!)
Perhaps because I always adjust the balance setting (my Macbook is used closer to one of the extermal speakers, so I can't have it in the middle) my sound settings, including the volume ALWAYS reset on a reboot. The balance goes back to the middle, the volume always increases. Which of course means I have to re-adjust EVERY time I reboot. (which I don't have to do often, but still, it's annoying)
I use Psst and it still works in Lion. Much easier and it has volume control. Donation.
Mac Startup Sounds
Apparently, this hint works for some people. It also doesn't work for many people, as an Internet search will reveal. I've tried this hint on a 2011 MacBook Pro, a 2008 MacBook Pro, a 2009 iMac, and several other computers. I've tried all the variations that I can think of. I set the internal speakers to no volume, with and without the Mute checkbox checked. I've set the external speakers to no volume (Headphone, in the Sound control panel), again, with and without the Mute checkbox checked. With these settings, I've restarted with the external speakers plugged in and with them unplugged. I've restarted with the Mute button on the keyboard pressed. In every case, the chime sounds at its normal loud volume, from the internal speakers, on every restart.
I don't know why this hint works for some people and not for so many others. If anyone can shed light on the reason for the differences, it would be a very valuable addition to this hint.