A variety of keyboard shortcuts and commands can be used during a Mac system startup to access various features, systems administration utilities, and troubleshooting tricks. Some of these startup keys may be slightly different on PPC and Intel Macs, but many of the features remain the same, whether it’s accessing safe-boot mode, hardware tests, single-user mode, boot from a DVD, or more.
Check the list below for ten absolute essential startup commands that every Mac user should know, particularly for that older hardware!
| Action/Explanation | Keystroke |
| Eject CD on boot | Hold Mouse button down immediately after powering on |
| OS X Safe boot | Press Shift during startup |
| Start up in FireWire Target Disk mode | Press T during startup |
| Startup from a CD | Press C during startup |
| Bypass primary startup volume and seek a different startup volume (CD, etc.) | Press Cmd-Opt-Shift-Delete during startup |
| Choose Startup disk before booting | Press Option during startup |
| Start up in Verbose mode | Press Cmd-V during startup |
| Start up in Single-User mode (command line) | Press Cmd-S during startup |
| Force screen reset | Press R during startup |
| Force OS X startup | Press X during startup |
These boot commands come directly from Apple, and they’re sure to work on any older Mac model. There are some universal commands, like the Option boot loader menu, which will change out the startup disk on system boot.Again, keep in mind there is some difference between a Power PC Macintosh and an Intel based Macintosh, and of course, the Mac hardware will matter for these as well. If a Mac does not have Firewire, booting from that would not work, that’s perhaps obvious but for some users who are not familiar with the port terminology, it can be a real confusion as they try to boot from a drive with the wrong key, thus, be sure you attempt to boot from the proper drive and proper protocol!
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