How to Use Safe Mode

1 Boot your Mac

Turn off your Mac, wait 10 seconds, then turn on, holding down Shift (Intel) or the power button (M1). On an M1, select your startup disk, hold Shift and click "Continue In Safe Mode". Your Mac will boot with non–essential items disabled.

2 Look at logins

A common cause of problems is unwanted login items, which load when your Mac boots. Go to System Preferences > Users & Groups > [Your name] > Login Items and remove any you don’t want. This disables but doesn’t delete them.

3 Find the folder

If you’re not sure what something is, right–click and choose ‘Show In Finder’. This enables you to see where the item lives on your Mac. You might need to enable the status bar in Finder > View to see the breadcrumb trail.