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Disable Clamshell Mode?

Hi there,

I have a MacBook Pro (13'', 2.26, mid 2009) running OSX Lion.

I keep a monitor plugged into the notebook at all times (the monitor goes into sleep mode with no input)

With Lion, it seems that as soon as I close the lid of the computer, it goes into "Clamshell" mode, in other words, the external display is turned on and I can operate it with my Magic Mouse.

With Snow Leopard, clamshell mode wasn't instantly activated (I had to click the mouse when the computer was in sleep for it to go into clamshell mode).

Is there a way (in terminal, preferences, etc) to disable clamshell mode, or at least set it to the snow leopard way of waking on device input?

Thanks,

Daniel

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on Jul 21, 2011 1:07 PM

35 replies

Oct 30, 2012 2:33 PM in response to DanielG.

Whenever my macbook goes into clamshell mode, I just use the "Detect Displays" menu item from the displays menu - which I keep in the menubar because I'm constantly forgetting what order to hook things up in to keep from accidentally going into clamshell mode.

May 23, 2014 2:13 PM in response to DanielG.

Just a warning, anyone who has used the SUDO command as referenced in this feed to disable clamshell mode will have a blank secondary display after updating to the most recent release of 10.9.3.

My thunderbolt monitor went black after the update yesterday (still showed the mouse when moved onto the screen) until I reset the PRAM. (Cmd-Option-P-R-Power from a powered off state) which obviously cleared the bad SUDO command and restored my thunderbolt monitor.

Wasn't sure this was the problem, but after reapplying the SUDO command, my monitor went blank again immediately after the reboot. So DO NOT USE THIS COMMAND if you are running the most recent updated Mavericks OSX. IT WILL NOT WORK ANYMORE.

I am running a Mid 2012 15" Retina Macbook Pro

Dec 10, 2014 9:36 AM in response to DanielG.

To disable clamshell mode simply remove the power supply cable. To enable clamshell mode keep the MacBook's power supply connected. That's it.

sdw3489

Level 1

0 points

Mar 17, 2015 1:16 PM in response to DanielG.

The general idea of clamshell mode is great (don't waste cpu/gpu resources on the screen if its closed), but the execution and lack of options are very very frustrating. This is one area Windows really excels at in regards to multiple monitors over OSX.

I have a desk with 2 external monitors. With my old windows laptop, I could just plug both monitors into the laptop and close the screen and leave it off to the side and It all worked perfectly. With my new mac, plugging in an external sends the displays into mirror mode at a terrible resolution where I always have to open up the display prefs to turn off mirroring. (Annoying!) Why don't you default to extended mode.

Should be preferences for clamshell mode

- Enable/Disable completely. Maybe I don't want to change modes at all when i close the screen while connected to an external and I close the screen.

- sleep/no sleep - whether to send the laptop to sleep automatically whether or not the machine has an external plugged in.

This should allow people to tune their experience to however they wish. Everyone wins.

External/Multiple monitor handling also needs vast improvements. Power users need more advanced options (even if they are not front and center in the prefs) that OSX is greatly lacking compared to windows after having just made the switch.

Oct 27, 2016 3:46 PM in response to DanielG.

This question is years old, but still relevant. I had this issue too, and came up with this script that monitors your lid state and puts the machine to sleep when lid is closed: https://github.com/pirj/noclamshell

Let me know what you think about it.

Disable Clamshell Mode?