When Force Quit won't work

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Level 1

8 points

When Force Quit won't work

How do you quit a program that even Force Quit won't quit? Running Catalina. I can't even shut down my computer since a program (Uninstall) is running. Thanks!

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Jul 3, 2020 9:05 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

The_Knowledge_Seeker

Level 4

3,522 points

Jul 3, 2020 10:17 AM in response to ppen

If Force Quit won't work you'll probably need to hold the power button to switch off.

That said, you can run Terminal and enter:

sudo shutdown -r now

After entering your Mac password and pressing Return, it ought to shut down.

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Answer 2

Old Toad

Level 10

210,597 points

Jul 3, 2020 11:35 AM in response to ppen

Which app was causing the problem?

Try this: boot into Safe Mode (How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support) by booting with the Shift key held down, launch the app, run it a bit, shut down and check there to see if the problem persists. Reboot normally and test again.

NOTE: Safe Mode boot can take up to 10 minutes as it's doing some system cache cleaning, volume verifying and directory repairing.

Next time you can try to use this Terminal command to shut down the app:

killall app name

followed by the Return or Enter key.

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Answer 3

ppen Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 3, 2020 10:51 AM in response to The_Knowledge_Seeker

Thank you! Using the power button to shut down did the trick of getting rid of the stuck program. I did have a bit of a problem getting back up and running, though. Nothing would work after the first time I restarted the computer. So I tried several reboots which also didn't work. So I then used the normal shut-down, waited a couple of minutes, and re-started. Viola, I'm back up and running, sans the offending program! Thank you, again!!!

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Answer 4

ppen Author

Level 1

8 points

Jul 3, 2020 2:01 PM in response to Old Toad

Thank you, Old Toad! I managed to get it closed (with a few snafus but then success) by shutting down with the power button. But I'll save your advice, too, for if this ever happens to me again. :-)

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When Force Quit won't work

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