Q: Slow shutdown on Yosemite

That did the trick. The install, found all old versions and removed everything cleanly. Then I removed the Parallels install and it went from 2.3 minutes to shutdown to 5 seconds. Super. Thank you so much!

Thanks a lot. same here...

the uninstall of parallels didn't work but deleting all left parallels-files in the HD/ Library the shutdown takes only a few seconds again.

before 5 to ten minutes... 

This solved it for me, thank you very much!  2010 iMac now shuts down in 5 secs as opposed to 2 minutes.

I had the same issue but had not parallels installed. I removed all files from the two folders, Launch Daemons and launchAgents and now my mac shuts in 5 secs!.

Thank you!

Parallels is definitely the problem. Deleting all of Parallels files allowed my Mac Pro to shutdown in 5 seconds

I didn't have any old Parallels files, but was still having the same problem.  I did have left over Avast files from when I had put a/v on at one point.  Getting rid of Avast fixed for me.  Just an FYI.

You are my hero David!!!!!!

Excellent advice - saved tons of frustration and time - thanks - apple should incorporate in Yosemite support FAQ

Thanks. That solved my Shutdown issue...

oipioOct 20, 2014 12:17 PM Re: Slow shutdown on Yosemite
Re: Slow shutdown on Yosemitein response to dbail22

I had the same problem with about 1.5min shutdown (SSD).  In my case the reason was an external usb-drive, which I had protected with a password. Since I have removed the password protection, it's shutting down within seconds like before.

Thanks, with your advice I solved the problem !!!

Now my mac shutdown within seconds.

MacBook Pro 15 "Retina mid 2014 Yosemite 10.10.1

In my case it was "ClamXav Sentry" a virus scanner that monitors folders like Downloads for viruses.  If I quit that before I shutdown, my MacBook Pro Retina shuts down in couple seconds.  If that is running when I shutdown, my MacBook Pro Retina takes about 32 seconds to shutdown.

If you have "ClamXav Sentry" installed, try Quitting that before you shutdown to see if you are having the same problem that I had.

BTW: Before I discovered that, I tried rebuilding the system caches with kext...   and I also tried the "sudo defaults write /System/Library/LaunchDaemons/[...] ExitTimeOut -int 1"   commands mentioned in other posts related to this shutdown problem, to no avail.

I hope this helps someone.

Hi I had the same issue. Macbook Pro with 1TB SSD 8GB ram, 2 minutes plus to shutdown or restart.

I found a post suggesting tick the Reopen box and restart. Then un-tick the box as in the image and restart. 2-3 seconds to restart !!

Not sure why toggling the button on and off would work but fixed a very frustrating problem. I had previously tried everything else I could find.

THANK YOU to both Dave & Ride_it

Our macbook air 2011 was also taking 2-3 minutes to shut up.  We had parallels before but was unable to find ALL the files that scattered all over in various folders.

So, we installed cleanmymac 2 and this software was able to find those hidden parallels files.  Granted, we took three pass to find them all.  Now it shuts down in 1-2 seconds.

We are happy campers and thank you again for all the valuable info.

Happy holidays

Thanks BillHahn! My shutdown time was around 30 seconds in Yosemite and no matter what I tried to reduce it, nothing worked. After quiting ClamXav Sentry, shutdown is virtually instantaneous.

I has come back after a few days the same problem . I want 30/40 seconds to go off ! Monitor goes black , but the keyboard and the apple remain lit , then goes off after 30-40 seconds . I'm a little disappointed , so I decided to go back to mavericks !