How to turn off or mute a Mac's boot sound chime?

The simplest solution is to mute the sound before you shut down. That also mutes the startup sounds when you restart.

Of course you have to do this every time you turn the sound back on while using the computer.

It actually is a good thing, if it didn't happen that is a bad thing. It serves a purpose, the sound indicates that diagnostic tests run immediately at startup have found no hardware or fundamental software problems.

Embrace the chime 😉

I never shut my machine down, or restart unless I have to for maintenance reason etc.? What purpose does it serve?

MacBook Pro (15-inch Mid 2012), OS X El Capitan(10.11.1), i7 480GB SSD 16GB RAM iPhone5 iOS9.1, Parallels10.0.2

I fully sympathize and agree with Duculetu

I can understand that the startup chime is an indication that things are 'ok' but then it should not be imposed on us. We should have either an audible indication or a visual indication with the option of turning either or both off.

Yes, if you lower the volume of your MAC to zero prior to turning it off, then when you start it up you should not hear the chime but that is besides the point. I am human and I do tend to forget to do that and if I was to turn the MAC back on in a room where someone else is sleeping (I use iMac and Mac Pro) then that dreaded chime will disturb my partner. I know that it is not necessary to turn off a MAC and that it could be put to sleep but I feel that is besides the point. There are many occasions when I turn off my mac and for good reason.

I love everything about my MAC but this whole startup sound affair is bizarre and I wish we had the option to simply turn it off regardless.

I also tried SystemAudioVolume=%00 which also didn’t work. Do I have to guess every value from %00 to %FF and hope that one will work???

So does anybody actually know the answer on how to do this with nvram or some other command? Please… no more comments about how the chime is a good thing or with non-solutions like plugging phones into the audio jack or turning down the volume control slider or never turning off the computer.

If you don’t know the answer to the question, please don’t respond .

Thank you so much for starting this thread and for this last response! I would also LOVE to know how to turn off the sound and have spent waaay too much time looking up ideas that didn't work on my macbook air... and there are so many unhelpful comments about not powering down or the diagnostic aspect (surely the brilliant folks at Apple can come up with a less obnoxious way to do this 😉 So the gist of it is, many of us want to power down, doesn't matter why, and we want it to turn on quietly, doesn't matter why. I'm really hoping someone knows how? I often wake up early and do a bit of work before my kids wake up, but the 'bong' is sometimes so loud it sometimes wakes them up two rooms away. 😟 It doesn't make a difference if I do any of these things, the volume is sporadic and I have no control... I've tried all these suggestions with no luck... Turning the sound down/off before powering off, pressing mute while powering off, pressing mute while powering on, leaving headphones plugged in, the terminal / sudo script... Start Up Ninja worked sporadically, so I never knew if it would be totally quiet or really loud. Sigh. BIG Thanks in advance to anyone who can help us with this!!! 🙂

Here you go

https://github.com/teored90/nobootsound

have not tested personall.

Hello everyone

Happy 2016

The free software program Onyx for Mac by Titanium Software provides a simple GUI interface for turning off "Startup Sound"

Download the version for your OS from here… http://www.titanium.free.fr/onyx.html

After opening Onyx you can turn off "Startup Sound" in the Parameters Tab>Login>Startup Sound>Turn off.

Onyx is a great program which provides numerous services using a GUI interface. Underneath is mostly Terminal commands using Apple routines.

Hope this helps, Greg

This app may or may not work in El Capitan with its new SIP feature:

About System Integrity Protection on your Mac - Apple Support

For instance, repairing permissions is now already being done in the background, so there is no need to do it and it may cause problems. The same applies to anything that alters or tries to access the file paths mentioned in the article.

If you mean Onyx

I tried it for Startup Sounds and rebooted right before I posted. No chimes. Onyx does work.

I also was concerned if SIP would block the change, hence the test, but the latest version of Onyx, does allow the changes. I think if it didn't work the developer would remove it. There is a separate version for El Capitan.

I have never had any problems with Onyx and it provides a GUI to Apple routines all in one App instead of having to go all over the place otherwise, like removing caches, maintenance routines, some System preferences, etc…

Again it is just executing Apple's own routines just like the System would itself if you told it to, or you used Terminal.

Hope this helps, Greg

The only solution to the startup noise for me was to revert back to OS 10.7.5 Lion (using a time machine backup), where the sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume=%80 works fine. If you have a time machine backup of an earlier version of OS X, you might have some success by doing that. However from what I read, the various versions of OS X work differently on various older machines. There doesn't seem to be any one guaranteed answer to the startup noise. It's pretty much every man for himself. Apple obviously doesn't care whether you like the startup noise any more than GM cares if you like the volume control knob on your car radio.

I had hoped that by "upgrading" to El Capitan I would be able to use Air Drop to transfer files between Imac and Ipad. Unfortunately that didn't work, plus 1. the startup noise came back 2. a lot of things ran much slower 3. several other features that I like disappeared.

It looks more and more like Tim Cook unfortunately just does not have the ability to replace Steve Jobs..... Frequent, buggy OS releases with well liked features deleted.

it provides a GUI to Apple routines all in one App instead of having to go all over the place otherwise, like removing caches, maintenance routines, some System preferences, etc…

I used to use Onyx while OS X was "growing up" (with Snow Leopard and earlier). I haven't used it in years as there is absolutely NO need to do "maintenance routines" - it takes care of itself and does maintenance routines as well as repairing permissions (El Capitan). I always delete all caches when I'm done for the day with whatever browser I am using (history too). If I need to change something in System Preferences, I open that Pane and change it. In other words, apps such as Onyx have long outlived their purpose. So, having an unnecessary third party app like this is superfluous - at least it does not appear to mess with the system as others do (CleanMyMac, etc).

Bottom line: if you like it, fine - as long it does not hinder/mess with your OS.

@ prs127:

where the sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume=%80 works fine

That is most likely due to the SIP feature. FYI, that feature is what helps your Mac stay safe and ad/malware free - messing with it and allowing a way in will most likely puncture the "walled garden", so I am choosing not to use any app which allows system hacks.

Sorry Babowa, I can't seem to find the System Preference Pane for "Startup Sounds". Can you tell me where to find it?

Given that this thread is about how to silence the Startup Sounds, and Onyx does this and is free, I have a hard time understanding why it has outlived its purpose??

MacOS is in fact pretty darn good at doing routine system maintenance, but when you are troubleshooting it is very convenient to have a GUI to use to run the routines that otherwise are scheduled for certain times. I have seen Macs not have proper permissions all the time so it saves the the hassle of using Terminal. Apple is not infallible. I do have to use Terminal from time to time, but I definitely prefer to only do it myself and not have someone I'm helping try to use it remotely.

Also when people use Migration Assistant time after time, there are lots of potential problems.

Glad you have your own system for caches, etc… but since I help lots of folks who don't have a clue how to even empty their Trash, I can give them help by getting them to run various routines via Onyx, so for me as a remote IT person, I find it invaluable. I can instruct them to open various tabs in Onyx, click on a button, go to next procedure all within one app. At least then I know what has been done and tried. You can even reset defaults.

Again, Onyx does not alter the System files which is one of the major things that SIP protects against, but rather uses Apple's own routines.

So how do you propose to help the OP with their issue? How do you silence the Startup Sound? Where is that setting?😕

Hope this helps, Greg

How do you silence the Startup Sound?

I don't.

Where is that setting?

There isn't one.

Hope this helps, Greg

Sarcasm rarely does. I am done here.

So I guess I'm a little late to the party, but I think this might help others out there.

If you want to mute the chime as your computer is starting up, then the most efficient way of doing this is probably from the terminal.

I'll try and highlight the steps for both disabling and enabling the chime as cleanly as possible...

Disable Chime from Terminal

1. Open terminal (Applications/Utilities/Terminal)
2. Enter the following at the command line "sudo nvram SystemAudioVolume=%80"

Note: You will need to enter your administrative password after entering this command

Enable the Chime from Terminal

1. Open terminal (Applications/Utilities/Terminal)
2. Enter the following at the command line "sudo nvram -d SystemAudioVolume"

And that's it, these steps should work just fine.

I turn the volume off completely before I shut down. Either use the microphone icon at the top of the screen and slide the volume down or off as you choose. Else use the function key third to the left of the eject DVD button.