For keyboard hygienists: How to keep the MacBook off when opening it
Apple has implemented a function in macOS 15 that ensures that MacBooks no longer activate automatically when they are opened. This is practical.
MacBook in the unfolded state: off you go. You don't always want that.
(Image: WeDesing / Shutterstock.com)
Owners of Apple notebooks have been familiar with this issue for years: It is simply not possible to open a previously shut down Apple Silicon MacBook without it rebooting. This can be extremely annoying if, for example, you want to clean the screen and keyboard without any function being triggered. Although there are now free tools such as KeyboardCleanTool that at least lock the keyboard, a completely switched-off computer would make more sense for such work. The good news is that Apple is now addressing the problem.
The solution leads to the terminal
According to a support document published on Thursday, as of macOS 15 alias Sequoia, a few terminal commands are sufficient to control the behavior. Although this is not as simple as a trip to the system settings, it is also easy to use for beginners. First of all, you have to make sure that you are dealing with a MacBook with Apple Silicon – since June 2023 this is the case for all model series. A current macOS must be installed on the computer, which would most recently be macOS 15.3.
Then open the Terminal, which is located in the Utilities folder (the easiest way is via Spotlight). Apple then offers various options. You can choose whether you only want to prevent the system from starting when the screen is opened, when the power is connected or both. To execute the respective command, sudo is required, for which you need administrator access. Don't worry: the Mac can still be switched on. It is then sufficient to press the keyboard or the trackpad. Therefore, you should also be careful when cleaning when the Mac is switched off to prevent it from booting.
The individual commands
These commands are necessary if you want to change the boot behavior:
sudo nvram BootPreference=%00
This prevents the machine from booting when the screen is opened or the power supply is connected.
sudo nvram BootPreference=%01
This prevents booting only when the screen is opened.
sudo nvram BootPreference=%02
This disables booting only when the power supply is connected.
If you want to restore the normal state, this is of course also possible:
sudo nvram -d BootPreference
This restores the standard behavior. The Mac always boots when the screen is opened or the power supply is connected.
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