How to Fix Slow Boot Mac
Speed up a slow Mac startup. Unplug accessories, test login items and Safe Mode, reset NVRAM on an Intel Mac, repair the disk in Recovery, and reinstall macOS.
You will end up with a Mac that starts at its usual speed again, or with a clear sign that it needs service. The steps follow the order of Apple's own fixes for a Mac that is slow to start or stuck on the Apple logo, from a restart to a reinstall of macOS.
Notice where the wait happens before you start. If the Mac reaches the login window at its usual speed and slows down only after you log in, read steps 3 and 5 first, because login items open when you log in. If it sits on the Apple logo or the progress bar before the login window appears, start at step 1.
We checked every path and key combination against Apple's support pages and the Mac User Guide for macOS 27 in October 2026.
Let an update finish, then restart from the Apple menu
Rule out a macOS update first. Apple says that while macOS is updating or upgrading, the Apple logo or progress bar might stay on screen much longer than usual, and the bar might move slowly and pause for long periods. If you started an update, leave the Mac alone until it finishes. Do not hold the power button while an update may be installing. If no update is running, choose Apple menu > Restart and time how long the Mac takes to reach the desktop. That number is your baseline for every step below. If startup never gets past the Apple logo or the progress bar, press and hold the power button for up to 10 seconds, until the Mac turns off. On a Mac laptop with Touch ID, hold the Touch ID button. Then turn the Mac back on. If it stops at the same screen again, go to step 2.
Unplug nonessential accessories
A faulty accessory or cable can hold up startup. Apple's page for a Mac that starts up to an Apple logo or progress bar says to unplug all nonessential accessories, including printers, drives, and USB hubs, because the issue could be with one or more of those devices or their cables. Shut the Mac down and unplug everything except the keyboard, the mouse or trackpad, the display, and power. Then turn the Mac on. If it starts at its usual speed, plug the accessories back in one at a time and restart after each one. When the slow startup comes back, the last accessory you connected, or its cable, is the cause.
Good to know: Test the cable as well as the device. Apple names the cables alongside the accessories, so try a suspect drive or hub with a different cable before you replace it.
Remove login items
Login items are apps that open automatically when you start up or log in to your Mac. If the Mac reaches the login window at its usual speed and crawls after you log in, test them first. Start with a test that changes nothing. At the login window, press and hold the Shift key while you click Log In, then release it when the Dock opens. Apple says this temporarily keeps login items from opening. If the Mac is fast that way, a login item is slowing it down. To find which one, follow Apple's login items test. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click General in the sidebar, then click Login Items & Extensions. Make a list of everything under Open at Login, because you will add the items back later. Select all of them, click the minus button below the list, and choose Apple menu > Restart. If startup is fast again, add the items back one at a time and restart after each one. When the slow startup returns, remove only the last item you added. Any app you leave off the list still opens normally when you click it.
Heads up: Apple says a login item can also cause a blank blue screen at startup. If your Mac stops at a blue screen, run this test before anything else.
Free up disk space
Apple's storage article covers a startup disk that is almost full or too full to download, install, or copy files, and a macOS update needs that room to install. Apple gives no minimum free-space figure. Keep at least 10% to 15% of the disk free. That is our rule of thumb, not Apple's, and it leaves room for updates. Choose Apple menu > System Settings, click General in the sidebar, then click Storage. Storage shows how much space each category of files uses. Click the More Info button next to a category to manage what is in it, and view the recommendations, which include Store in iCloud, Optimize Storage, and Empty Trash Automatically. Then clear what Apple's article lists. Delete files in your Downloads folder, delete old iPhone or iPad backups you no longer need, uninstall apps you do not use, and empty the Trash. A file you move to the Trash keeps taking up space until you empty it.
Start up in Safe Mode, then restart normally
Before you test, install the latest macOS updates and updates for your third-party apps. Apple's Safe Mode article says that is more likely than any other step to fix the kind of problem Safe Mode helps find. Safe Mode keeps login items, extensions that macOS does not need, and fonts that macOS did not install from loading at startup. It also runs a basic check of the startup disk and clears some system caches, including the font and kernel caches, which macOS creates again as needed. Check which type of Mac you have first (tip below). On a Mac with Apple silicon, shut down, then press and hold the power button, and release it when "Loading startup options" or the Options icon appears. Select your startup disk, which is named Macintosh HD unless you renamed it. Press and hold the Shift key, click Continue in Safe Mode, and log in. You might be asked to log in a second time. On an Intel-based Mac, turn on or restart the Mac, then immediately press and hold the Shift key. Release it when the login window appears, then log in, a second time if asked. An Intel-based Mac that uses a firmware password cannot start up in Safe Mode. To confirm the mode, press and hold the Option key while you choose Apple menu > System Information, click Software in the sidebar, and look for Boot Mode: Safe. Then choose Apple menu > Restart to leave Safe Mode, and time the normal startup against your step 1 baseline. If it is fast now, Apple says the disk check or the cleared caches may have fixed it. If the slow startup comes back, it comes from software that Safe Mode keeps from loading, so go back to step 3. You can also add a user account in Users & Groups settings, restart, and log in to it, because Apple says a new account does not have your old account's startup software and settings. If the Mac is slow even in Safe Mode, Apple calls reinstalling macOS the easiest and most likely fix (step 8).
Good to know: To check which type of Mac you have, choose Apple menu > About This Mac. An item labeled Chip means a Mac with Apple silicon, which includes MacBook Neo with its A18 Pro chip. An item labeled Processor, followed by the name of an Intel processor, means an Intel-based Mac.
Reset NVRAM (Intel Macs only)
Skip this step on a Mac with Apple silicon. Apple's NVRAM page says the reset steps do not apply to those Macs and are not needed on them. NVRAM is a small amount of memory that an Intel-based Mac uses to store settings such as sound volume, display resolution, startup-disk selection, and time zone. Apple says to manage those settings in System Settings first, and to reset NVRAM if one of them still does not work as expected. Of those, startup-disk selection is the setting tied to startup. To reset it, shut down the Mac. Turn it on, then immediately press and hold Option+Cmd+P+R. Release the keys after about 20 seconds. The Mac might appear to restart during that time, so you might hear the startup sound or see the Apple logo more than once. When the Mac finishes starting up, check any settings that were reset, such as volume and time zone.
Run Disk Utility First Aid from Recovery
Apple's Disk Utility article says First Aid finds and repairs errors in the formatting and directory structure of a storage device, and that significant errors can stop a Mac from starting up completely. To repair the startup disk, Apple says to run First Aid from macOS Recovery. Back up first. Apple says to have a current backup in case you need to recover damaged files or First Aid finds errors it cannot repair. On a Mac with Apple silicon, shut down, then press and hold the power button, and release it when "Loading startup options" or the Options icon appears. Click Options, then click Continue. If asked, select your startup disk, then select a user you know the password for and enter it. On an Intel-based Mac, press and release the power button, then immediately press and hold Cmd+R until you see an Apple logo or a spinning globe. If asked, choose a Wi-Fi network, select your startup disk, and log in as a user you know the password for. In the Recovery window, select Disk Utility and click Continue. Choose View > Show All Devices, if your version shows that option. Select the last volume listed under your startup disk, click First Aid, then click Run. If asked for a password to unlock the disk, enter the one you use to log in. Then select the next item up the sidebar and run First Aid again, working up through each volume, then the container, then the disk itself. Skip any item whose First Aid button is dimmed. When you finish, quit Disk Utility, choose Apple menu > Restart, and time the startup.
Good to know: If First Aid finds errors it cannot repair, Apple's next step is to erase the disk, which deletes everything on it. Do that only with a backup in hand, and reinstall macOS afterward (step 8). If the disk does not appear in the sidebar at all, Apple says the Mac or the disk might need service.
Reinstall macOS from Recovery
Apple says reinstalling macOS from Recovery does not remove your apps or personal data, and still recommends a backup first. If the Mac will start, back it up with Time Machine before you begin. Start up from macOS Recovery as in step 7. Select the option to reinstall macOS, click Continue, and follow the onscreen instructions. If the installer asks to unlock your disk, enter the password you use to log in. If it offers two volumes, choose Macintosh HD, not the one whose name ends in Data. Keep the Mac plugged in and let the install finish without putting it to sleep or closing the lid. Apple says the Mac might restart and show a progress bar several times, and the screen might be empty for minutes at a time, so do not force it off. Recovery needs a broadband connection over Wi-Fi or Ethernet, and Apple says a network that makes you sign in on a web page before you can browse can block it. When the Mac starts up again, time it against your baseline.
Heads up: Do not erase the disk to fix a slow startup until Apple Diagnostics has run (closing below). Erasing deletes all of your data, settings, and apps, and FAQ 5 below gives the order to follow.
If the Mac is still slow to start after step 8, test the hardware with Apple Diagnostics. Shut down, then unplug every external device except the keyboard, mouse, display, Ethernet cable, and power. On a Mac with Apple silicon, press and hold the power button, release it when Options appears, then press and hold Cmd+D until the Mac restarts. On an Intel-based Mac, turn it on and immediately press and hold D, or Option+D if D does nothing. On macOS Tahoe 26 and later, you choose which diagnostic to run. Write down any reference code it shows and take it to Apple, an Apple Authorized Service Provider, or an Independent Repair Provider. Apple says a Mac that keeps starting up to the Apple logo or progress bar after these steps might need service. If the Mac stops at a different screen, such as a question mark, a circle with a line through it, or a globe with a warning symbol, look that screen up on Apple's page for a Mac that does not start up all the way. Once the Mac is up, our guide on how to force quit on a Mac covers single apps that freeze, and if the Mac also runs hot or loud, our guide on fixing an overheating laptop is also in this series.
Questions we get asked about this
Answers from experience, not a textbook.
We could not find a normal startup time that Apple publishes, and it varies with the model, the macOS version, and what opens at login. Compare your Mac with itself. Time a restart from the Apple menu to the desktop (step 1), then time it again after each step, so you can see which change made the difference.
It means startup is under way. Apple says a Mac shows the Apple logo when it finds the startup disk, then a progress bar, with or without the logo, and that this screen might alternate with a blank screen several times. During a macOS update or upgrade, the bar can stay up much longer than usual and pause for long periods, which is why Apple recommends starting an install in the evening so it can finish overnight. A bar that never finishes when no update is running is what step 1 handles.
Apple's SMC page does not list a slow startup among the reasons to reset it, and says you most likely do not need to. It lists the issues a reset may help on an Intel-based Mac: a battery that is not charging, a Mac that will not turn on, fans running fast, a laptop that gets too warm, and a built-in camera that is not working. On a Mac with Apple silicon there is nothing extra to do, because Apple says the SMC resets automatically when you restart, or shut down and turn the Mac on again. On an Intel-based Mac with one of the listed problems, follow the steps for your model on Apple's page, which differ for Macs with the T2 Security Chip, other laptops, and desktops.
We could not find an Apple page that says FileVault slows startup. Apple's FileVault page says that on a Mac with Apple silicon or the Apple T2 Security Chip, the data is encrypted automatically, and that turning on FileVault adds a layer of security by requiring your login password before anyone can decrypt or get to the data. With FileVault on, Apple says the password you type at the login window also unlocks the disk. On an Intel-based Mac without the T2 chip, FileVault is what encrypts the data in the first place. Leave it on while you work through the steps, because turning it off removes that protection.
Only after the reinstall in step 8 has not helped and Apple Diagnostics has found no hardware problem. A reinstall does not remove your personal files, and Apple calls it the easiest and most likely fix when a problem continues in Safe Mode. Erasing removes all of your data, settings, and apps, so back up with Time Machine first. On a Mac with Apple silicon or the T2 chip running macOS Monterey 12 or later, choose Apple menu > System Settings, click General, click Transfer or Reset, then click Erase All Content and Settings. Apple says this keeps the macOS that is installed. If a Mac with Apple silicon on macOS Tahoe 26 or later has been repaired, Apple says to check for an unfinished repair with Repair Assistant first. For any other Mac, Apple's erase page points to its steps for selling or giving away a Mac.
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