To use any of these key combinations, press and hold the keys immediately after pressing the power button to turn on your Mac, or after your Mac begins to restart. Keep holding until the described behavior occurs.

1. Mac Startup Apps Settings
2. Change Mac Startup Apps

• Command (⌘)-R: Start up from the built-in macOS Recovery system. Or use Option-Command-R or Shift-Option-Command-R to start up from macOS Recovery over the Internet. macOS Recovery installs different versions of macOS, depending on the key combination you use while starting up. If your Mac is using a firmware password, you're prompted to enter the password.
  
• Option (⌥) or Alt: Start up to Startup Manager, which allows you to choose other available startup disks or volumes. If your Mac is using a firmware password, you're prompted to enter the password.
  
• Option-Command-P-R:Reset NVRAM or PRAM. If your Mac is using a firmware password, it ignores this key combination or starts up from macOS Recovery.
• Shift (⇧): Start up in safe mode. Disabled when using a firmware password.
• D: Start up to the Apple Diagnostics utility. Or use Option-Dto start up to this utility over the Internet. Disabled when using a firmware password.
• N: Start up from a NetBoot server, if your Mac supports network startup volumes. To use the default boot image on the server, hold down Option-N instead. Disabled when using a firmware password.
• Command-S: Start up in single-user mode. Disabled in macOS Mojave or later, or when using a firmware password.
• T: Start up in target disk mode. Disabled when using a firmware password.
• Command-V: Start up in verbose mode. Disabled when using a firmware password.
• Eject (⏏) or F12 or mouse button or trackpad button: Eject removable media, such as an optical disc. Disabled when using a firmware password.

If a key combination doesn't work

If a key combination doesn't work at startup, one of these these solutions might help:

In this guide I will show you how to remove applications from the Login Items list and how to hide applications when your Mac first boots up. How to Control Startup Applications in Mac OS. Click the Apple icon on the Menu Bar and then click System Preferences from the menu that appears. When the System Preferences window opens click Users. Be more productive by launching the apps you always use automatically when you boot up your Mac! By setting your Mac to automatically launch your oft-used applications, you're just saving time. This tutorial shows you how to set your most-used apps to automatically launch at system startup. App Store Speciality level out of ten: 0 Oct 6, 2016 1:09 AM in response to md firdaus In response to md firdaus Last time I had tried to set up my qq mail (mail.qq.com) to my MacBook and My sony xperia mobile but I could not even with the hour long help by apple customer manager. A startup disk is a partition of a drive or a volume that contains a usable operating system. Your startup disk doesn’t have to contain macOS. For example, your Mac can boot directly into Windows if you’re using Boot Camp. It can also boot into Ubuntu or any other operating system supported by your Mac’s hardware. A number of applications can install on macOS enabled to start up after booting, once a user logs in. For the most part, this is a handy thing to happen, as some applications can certainly benefit. You can set Windows Store apps to start automatically as well as files, folders, and websites. In this Windows 10 guide, we'll walk you through the steps to automatically launch apps.

• Be sure to press and hold all keys in the combination together, not one at a time.
• Shut down your Mac. Then press the power button to turn on your Mac. Then press and hold the keys as your Mac starts up.
• Wait a few seconds before pressing the keys, to give your Mac more time to recognize the keyboard as it starts up. Some keyboards have a light that flashes briefly at startup, indicating that the keyboard is recognized and ready for use.
• If you're using a wireless keyboard, plug it into your Mac, if possible. Or use your built-in keyboard or a wired keyboard. If you're using a keyboard made for a PC, such as a keyboard with a Windows logo, try a keyboard made for Mac.
• If you're using Boot Camp to start up from Microsoft Windows, set Startup Disk preferences to start up from macOS instead. Then shut down or restart and try again.

Remember that some key combinations are disabled when your Mac is using a firmware password.

Learn more

• Learn what to do if your Mac doesn't turn on.
• Learn about Mac keyboard shortcuts that you can use after your Mac has started up.

Loading programs automatically upon startup is a very convenient function, especially if the user knows exactly the list of applications that he needs regularly every day. When you turn on your PC that works on Mac OS, whether it’s a MacBook or a desktop computer, you can configure a set of programs that will start automatically. Some applications will offer you an automatic load option at the very moment you install them and run them for the very first time; others do not provide this option by default. In this article we are going to tell you how to add applications to Auto Program Startup on Mac OS, and how to remove them from there.

Mac Startup Apps Settings

How to add applications to the auto program startup on Mac OS using dock

The first way, which we are going to describe in this article, involves adding to the Auto Program Startup applications that are placed on the lower Dock-panel. Usually, these are the most used programs.

To add a new program to the Dock, you just need to transfer it from the list of all applications (Launchpad). After that, in the Dock, right click on the program that you would like to download automatically and select “Options” from the drop-down menu, and then set “Open at Login” option.

Change Mac Startup Apps

Important: After the “Open at login” option is checked, a checkmark will appear on it, which means that this application will be started automatically. If you need to remove the program from startup just right-click on it in Dock and uncheck the “Open at Login” option from the options list.

How to add or remove application from auto program startup on Mac OS using settings

Method that we described above is not the only one available in Mac OS. You can use the operating system settings to add or remove applications from startup. To do this:

1. Go to “System Preferences” by clicking an apple sign in the upper left corner of the screen and selecting the corresponding item in the drop-down menu;
2. In the preferences window find the “Users and groups” section (you can do it by yourself or use search). Go to it;
3. At the top of the menu, select the “Login items” tab to get to the list of programs for Auto Startup;
4. You will see a list of applications that start automatically with the operating system;
5. To add new program to Auto Startup you need to click on the “Plus” at the bottom of the window, and open the standard Finder. Here you can choose which exactly applications should start automatically when you turn on your computer. You can add not only the application, but also a separate file or something else. Select the desired application and click “Add”. After that, the program will be added to Startup list.

If you would like to remove one of the applications from the current startup list select it at the list of login items and click on “Minus”. After that, the selected application will stop starting automatically every time you turn on the computer on Mac OS.

Note that there is also a “Hide” column in the list of Login Items, where you can set the checkbox. If you enable the checkbox for one program in this column, it will not open on the whole screen when you start automatically, but will remain running at the background. For example, this can be useful for programs like Skype, Telegram and other messengers.