From the course: macOS for IT Administrators

Unlock the full course today

Join today to access over 22,500 courses taught by industry experts or purchase this course individually.

The startup process

The startup process - Mac OS Tutorial

From the course: macOS for IT Administrators

Start my 1-month free trial

The startup process

“

- [Instructor] A Mac systems admin must know how a Mac starts up in order to effectively troubleshoot problems that prevent a system from completing the boot process. The first stage is immediate upon power on. The firmware is checked, tested, and initialized. This initial test is still referred to as a post or power-on self-test, and if it passes, you'll know it on post-'16 Macs because the display will light up. If the firmware test passes, it will locate and start the booter file. At this point, there are two possible paths. For now, assume the computer is not FileVault encrypted. The booter is the first part of the operating system that loads from primary storage. You know it has started when the Apple shows up on screen. The booter is minimal and lightweight. It only serves to load the Mac OS kernel into operation and to load the low-level hardware drivers that are necessary before the kernel can load. The booter's…

Contents