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Is it possible to disable the startup sound on an iMac G5, or at least decrease its volume?

The obvious way to do this would be to put a script in the shutdown folder (OS X 10.4.11) that mutes the sound, then put one in the startup folder that reverses it. Unfortunately, I've been unable to find a "mute" script.

Edit: To clarify, how can you set the system to mute with a script?

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  • Interestingly, this question said that it wasn't possible.
    – Dori
    Jan 8, 2011 at 1:33

3 Answers 3

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There is a 3rd party StartupSound.PrefPane for this.

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  • I'm accepting this as the answer because it addressed my need, rather than what I explicitly asked. Both answers here - this one and Philip's - are good and to the point. Jan 8, 2011 at 19:48
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UPDATE: You're right. I am wrong. All you need is a script, and this is all you need to do:

set volume 0 
-- 0 = mute, 7 = full volume
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  • A Firewire audio interface plugged in on startup will route the startup sound to the external device. I'm not sure if this works with USB audio. Jan 7, 2011 at 17:25
  • ...also, I'm not certain this is correct. Aside from the scenario in my above comment, muting the startup noise before shutting down will make the startup noise go away when restarting, no hardware required. I think my question should have been, How can you set the system to mute with a script? Jan 7, 2011 at 17:27
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If you want to disable it temporarily (as the title suggests) it´s easiest to hold down the "mute" key (on the upper right of your keyboard) during the initial seconds of booting.

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  • Unfortunately, this doesn't work on my Mac. Would downvote, but I don't have the rep yet. (If this works on some Macs and not others, you might consider going into more detail; this would be an extremely handy piece of info for users of the Macs it does work on.) Jan 25, 2011 at 19:49
  • No need to down-vote, as this has worked on every Mac since at least Mac OS X - if it does not work on your Mac, would you be so kind and comment on what kind of Keyboard you use (Apple, other Vendor, wired, wireless,…) and also whether turning down the volume completely before rebooting stops your Mac from playing the chime? If the latter is not the case, please try resetting your parameter RAM, as described here: support.apple.com/kb/HT1379?viewlocale=en_US
    – Asmus
    Jan 26, 2011 at 16:58

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