3

If I press the keyboard shorcut Cmd-Opt-Shft-Ctrl-W from any app it seems to flash my entire display. I believe this started with Catalaina but I could be wrong.

I thought at first it was Keyboard Maestro doing it but the shortcut flashes my display even when Keyboard Maestro is not loaded.

Any ideas what Cmd-Opt-Shft-Ctrl-W does and why it flashes the screen?

Improve this question
1
  • The same thing happens to me. It looks pretty similar to the screen flash you get in System Preferences -> Accessibility -> Audio -> Test Screen Flash.
    – beninato
    Commented Dec 10, 2019 at 19:20

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
4

Quoting from this question:

WifiDiagnostics files filling up drive even with logging disabled

... that particular keyboard shortcut, command+option+control+shift+w, triggers something in OS X (possibly Catalina only; I don't have an older OS to test against) that starts the wifi logging.

So please check your /private/var/tmp.

Improve this answer
1
  • 2
    My /private/var/tmp was filled tihe WiFiDiagnostic files. I have muscle memory for ctrl-cmd-opt-shift-W.
    – Scott Walter
    Commented Dec 12, 2019 at 15:51
1

The combination Cmd-Opt-Shft-Ctrl-W is some kind of system reserved combination, e.g. during updates/installs of the OS Cmd-Opt-Shft-Ctrl-W opens up a GUI for the update process, including access to the update log. So it may act as a "breaker" for the system itself. As @ankii suggests, it triggers network diagnostics when booted, so the screen flash is there as to notify that the indeed diagnostics were triggered.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .