Plug in headphones.
Or turn the sound off before shutting down.
Hold the MUTE button while you press the POWER button, this should mute the startup chime. It's not permanent, you have to do this each time you want to turn the sound off.
I don't understand the reports about StartupSound.prefPane version 1.1b3 not working in Lion.
It works for me.
What's "StartupSound.prefPane version 1.1b3"?
Has Apple really made it impossible to startup your Mac in public without advertising its presence at maximum volume? I haven't had to restart/shutdown my Mac yet so, haven't experienced this annoyance yet. I can see it happening to people who aren't fortunate enough to have broadband at home. Anyone doing their updating at school or the public library - in a cubicle, to keep a low profile - now being pissed off by their Mac, as insult to injury. Bad move, Apple.
Really? You couldn't do the Google search that would net this link as its first hit?:
http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/16425/startupsound.prefpane
Scott
It's not always at maximum volume, not for me anyway.Tootles said:Has Apple really made it impossible to startup your Mac in public without advertising its presence at maximum volume? I haven't had to restart/shutdown my Mac yet so, haven't experienced this annoyance yet. I can see it happening to people who aren't fortunate enough to have broadband at home. Anyone doing their updating at school or the public library - in a cubicle, to keep a low profile - now being pissed off by their Mac, as insult to injury. Bad move, Apple.
Besides, holding the mute button is one trick mentioned, which IMHO is how it should be. The sound is not to advertise its presence, it's to tell you that everything is working fine and the bootup process is good. Most of the time, you want this. Sometimes you don't. People aren't going to remember to make sure their bootup process went OK, they are going to remember to mute it when they need to be polite.
That's the main difference between Apple and MS. With MS you get choices, with Apple you have to live by with what Steve Jobs says.There seems to be a difference in the way Windows and Mac OSX users react to "hardwired" preferences in the operating system.
If Microsoft introduced a startup sound that the user would have to remember to mute each time (while the wife was sleeping or in a café) they would be literally hanged.
Here on the other hand it seems to be almost considered a "user" problem.
since the startup chime can be essential in troubleshooting (reset PRAM anyone?)...it's not such a big deal to have to hold a key on startup...
Hold the MUTE button while you press the POWER button, this should mute the startup chime. It's not permanent, you have to do this each time you want to turn the sound off.
Working here on a Mac mini running Lion 10.7.2does this work under Lion for anyone?
The startup sound hasn't played through headphones since about 2006, a sad loss to us all in cases of trying to be discreet.
Wow apparently even the other option above no longer works thanks to Lion. A little Googling got me to https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3208783?start=0&tstart=0