Disable startup sound Lion iMac 2011

[chickenlegs]

Well, I seem to have sorted the loud startup sound.
By unplugging my external speakers and lowering the volume before shut down, this seems to inform the iMac to set the startup sound to a low volume. When I've done this with the external speakers plugged in, it makes no difference.
Cleverly, after plugging the external powered speakers back in after startup. the startup sound remains low volume and the external speaker volume has no bearing on the startup sound.
Chris

[vicislick6]

I use an application called "Psst". What it does, it adjusts your volume for you when you restart or shut down your Mac. I used to use start up sound pref before I upgraded to Lion, and now I am on Mountain Lion. You can either mute the sound or just adjust the volume. It's free so give it a try. If it doesn't work, just uninstall it.
http://www.satsumac.com/Psst.php

[Dechter]

Originally Posted by vicislick6

I use an application called "Psst". What it does, it adjusts your volume for you when you restart or shut down your Mac. I used to use start up sound pref before I upgraded to Lion, and now I am on Mountain Lion. You can either mute the sound or just adjust the volume. It's free so give it a try. If it doesn't work, just uninstall it.
http://www.satsumac.com/Psst.php

Psst worked great for me. MBP 13" mid 2010 model running 10.8.1. Thanks for the heads up!

[nicellis]

Installing PSST worked for me! I have a 15" Macbook Pro early 2011 model with Mountain Lion 10.8.2. I'm thrilled! Finally got rid of that annoying sound on startup! Thanks!

[Matzky]

1. Login as administrator and open a terminal window

2. Create scriptfile for muting
sudo nano /path/to/mute-on.sh

3. Enter this as content, when done press control+O to save and control+X to exit:
#!/bin/bash
osascript -e ‘set volume with output muted’

4. Create scriptfile for unmuting
sudo nano /path/to/mute-off.sh

5. Enter this as content, when done press control+O to save and control+X to exit:
#!/bin/bash
osascript -e ‘set volume without output muted’

6. Make both files executable:
sudo chmod u+x /path/to/mute-on.sh
sudo chmod u+x /path/to/mute-off.sh

7. Check if any hooks already exist (these will be overwritten, so make sure it is OK for you)
sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook
sudo defaults read com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook

8. Add hooks for muting
sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook /path/to/mute-on.sh
sudo defaults write com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook /path/to/mute-off.sh

Notes:
- /path/to/ is the location of the scripts, I used /Library/Scripts/
- you can skip the unmuting loginhook (i.e. each logout will silence your machine), but I like it this way because I always have sound available exactly at the volume level I set last time
- root has to be the owner of the script files – running an editor from command line with sudo is the easiest way to achieve that (otherwise you need to chown)
- to delete the hooks, use the following:
sudo defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow LoginHook
sudo defaults delete com.apple.loginwindow LogoutHook

[kkrull]

Originally Posted by fm.illuminatus

I absolutely despise that sound for a number of reasons. I wonder if you could boot pull up the EFI pre-boot environment and nuke the sound file...

http://refit.sourceforge.net/

I use rEFInd and noticed that if I created a custom banner PNG that didn't load properly, it created a black background AND muted the sound.

[quonze]

Originally Posted by RestUnknown

This doesn't work, my headphones are constantly plugged in.

I too have hated this noise for years, before updating to mountain lion the problem was taken away by simply downloading the free Arcana fix, but it won`t work on OS 10.8.3.
l see people have tried leaving headphones plugged in, this always worked on Hi - Fi`s and my old Blueberry( and it still does, a much nicer screen to look at ) However, unplug your phones, reduce the volume to zero and plug your phones in. NOW you will have a silent start up and adjusting the volume with the phones in will NOT affect the muted unplugged volume. This works on my 24`` iMac.

And to those folks who will tell me that it has to be there so i know my computer is working, it seems a daft argument to impose the LOUD bong ( l have other users who don`t reduce the volume when they log off) as another member said, ` tell me when it`s not working ` l agree

[benwiggy]

Originally Posted by quonze

And to those folks who will tell me that it has to be there so i know my computer is working, it seems a daft argument to impose the LOUD bong as another member said, ` tell me when it`s not working ` l agree

If it's really not working, it may not be capable of producing a sound to tell you there's a problem! Older Macs had a different set of noises if hardware checks weren't passed, but I don't think they apply now.

I've always held down the mute button on my MacBook when I need to start it up silently, like in a library.

The arguments for and against leaving your computer permanently on are fairly balanced, in terms of power consumption, stress on hardware, performance of maintenance tasks, etc.

[PaulKemp]

This is going to be a rant, but damn this is annoying.

I don't really care if it's possible to mute it, either with some terminal hacking or holding this and that key down while booting, the fact that when I have my headphones plugged in. All OS sounds goes trough them while in the os, and I've lowered the sound to the first 'nudge' on the volume bar. I as a normal human being thinks one of two things are going to happen. A) Sound goes through headphones, or B) use the low (nudge 1) sound to output the chime. BUT NO!?

People in libraries, girlfriends sleeping in the same room, booting into bootcamp at night.

I dont understand why this setting is moved to the EFI? This should of course be a setting from within the OS?!? Damn sour Apple!