How to trick MacBook into thinking it is plugged in?

[Qaanol]

I’m not sure if this is the right subforum for my question, but it’s about MacBooks so I thought I’d ask here first.

Anyway, there are some things that a Mac laptop does differently when it is plugged in versus running on battery. Notably, when on battery power, the MacBook will not wake up for USB peripherals or for network access, and it cannot run in “clamshell” mode unless plugged in.

I would like to have my laptop do all of those things while on battery power, so I’m looking for a way to either override the limitation, or else trick the machine into thinking it is plugged in.

Does anyone know if there is some way to accomplish this? Perhaps a plist, a terminal command, or a program to run? It is clearly possible to change this behavior, as Apple could easily do so. Any advice is appreciated.

 

[boneskid1]

You actually have to have the macbook plugged into the ac adapter in order to run in clamshell mode it says it on the apple website as far as I remember, I could be wrong though


EDIT: I read your post wrong sorry.
I assume you already tried googling about it

 

[takezo808]

try configuring your mac book for clamshel mode as described with the power cable plugged in. Once it's working, remove powercable and see what happens.

 

[oLNutjob]

Rigging it to power an external monitor on battery power would probably fry something inside. (I think there's a magnet in the screen bezel that controls this.)

I wouldn't mess with it as you described, unless you are possibly willing to kiss it bye bye.

 

[Qaanol]

try configuring your mac book for clamshel mode as described with the power cable plugged in. Once it's working, remove powercable and see what happens.

I’ll give that a shot. I vaguely think I may have tried it before and it didn’t work, but I’ll try it again.

Rigging it to power an external monitor on battery power would probably fry something inside. (I think there's a magnet in the screen bezel that controls this.)

My external monitor has its own power cord. The laptop would just be sending video signal.

I wouldn't mess with it as you described, unless you are possibly willing to kiss it bye bye.

I am completely willing to kiss it goodbye. I take full accountability for my possessions, and I like to have my machines do what I want them to do.