Fix shutdown problems on the Mac

Many people never experience problems shutting down their Mac, but occasionally it does happen, and either the Mac takes a long time to turn off or it begins shutting dowm, but never completes it. Holding down the power button for five or six seconds will instantly cut the power, but this is not recommended because there is a chance of data corruption when files are open. it's best to find the source of the shutdown problem, and this is usually a bug or fault in a hardware driver, app or service that's running in the backgroud. Even if you don't have shutdown problems right now, it's useful to know what to do.

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Sources of shutdown error

Login Items
go to apple > System Preferences Users & Groups, then login items. Remove any apps here to see if it cures the shutdown issues. Start up apps are also in LaunchAgents, LaunchDaemons and Startup-items in the ~/Library and/Library folders.

Check for extensions
go to apple > System Preferences > Extensions. Another potential cause of shutdown issues is bugs and faults in MacOS extensions. Check here to see what extra items have been added. They may be the cause of shutdown problems, so remove them.

Find the cause
Finding the cause of shutdown problems is the best way to solve them. Start the Mac, log in, wait a minute or two and shutdown. if there are problems then the cause is something loading at login. if it's okay, run an app, then shut down. You may be able to narrow down the cause to a single app.

Update MacOS

Major releases of MacOS are swiftly followed by updates to fix bugs. If you have problems shutting down the Mac, check Software Update in System Preferences.

Update apps

Apps, especially those that access external devices like printers, can cause problems. Look for updates in the App Store and install them when available.

Quit apps

Apps in the background may prevent shutdown. Select 'Force Quit' from the Apple menu to see what's running. Open each app and quit. Force Quit only as a last resort.

Disable Extensions

Some apps and extensions that can cause problems even when the app itself isn't being used. Disable them in System Preferences > Extensions or uninstall the app.

Build a Firewall

In Setting & Privacy i would also advise you to enable the firewall. if you find that it causes problems, this is very likely, you can disable it later if you want to.

terminal

if shutting down from the menu doesn't work, try doing it with a terminal command prompt. Enterman shutdownto read the manual or enterstudo shutdown -h now.