How to boot your MacBook / iMac in verbose mode

Whether you want to boot your iMac or your MacBook in verbose mode because it looks cool, or you're doing it for diagnostic purposes, a simple key combination can help you get it working right away. The verbose mode replaces the normal Apple logo and the progress bar screen during the boot-time with an actual live log of what is going on during the boot procedure. This is also possible on iPhones, but would require an iBoot exploit to be done. It has been done in the past and is a matter of boot arguments, exactly as it is on macOS.

The following method works on all macOS versions as well as OS X, including El Capitan, Sierra and High Sierra. Yosemite also works with this method.

So in order to boot your iMac / MacBook in Verbose mode, follow the guide:

1. Make sure your device is off. If it is not, switch it off first.
2. Once the device finished shutting itself down, press the power button.
3. Right before the Apple logo appears, press and hold Command (⌘) – V
4. Your Mac will start showing up white text against a black screen. You're done 🙂

Why would I boot into this mode?

This mode helps you check various things. For example, if a peripheral has successfully connected, or if you have Boot-Time (Start Up) issues. Of course, this mode is also cool so you can just enable it for the sake of it. There is nothing that you can break. If your device won't boot further from Verbose (rarely ever happens), just power it off from the button and restart it.

How to activate Verbose Mode Permanently on my Mac?

Normally, the Command (⌘) – V key combination would allow a 1-time verbose mode boot. The next boot will be normal. If you want your Mac to boot ONLY with verbose from now on (can be disabled after that), you need to set a NVRAM argument, to do so, follow this guide:

1. Open Terminal App (Utilities Folder)
2. In Terminal, paste this command sudo nvram boot-args="-v"
3. Input your password as the command uses sudo.
4. Done.

To disable the auto-boot to verbose, just do the same thing but change the command to: sudo nvram boot-args=""