Granted, you won’t often need to know the exact time and date of a shutdown or restart, but one day you might. For example, the information could come in handy in certain troubleshooting scenarios or when trying to establish a timeline of events.
Therefore, here’s how to access your Mac’s shutdown and restart history when you need it.
Use Terminal to View Your Mac’s Shutdown and Restart History
If you need to view your Mac’s shutdown or restart history, Terminal is the perfect tool for the job. With a simple command line, you can access the relevant information and use it for good, evil, or nothing at all.
View Your Mac’s Shutdown History via Terminal
Here’s how to use Terminal to view your Mac’s shutdown history:
Launch Terminal. Enter the following command and hit Return: last shutdown Scroll through the output to view a list of events with precise dates and times.
View Your Mac’s Restart History via Terminal
Here’s how to use Terminal to view your Mac’s restart history:
Launch Terminal. Enter the following command line: last reboot Scroll through the output to view a list of events with precise dates and times.
Entering the last shutdown and reboot commands in Terminal doesn’t just display the last event, but also those that have occurred since the initial setup of the device. If you’ve had to erase all contents and settings at any stage, the timeline will start from that date.
While presenting so much historic data may seem pointless, sometime, somewhere, someone may need that information to help solve a mystery or resolve a specific issue.
What Other Useful Information Can You Find Out About Your Mac?
Shutdown and restart histories are just the tip of the Apple iceberg. With the right Terminal commands, you can discover more potentially useful information about your Mac, including the login history, which can help confirm unauthorized access to your device. You never know when a seemingly useless detail will help solve a big case.
