I’m a college tech support. We have about 40 Macs that were updated to macOS Sequoia. Previously, our Macs were scheduled to shut down at 6 p.m. and start up at 8 a.m. It was super effective considering many students often forget to log out of the computer. However, after the Sequoia update, the startup and shutdown timers were wiped and cannot be modified from System Settings. How can I set the shutdown timer on Mac Terminal?
The pmset command in Terminal schedules specific times for your Mac to shut down, boot up, sleep, or reboot.
Running the Terminal command is currently the only way to set a shutdown or startup timer on macOS Ventura and later natively.
To set a shutdown timer in Mac Terminal for macOS Sequoia/Sonoma?Ventura, try the following command:
sudo pmset repeat shutdown MTWTF 18:00:00
This command sets the Mac to shut down at 6 p.m. every weekday.
If you want to cancel the pmset shutdown timer, run:
sudo pmset repeat cancel
To set a startup timer in Mac Terminal for macOS Sequoia/Sonoma/Ventura, run:
sudo pmset repeat wake MTWTF 8:00:00
If the system only allows you to set one timer, either the shutdown or startup one, try the command below instead:
sudo pmset repeat wakeorpoweron MTWRFSU 08:00 shutdown MTWRFSU 18:00
This one sets the Mac to wake or power on at 8 a.m. and shut down at 6 p.m.
Use OnyX.
It’s a free and reliable app providing various utilities, such as verifying system files, running cleaning and computer maintenance tasks, deleting caches, or rebuilding databases. It has added the option to schedule specific times for your Mac to start up or shut down in the Utilities/Scheduling section.
You’re allowed to choose the days and specify the hours and minutes left to the shutdown or startup time.