← Show Central product pageSHOW CENTRAL / HELPPower & Schedule

Section 01

Power & Schedule

Start Mac when power is connected

Show Central checks this Mac for Apple’s automatic power-on capability and shows the current state. When supported, turn on Enable automatic power-on; macOS requests administrator approval, applies the setting, and Show Central reads it back. This setting belongs to the Mac, not to a Show Central configuration file.

If the checkbox is unavailable, the app has not detected the required capability. This feature requires macOS 26.5 or later on supported recent Mac mini, Mac Studio or iMac models. An older “restart after power failure” option does not guarantee a cleanly shut-down Mac will start when power returns.

Set a repeating startup or wake time

  1. Turn on Start or wake Mac.
  2. Select at least one weekday and choose the time.
  3. Review the next occurrence, then choose Apply Schedule and authorize the change.

macOS handles the start/wake event. Applying replaces the Mac’s existing repeating power-event schedule. Editing days or time alone does not apply them.

Set a repeating shutdown time

  1. Turn on Shut down Mac, select weekdays and a time, and choose Apply Schedule.
  2. In Shutdown & Triggers, review the save behavior and countdown used at the scheduled time.
  3. Enable Launch Show Central at login at the top of this page and test that a user is logged in and the app is running when shutdown time arrives.

Show Central performs the scheduled shutdown itself so it can use the selected save behavior. This does not depend on the OSC/MIDI/keyboard arm switch. Test scheduled shutdown is a real, confirmed shutdown test.

Choose an automatic-login account

The Automatic login after power-on panel checks whether macOS will enter a user account without a startup password prompt. If it is off, choose Choose login account… to open macOS Users & Groups. Select the show account in Automatically log in as and enter that account’s password in macOS Settings. Show Central never receives or stores the password. Enable Launch Show Central at login while signed in to that same account.

Security and FileVault: FileVault disables automatic login. If it is on, use Open FileVault Settings… to review the macOS setting. Show Central cannot switch disk encryption itself; macOS handles authentication and recovery-key choices. Turning FileVault off reduces protection of the Mac’s data.

Prepare show-computer power and screen settings

Show computer setup checks system sleep, display sleep, disk sleep, Power Nap, Low Power Mode and the current user's screen saver. Apply Show Settings… shows the complete change, requests administrator approval, applies supported values for all power sources and reads them back. It does not alter hibernation internals.

Screen Sharing & Remote Access… opens macOS Sharing settings without enabling anything. Explicitly choose Screen Sharing, Remote Management or Remote Login and review the permitted users before exposing remote access.

Disable or change the schedule

Turn off the appropriate schedule switch or edit its days and time, then choose Apply Schedule again. A gray status line identifies changes that have not yet been applied.