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In System Preferences >> Accounts >> Login Options, we have the option

Show the Restart, Sleep, and Shut Down buttons.

I was wondering how else will we be able to restart, sleep or shut down the computer if these buttons are disabled?

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2 Answers

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Simple answer: You can't (sleep, restart, turn off)

The option is there to set the Mac up so other people can't just power it down or restart it. That's why you need administrative privileges to actually change the settings. Btw: The keyboard shortcuts don't work either if the buttons are hidden.

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is there a way to do it from the terminal? like shutdown -f or something.. – Pacerier Apr 29 '11 at 11:02
@Pacerier I think you're mistaking something. The options you describe only remove the buttons from the Login Screen, not from the OS X menu. – slhck♦ Apr 29 '11 at 11:29
+1 @Pacerier Check the location of that setting -- it's clearly about the login window. Also note that buttons and menu items are completely different things. – Daniel Beck♦ Apr 29 '11 at 13:29
@Daniel Beck ok my mistake.. – Pacerier May 1 '11 at 0:37
up vote 2 down vote

It used (?) to be possible by typing >shutdown, >restart or >sleep as username and pressing the log in button. (Shut down, sleep, or restart from login window - Mac OS X Hints, from 2005). Now that seems to work only when those buttons aren't hidden.

Of course if you have physical access, you can still hold the power button or whatever.

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