How can I turn off a Mac's display without sleeping the Mac itself?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
Is it possible to put the display to sleep without putting the whole computer to sleep?

I have an iMac, and sometimes I want to play some music over night, without the bright display. The display will be turned off automatically several minutes later, but I would like a button that turns the display off instantly and keeps the music playing.

How can I do this?

score 66 · Accepted Answer · edited Dec 08 '15 at 10:23

66

Ctrl+Shift+Eject will turn off the displays but leave the computer active.

Control ⌃+Shift ⇧+Power ⌽ for some Macbook

edited Dec 08 '15 at 10:23

fangzhzh

103

answered Nov 08 '11 at 17:09

robmathers

41,194

2

Not sure why, but it does not work for me - instead of just switching off the screen - it puts computer to sleep. So after I move the mouse and the screen is back on - I need to enter my password again. Any idea why this might be happening? – YemSalat Sep 20 '16 at 02:01
3

Is there a command line way? – screaming drills Mar 22 '18 at 14:38
4

whats the Eject key ? I am using external keyboard – Morse Sep 12 '18 at 19:21
Ctrl+Shift+Del worked for me with "not so magic" keyboard ;) – goodfellow Oct 14 '18 at 20:49
This is a horrible answer. What is "eject" and for some users it is sleeping the computer. Same with "hot corner". – Ben Racicot Dec 02 '18 at 05:08
@YemSalat , I don't have the answer but it may be in pmset. Similar to https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/311072/macos-high-sierra-restarting-by-itself-during-sleep – Peter Becich Mar 25 '19 at 19:36
4

Yep, pmset displaysleepnow command did the trick for me. I didn't have mac keyboard and prefer commands as it is. Source answer here. – yuvilio Apr 28 '19 at 01:22
3

I'm on a 2017 MBP. I don't have an Eject OR a power button – Qasim Aug 13 '19 at 01:20

score 12 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 08 '11 at 17:08

12

Use ctrl + shift + Eject to turn off display.

You can also set a "hot-corner" to turn off display in a few seconds.

answered Nov 08 '11 at 17:08

Loïc Wolff

14,706

"You can also set a "hot-corner" to turn off display in a few seconds." How? – Chris Harrison Jul 20 '19 at 20:34
Setting a "hot-corner" works through: Apple-Icon -> "System Preferences" -> "Desktop & Screen Saver" -> "Hot Corners...". Note: You can also only activate a "Hot Corner" when pressing a key(ctrl, alt, cmd), by pressing that key when assigning the action from this menu. – icyerasor Apr 03 '20 at 21:51

How can I turn off a Mac's display without sleeping the Mac itself?

2 Answers2