My Mac Mini won’t finish shutting down

[alousypeach]

After I hit shut down, my screen turns black, but I still have full control of the mouse and the computer’s light remains on. I’ve tried waiting it out, but I’ve had to force shut down every time I’ve tried. I quit out of all my apps before shutting down. This only started recently; no idea what could be causing the problem or how to fix it. Please help

 

[jackerin]

I've had this issue myself and found that logging out first gives me a clean shutdown, no idea what causes it though.

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

I agree with jackerin above.

I will -guess- that -something- that is running "within your account" (could be an app, could be a background process) isn't quitting (as it's supposed to do) when you choose to shut down.

Could you try this and get back to us?
1. Choose "log out" (instead of "shut down") from the Apple menu
2. Does the account log out without problems?
3. If so, choose "shut down" from the buttons at the bottom of the display.
4. Does the Mac then shut down properly?

If it shuts down without complaint after logging out, this points to something within your account.

 

[alousypeach]

I tried logging off first, but it still won’t complete shutdown.

I have tried booting up in safe mode, and it shuts down then. Where would I check for an issue?

 

[Partron22]

Have you added any new software recently?
When a normal app prevents shutdown, because its busy and can't quit right now, or because its cranky and stupid, you get an error dialog "Shutdown could not be completed because XXX cannot quit" or similar.
If you're not seeing this, you've got something weird going on.
Think back to what you were doing in the few days prior to first noticing the problem.

 

[Fishrrman]

After a "problem shutdown", reboot and check your system logs.
They -might- give an indication of a program or process "hanging up and refusing to quit" that is causing the shutdown sequence to "hang" on you...

 

[Razzerman]

Hello OP, which Mac mini and what os are you running?