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60 Chapter 5 Setting General System Preferences
To see if the system is set to restart after a system freeze:
$ sudo systemsetup -getrestartfreeze
To set the system to restart after a system freeze:
$ sudo systemsetup -setrestartfreeze (on|off)
Changing the Power Management Settings
You can use the pmset tool to change a variety of power management settings,
including:
 Display dim timer
 Disk spindown timer
 System sleep timer
 Wake on network activity
 Wake on modem activity
 Restart after power failure
 Dynamic processor speed change
 Reduce processor speed
 Sleep computer on power button press
You can configure different settings for the different power modes using pmset.
There are four flags you can use: -a, -b, -c, and -u. -b applies the settings to battery
operation, -c to charger (wall power), -u to UPS, and -a to all.
To set disk spindown timer for all modes of operation:
$ sudo pmset -u spindown
minutes
To display the current settings:
$ sudo pmset -g
command
See the pmset man page for more information.
Viewing or Changing the Startup Disk Settings
You can use the systemsetup tool to view or change a computer’s startup disk. This can
also be set using the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences.
To view the current startup disk:
$ sudo systemsetup -getstartupdisk
To view the available startup disks:
$ sudo systemsetup -liststartupdisks
Parameter Description
minutes
Must be a multiple of 30 seconds.