Macbook How To Restore To Factory Settings

Macs are generally reliable. But as with any figurer, sometimes things become wrong. Earlier you spend big on a new Mac, though, try a factory reset, which wipes your computer and reinstalls a clean version of macOS. A factory reset is also the all-time way to fix your old estimator for a new owner to make sure no leftover data falls into the wrong hands.

The process has been the same for years on Macs with Intel processers, withal, the movement to Apple silicon has slightly contradistinct the method for wiping and reinstalling the Os. And with the jump to macOS Monterey, certain computers gain a new option to erase all content and settings. Here's how to erase your hard drive and reinstall the operating system on your Mac, whether information technology has Apple tree's M1 flake or features Intel components.

Be enlightened that once your computer has been reset, you volition no longer be able to recover any deleted data that was left on the drive. If you think you may even so need what is on your hard drive, we propose you to showtime dorsum it up through Time Automobile or by syncing important files to iCloud.

Sure Macs have a new selection for erasing data. If you're running macOS Monterey on an Apple silicon-based Mac or an Intel-based Mac with the Apple T2 chip, yous now have the Erase Assistant tool. Open System Preferences > Erase All Content and Settings in the menu bar.

Enter your admin password in Erase Assistant, then review the items that will be removed. Along with erasing all settings, media, apps, and data for all accounts and volumes on the drive, the tool will also sign yous out of iCloud, delete Touch ID fingerprints, disable location services, unpair Bluetooth devices, and remove Apple Wallet items.

At this fourth dimension, you have 1 last chance to create a Fourth dimension Automobile backup before continuing. Click Open up Time Machine to create information technology, if you haven't already washed so.

Enter your countersign to sign out of your Apple ID, then permit the erase process stop. Once complete, your Mac will exist returned to factory settings. If you don't program on keeping this computer, you're washed. Otherwise, y'all tin can get through the setup assistant every bit if yous are setting up your Mac for the first time.

Erase Data and Reinstall macOS With Disk Utility

The other option for resetting your Mac is Disk Utility, which is available to all users. In guild to access the options for wiping your data and reinstalling the operating system, you demand to enter macOS Recovery. How you practise this depends on the chip inside your computer.

If you take an M1 Mac or Intel-based Mac with the T2 flake, shut downwardly your estimator completely and hold downward the power push until Loading startup options appears on the screen. Select Options to enter the recovery screen.

If your Mac has an Intel processor and doesn't have the T2 fleck, restart your computer. From here, hold downward Command + R until the Apple logo appears. Release the keys and let the Mac to kicking up and open up into Recovery.

If your computer is frozen and the normal means of resetting aren't working, endeavor the Command + Command + Eject (or power button) shortcut.

No affair how you lot become hither, you must then select a user with administrator privileges and enter their account credentials before gaining access to the estimator's startup options. Once fully in macOS Recovery, select Disk Utility and cull the volume you want to erase.

Did y'all previously create any additional volumes on your hard drive? If and so, remove them outset. Choose the partition and select the minus (-) push to remove the book. You can then move on to your main drive. Select Macintosh Hard disk drive and click Erase in the top toolbar.

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A dialog box volition pop up request for the drive name and format. Keep the name as Macintosh HD and make sure the format is prepare to APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click Erase Book Group (or Erase if that button isn't shown) to wipe the drive.

Yous should also brand sure whatever other internal drives are also erased in society to completely wipe the computer and avoid whatever errors during the reinstall procedure. Go to Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility to exit the Deejay Utility window and go dorsum to the Recovery screen.

If you programme to sell the computer, you can finish here and let the new possessor install a clean version of macOS. For those who programme to keep their Mac, your adjacent stride should exist to reinstall macOS onto the computer.

Your reckoner should be hooked up to a power source and connected to the net. Back at the macOS Utilities screen, click Reinstall macOS and follow the instructions to download a new version of the operating system.

If you saved your files to an external storage device through a Time Auto fill-in, you can now restore those files through the Migration Assistant as part of the reinstall procedure. You will be asked if you lot want to transfer data from some other Mac or a Fourth dimension Car backup. Select Time Machine and keep the process to restore your files.

If yous determine not to restore your backup at this time, you can always get dorsum into the macOS Recovery screen and choose the Restore From Time Automobile Fill-in selection. Select the appropriate fill-in from the list to reinstall your saved files.

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