How to Factory Reset Any Mac
When it’s time to give up your Mac, the first thing you need to do is perform a factory reset. Perhaps you’re selling your MacBook Pro or passing it on to a family member. Or maybe your MacBook is old and slow, or it’s just stuck in a boot loop. Whether you have the latest MacBook with Apple Silicon processors or an older MacBook Pro with Intel chips and the Apple T2 security chip, the process of rebooting your Mac is as simple as rebooting your iPhone. Erase Assistant will take care of everything for you.
However, if you can’t access your Mac, or if it’s an older Intel device without an Apple T2 chip, you’ll have to do it manually using MacOS Recovery and the old Disk Utility app. Below we will look at both options.
How to Factory Reset a Mac Using Erase Assistant
If you have a MacBook, iMac, or Mac mini with an Apple Silicon chip (M1 or higher), or if you have a MacBook Pro with a T2 security chip (all supported models are listed here ), you can use the Erase feature. Assistant to safely delete all data from your Mac. To do this, you’ll need macOS Monterey or later. But if you’re using macOS Ventura or later, the steps are slightly different.
Before you do anything else, it’s important to back up your data. Back up your photos and documents to iCloud or other cloud storage services, or transfer them to an external drive.
If you’re using macOS Monterey, select the Apple icon in the menu bar and choose System Preferences . Here, again click on System Preferences in the menu bar and select Erase all content and settings .
If you’re using macOS Ventura or later, you’ll need to use the System Preferences app. Click the Apple icon in the menu bar and select System Preferences .
In the sidebar, go to the “General” section and in the right section select “Transfer” or “Reset” . Here, select Erase all content and settings . Then sign in using your account password.
The Erase Assistant will open in a new window. Here, select your primary administrator account (if you have more than one). The Mac will now tell you that your account and all associated data, such as login information, files, and biometrics, are ready to be deleted.
Click Continue and watch as macOS closes all open applications, restarts, and cleans up your Mac.
How to manually restore your Mac to factory settings using macOS Recovery
If you’re using an older Mac and don’t have the Erase Assistant feature, you can still factory reset your Mac—to do so, you’ll just need to manually clear your macOS storage using Disk Utility; you can then reinstall macOS using macOS Recovery. This is also a way to reset an Apple Silicon Mac that won’t boot.
First we need to enter macOS Recovery. If you’re using an Apple Silicon Mac or an Intel Mac with the T2 security chip, turn off your Mac and hold the Power button until Loading Startup Settings appears on the screen. Here, select Options to open macOS Recovery.
If you’re using an Intel-based Mac without a T2 chip, restart your computer and hold Command + R until the Apple logo appears. Release the keys and your Mac will boot into recovery mode. If your computer is frozen, try holding down the Control + Command + Power button. The macOS Recovery login screen opens. Here, select a user with administrator rights and enter the account password. Now that you’re in macOS Recovery Mode, select Disk Utility and select the disk volume you want to erase.
By default there will be only one volume (Macintosh HD); however, if you have created additional partitions, you will need to select those partitions and click the Minus button to delete the partition and move the space to the main volume. Then select Macintosh HD and click the Erase button on the top toolbar.
A new dialog box will ask you to name the drive and format it. You can keep the Macintosh HD name, but make sure the format is set to APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled) . Select Erase Volume Group (or Erase if this button is not visible) to clear the disk.
Then go to Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility to return to the macOS Recovery screen. Your Mac is now empty. Before you sell it or give it to anyone, I recommend installing the macOS software to make it easy for someone to set it up. Make sure your Mac is connected to power and the internet as you’ll be downloading the latest macOS software from Apple; On the macOS Utilities screen, select Reinstall macOS and follow the onscreen instructions to download the latest version of macOS software.
Once the macOS download process is complete, you can use the Set Up Your Mac as New Wizard. If you have a Time Machine backup on an external drive, you can mount it to restore your files through the Migration Assistant (it will appear during the installation process).