If you’re looking to pass on your Mac, make sure it isn’t linked to your account. Important: If you run macOS Monterey on a Mac with Apple M1 Chip or a Mac with the Apple T2 Security Chip, jump to the section ‘Erase all content and settings on macOS Monterey’ instead of following the below steps.įor any other Mac or macOS, use these tips: To prepare your Mac for a new owner or just to seed it up, follow these steps to restore it to factory settings. What to do before you restore Mac to factory settings The computer will complete a new installation of the operating system with factory settings. Now that the hard drive has been wiped clean, you can confirm that you want to reinstall a fresh Mac operating system by following the instructions on the screen.

Once the process has been completed, go to the Disk Utility menu in the top left corner of the screen and click Quit Disk Utility. Choose Journaled version of Mac OS Extended from the menu.At the top of the Disk Utilities window, choose Erase.Choose Disk Utility in the Utilities window.Here’s what you need to do to erase your hard drive: Click Options > Continue > enter your admin password if requested.Press and hold the power button until you see the screen with Options.You should now see the macOS Utilities window.If requested, enter your admin password to confirm the action.As the system is restarting, hold both the Command (⌘) and R keys on the keyboard at the same time until you see the Recovery Mode window.In the Apple menu in the top left corner of the screen, choose Restart.Below we explain how to restart Intel-based and M1 Macs in Recovery. However, the instructions differ based on the type of computer. If your Mac runs on macOS 12, it’s enough to erase all content and settings to factory reset Mac. Note that the instructions below don’t apply to macOS Monterey. The instructions below answer the question of how to reset MacBook Air, Pro, and iMac. Have you completed your data backup and signed out of everything? If the answer is yes, you are ready to wipe your Mac and have it ready for a fresh start. How to factory reset MacBook Pro, Air, and iMac No matter which macOS your Mac runs on, having a copy of important files is a must.

Note that you should in any case back up your essential data with Get Backup Pro before erasing content and settings.

Confirm that you want to erase all media, settings, and files.

Enter your password and proceed with erasing data.

In System Preferences, click on the main menu in the menu bar and choose Erase All Content and Settings.

If your Mac runs on macOS 12 Monterey, you’re lucky! You can avoid the hustle of manually signing out of all services and erasing your data. ✕ Erase all content and settings on macOS Monterey

How to clear a macbook air hard drive