Follow these steps to clean or restore a Mac from the factory

Do you feel you need to work on a clean board? If you didn't know, you can always restore a Mac from the factory whenever you want. In doing so, you essentially erase all your data and everything you have done on your computer, returning it to the state it was in when you first took it out of its box.

Factory restore a Mac

Usually, removing everything on your Mac will be a concern, but there are situations in which restoring your laptop may be necessary. The most common is when you want to sell it, using a service like eBay or Craigslist. After all, no buyer wants a computer with a hard drive full of someone else's data.

Part of the process includes the unauthorization of your computer in iTunes, which eliminates any personalized login information. However, you should also restore a Mac from the factory if you plan to give it away to someone else. It is something that does not take much time, and here we explain how to do it step by step.

Delete your Mac

Take a last look and check that your Mac is connected to the internet. Then, erasing the hard drive is quite simple, but you need a way to access the factory settings once more when you're done. You need internet connectivity for the restoration process to work successfully on modern Macs. If you are deleting data from a MacBook of any type, first connect the charger so there is no danger of the battery running out.

Then, go to the Apple menu (the one with the Apple logo on it) and select the option Restart. Wait patiently until your Mac turns off and then the startup procedure begins.

During the restart process, before moving on to the login screen, your computer will display a gray screen.

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This is your chance to choose: press and hold Command Y the R key. In this way, you will go to MacOS utilities, where you can make several important changes and some somewhat dangerous.

Then select Disk Utility or Disk Utility. Then, the process may change depending on the version of MacOS you are using, but you will want to find your boot disk or other information related to the boot disk. Select and then click on the tab Delete.

Then go to the option Format and select Mac OS Extended (Journaled / Daily). Select again Delete. And don't worry if this action takes some time, because it's normal.

Once you're done, go to the menu Disk Utility or Disk utility and select Quit Disk Utility.

Reinstall the operating system

Once you have erased everything you do to your special Mac, cleaning your system is only half the way until you return to factory settings.

Once you're done with Disk Utility, you should see an option to Reinstall your current MacOS. Select the reinstall option, confirm that you really want to do it and continue. You may have to click on some confirmations before the installation is ready to begin.

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This is when you need to have your computer connected to the internet. Apple maintains all factory configuration data on its own servers these days. With an internet connection, your Mac can search for the original material and download a new version of all the settings.

Note: This online download solution only works for the latest versions of MacOS. It should not be a problem with most current Mac computers, as long as you are running newer operating systems.

But if you are working with an earlier version of MacOS software for whatever reason, it cannot be reinstalled online. You will need the original MacOS installation disc that comes with your computer, so be prepared to find it if necessary.

Also, when reinstalling MacOS, you will see that a setup wizard will ask you some basic questions about your region and other topics. If you are going to sell or give away your Mac, you will want to leave the configuration wizard intact. Instead, press and hold the keys Command YQ and select To turn off to turn off the Mac computer, but leave the setup wizard on hold for the next time.

Alternative

In addition, if you wish, you can completely reinstall a MacOS version without permanently deleting any of your previous data. That is, it is not necessary to erase the disc if you only want to start over and are not thinking of giving your Mac to another person.

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This option is useful if you have a lot of damaged data, a malware problem that you cannot isolate or annoying errors due to an update of errors.

However, this process will allow you to easily recover some data, so it will not be a good idea if you are thinking of selling or giving someone your Mac.

  • Turn off the computer, then restart it. Immediately after turning on the computer, press and hold Command Y R and sultalas when you see the Apple logo. Then the window will open Utilities.
  • Skip the delete option and go directly to Reinstall MacOS. Confirm what you want to reinstall. This will install the latest version of the operating system that was previously installed on your computer, and hopefully solve any previous problem. Keep in mind that you still need to make a backup copy of all the data you want to save.

Another alternative: Use Time Machine

If you use Time Machine pTo store backup copies of your data, you can also use it to restore a particular version of your computer. This is useful if you prefer to restore particular settings and data instead of trying to erase everything completely.

  • Once again, you must turn off your Mac and then restart your computer. Immediately after switching on, press and hold Command Y R and release the keys when you see the Apple logo. How to open the window Utilities.
  • Now, instead of going to Reinstall, choose Restore backup of Time Machine. Note that if you have saved a backup to an external hard drive or server, your Mac must be connected to that device to perform this full restore.

Disable Apple Music, iCloud and Messages

If you plan to sell or give your computer to another user, you should make sure you have Apple services completely disabled before restoring your Mac to the original factory settings. This will help prevent someone from accessing your personal information in the future.

Apple Music: Start Apple Music and click Bill, in the menu bar. Scroll over Authorizations, then click on Unauthorize this computer. Apple Music remove your particular computer (and exclusively) from its list of authorized devices. You will no longer be able to access any of your Apple Music content from this machine, but no one else will.

iCloud: It is not enough to close the session in iCloud, you must also ensure that there is no local data on your computer. To do this, select System preferences in the Apple menu and click on the icon iCloud in the resulting window. Then, in the lower left corner of the window, you should see the option Close session. Click on this and MacOS will ask if you want to keep your current contacts on your Mac. Simply choose the option Remove from Mac.

Posts: You want to keep your messages private, which means closing session in the Messages application on your Mac. This synchronizes your messages between your iPhone and Mac, so unauthorizing it is obviously very important.

It is very easy to do. Open the Messages application, then click Messages> Preferences in the menu bar From here, click on the tab iMessage and click Close session.

Remember: backing up your data is always a good idea, especially before an important move like this. Here we explain how to make a backup on an external drive.

* Updated by Daniel Matus on September 26, 2019.

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