Factory Island (WIP) Mac OS

Posted on  by

If you use Option-Command-R during startup, in most cases you're offered the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac. Otherwise you're offered the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available. If the Mac logic board was just replaced, you may be offered only the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.

Need to restore Mac to factory settings?

If you decide to sell or give away your Mac, you'll need to wipe your data in order to set up your Mac like a new one. Not only is it essential for your privacy, but it is also the right way to prepare your MacBook for another owner. Resetting Mac to factory settings includes several steps. Here’s the brief outline of them:

  • Data backup
  • Deauthorizing iTunes on macOS Mojave or earlier
  • Signing out iCloud and iMessage
  • Resetting NVRAM
  • Erasing Mac hard drive in Recovery Mode
  • Reinstalling macOS
  1. In short, resetting Mac to factory settings will erase the entire data existing on the drive. Hence, you should create a backup of crucial files existing on your Mac, before you rest. Unfortunately, if you reset the files on iMac with a backup, Remo Recover for Mac is one of the best possible methods to recover the lost data from the factory.
  2. Now we are going to install Mac OS X El Capitan. Select Reinstall OS X in the Recovery Mode. Click Continue when the OS X installer comes up. It will ask to select Agree or Disagree few times. Click on Agree or Continue on all selections.

Continue reading to learn how to factory reset MacBook Pro or any other Mac computer just as it was new.

Note: This guide is relevant to Mac Pro, iMac, MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.

The ultimate checklist to factory reset MacBook Pro

Step 1. Back up your data

When you factory reset MacBook Pro, all the information you have on your hard drive is wiped off. That’s why you need to create a backup to save your important files and data. This is like cloning your hard drive and keeping it for some time.

You can manually back up all your files and apps by copying everything to an external drive or iCloud. However, the faster and more secure way to back up your Mac is Time Machine — Mac’s built-in software. It allows you to recover individual files and restore your whole hard drive in the event of a catastrophe.

However, before you use Time Machine, make sure to clean up your Mac. You don’t want to back up all the junk it contains, do you? Plus, a backup will go faster and more smoothly if your Mac is not cluttered. For a quick cleanup, you can use a utility like CleanMyMac X. It will help you remove large and old files, useless apps, caches, and system junk in two clicks.

Here's how to clean GBs of junk in under 5 minutes:

  1. Download CleanMyMac X and launch it.
  2. Click Scan.
  3. Click Run.

Once you’ve cleaned up your Mac, enable Time Machine backups:

  1. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose System Preferences.
  2. Select Time Machine.
  3. Click the Select Disk button.
  4. Choose the disk you’d like to use as a Time Machine backup, then click Use Disk.

That’s it!

Note that your first backup may take a long time, depending on how many files you have. But don’t skip this step — the backup will allow you to restore all your data should something goes wrong when you factory reset Mac.

Once your files are backed up, next be sure to disable any services associated with your system, including iCloud, Music, and Messages, and deactivate programs on your Mac. Just take your time to sign out of everything to avoid those “after the sale” calls from a new user.

Step 2. Deauthorize iTunes

Note: This step is required only if you're using macOS Mojave or earlier.

Did you know you can authorize up to 5 computers, which means you can play your content just on 5 different Macs? That’s why you need to make sure your computer is not linked to your iTunes account when it gets a new owner. Don’t save this step for later.

Here’s how to sign out of iTunes:

  1. Open iTunes on your Mac.
  2. Click Account in the menu bar.
  3. Choose Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.
  4. Provide your Apple ID and password.
  5. Click Deauthorize.

Do you need to turn off FileVault to do a factory reset?

Some sources on the Internet recommend turning off FileVault before doing a factory reset. FileVault encrypts your data and prevents unauthorized access to the information on your startup disk. So, even if you are going to sell your Mac, the purchaser won’t be able to access your data as they’d need your password to decrypt it. Complete factory reset covers erasing your startup disk (described in Step 7), which will make the recovery of your data impossible. Therefore, there is no need to turn off FileVault, as your data can’t be accessible in any readable form after you erase the drive.

Step 3. Sign out of iCloud

Sign out of iCloud to make sure that any remnants of the cloud data, such as bookmarks, notes, reminders, etc., are not visible to a new user.

Follow these steps to turn off iCloud:

  1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences.
  2. Select Apple ID.
  3. Select Overview in the sidebar.
  4. Click Sign Out.

If you're running macOS Mojave or earlier, go to Apple menu > System Preferences, choose iCloud. Then click Sign Out.

Step 4. Sign out of iMessage

Before you restore Mac to factory settings, be sure to sign out of iMessage. Here’s how to do that:

  1. Open up Messages.
  2. Click Messages in the menu bar in the top left corner of your screen.
  3. From the drop-down menu, choose Preferences.
  4. Click iMessage, then click Sign Out.

As simple as that!

Factory island (wip) mac os 11

Step 5. Reset NVRAM

NVRAM (nonvolatile random-access memory) is a type of memory your Mac uses to store certain settings, such as your selected startup disk, sound volume, screen resolution, and the last kernel panic. Resetting NVRAM will restore certain features you might have changed previously.

  1. Shut down your Mac.
  2. Start up your Mac and press and hold Option-Command-P-R.
  3. Hold the keys for 20 seconds, then release.

If you have a Bluetooth mouse or keyboard paired with your computer, you need to unpair it before giving away or selling your Mac. Go to Apple menu > System Preferences. Click Bluetooth and select the device you want to unpair. Then, click the 'x' button to unpair the device.

Step 6: Restart Your Mac in Recovery Mode

Once you’ve backed up your data and signed out of everything, you are ready to wipe your Mac and give it a fresh start with a new owner. The following steps will tell you how to restore Mac to factory settings. This is pretty simple. Go to the Apple menu in the top left corner of your screen and choose Restart. As the system restarts, hold the combination of Command and R keys together — you’ll notice the Recovery Mode window.

Step 7: Erase Mac hard drive

If you plan to sell or give away your Mac, you need to erase your Mac’s startup disk. The startup disk is built-into your MacBook. Its default name is Macintosh HD.

  1. Start up your Mac and press Command-R until you see an Apple logo.
  2. Choose Disk Utility in the utilities window.
  3. Click the Continue button.
  4. Your built-in startup disk is the disk named “Macintosh HD” unless you renamed it before. It's always the first item listed in the Disk Utility sidebar.
  5. Select Macintosh HD.
  6. Click Erase at the top of the Disk Utility window and enter the next details:
    7. Name: Macintosh HD
    Format: APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
  7. Click Erase Volume Group. You may need to enter your Apple ID for confirmation.

When the process is complete, select other internal volumes in the sidebar and press the '—' button to delete them. Then, quit Disk Utility.

Step 8: Reinstall your operating system

Congratulations, you’ve reformatted your hard drive and reset your Mac to factory settings. Now you can reinstall your operating system. Simply click Reinstall macOS from the utilities menu. Confirm that you really want to do it and follow the instructions you’ll see on the screen.

Once the macOS is installed, a setup assistant will appear. However, if you are not going to keep your Mac, it would be better to quit the setup process and let the new owner enter all necessary information. Hold down the Command-Q keys and then choose Shut Down to turn off your Mac but leave it waiting for a new user.

Factory Island (wip) Mac Os X

That’s all. Now your Mac is clean and ready for a fresh start.

For various reasons, you will have the need to wipe MacBook Pro and reset it to factory settings. For instance, you may plan to sell or give it to a family member, donate it or bring it back to the original condition. Wiping a MacBook will erase all types of data and everything you've done on the Mac and make a fresh start. Now we back to the point, how to wipe MacBook Pro?

In fact, it's simple to wipe a MacBook Pro. You should know that, to better protect your privacy, just remove personal information alone isn't enough. You'd better reinstall a working version of macOS after wiping your MacBook. Let's get started and erase your MacBook Pro.

Pre-Reading. What You Should Do before Wiping MacBook Pro

The process of wiping a Mac or MacBook to factory settings will delete all data stored on the computer. Surely, there are some parts you should pay attention to. First of all, you should back up all important data on Mac.

Backup Mac data

Step 1 Click on Apple icon on the menu bar and choose System Preferences from the drop-down list.

Step 2 Find and open the Time Machine app.

Step 3 Choose Select Backup Disk option and then pick the disk to create the backup. Or you can check the Back Up Automatically box in order to automatically back up your Mac to the chosen disks.

After the backup is done, you could easily restore data from Time Machine after wiping your MacBook Pro.

Factory Island (wip) Mac Os 11

Sign out of iTunes/iCloud

Open iTunes app on MacBook Pro and click on Apple menu.

From the drop-down list, click Account >Authorizations >Deauthorize This Computer to deauthorize the Mac. In this step, you need to log into your Apple account. Then you can log out of iTunes with ease.

To sign out of iCloud, you need to click on Apple menu >System Preferences >iCloud >Sign Out.

How to Wipe a MacBook Pro Permanently for Sale

If you don't want to remove all contents and settings on Mac thoroughly, instead, deleting some unnecessary junk files is all you need, you can use Mac Cleaner to wipe your MacBook Pro in that kind of case.

Mac Cleaner is a free and professional Mac data management tool which can help you remove useless data quickly and safely. Moreover, it can enable you to delete unneeded, large and old files to make your Mac work better.

Factory Island (wip) Mac Os Download

Mac Cleaner
  • Support to clean junk files, delete browser cookies, empty trash, and uninstall applications with ease.
  • Free up space to speed up your Mac and protect your privacy.
  • Monitor Mac status, such as disk utilization, battery status, memory usage and CPU usage.
  • Compatible with iMac, iMac Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro.
  • Works on Mac OS 10.10 or above (Mac OS X Yosemite, Mac OX El Capitan, macOS High Sierra included).

Step 1Launch Mac Cleaner

With the download button above, you can handily get Mac Cleaner installed on your computer. Mac Cleaner will automatically detect your Mac OS system status after launching.

Step 2 Scan junk files

Click 'Junk Files' on the left sidebar and click 'Scan' to scan all useless cache files and logs on your MacBook Pro.

Step 3 Wipe a MacBook Pro

When the scanning process is finished, you can see all junk files are listed, including 'Trash bin'. Select the Mac data you want to remove, then hit 'Clean' button to wipe your MacBook Pro.

With this method, you can easily wipe a MacBook Pro without erasing all useful and useless files on Mac.

How to Restore a MacBook Pro to Factory Settings

This part will show you how to restore a MacBook Pro to factory settings step by step.

Step 1 Click Apple icon on the menu bar and choose Restart... from the drop-down list.

Step 2 A pop-up window will ask you if you want to reboot your Mac, click Restart button to confirm the operation.

Step 3 Press Command and R on the keyboard while the restarting process.

Step 4 Release the keys when you see the Apple logo appears on the screen. Then a new window named macOS Utilities will appear.

Step 5 Select the last option - Disk Utility and then click on Continue.

Step 6 Select your MacBook's hard drive in the upper-left of the window and then click on Erase. During this step, you need to name your disk.

Step 7 Click on Format and pick a suitable format from the drop-down list.

Note

To reinstall a Mac OS system, select:

Mac OS Extended (Journaled) for the fastest wipe.

Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) for a more secure wipe.

Step 8 The last step is to click on Erase... button. This operation will wipe your MacBook Pro and reset Mac to factory settings.

The method above takes OS X 10.7 as an example. If you are using a later macOS version and want to wipe a MacBook, the steps will be the same.

Extended Reading: How to Reinstall macOS after Wiping MacBook Pro

Step 1 Follow the steps mentioned above to open macOS Utilities window. Here you will find the Reinstall macOS option. Choose and click on it.

Step 2 Follow the prompts and select which disk you'd want to install macOS.

Step 3 Plug in your power cable and then click Install.

When the installation is complete, you'll see the welcome screen with the region selector. You can continue the setup process if you want to keep using this MacBook. Or you can press Command and Q on your keyboard to shut down your Mac.

Conclusion

In this post, we mainly talk about how to wipe MacBook Pro. Two effective ways are provided for you to choose from. What's more, we show you how to back up Mac and reinstall macOS on your MacBook Pro.

What do you think of this post?

Excellent

Rating: 4.7 / 5 (based on 181 ratings)

June 06, 2019 17:43 / Updated by Louisa White to Mac Cleanup

  • How to Delete All History on Mac

    How to delete internet history on MacBook? This article shows you how to delete browsing, search, download history on Mac.

  • How to Empty Trash on Mac in Three Simple Methods

    How to empty trash on Mac? Read this post and learn how to secure empty trash on Mac, force empty trash on Mac or empty trash on Mac with only one click.

  • How to Clear Cookies on Mac

    How do you delete cookies on a Mac? This post shows you how to clear browser cookies on Mac, including Safari, Firefox, Chrome and Opera.