Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > Shut Down.

   Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar and keyboard) are off.

2. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until the system volume and the Options button appear.

3. Click the Options button, then click Continue.

4. If asked, select a volume to recover, then click Next.

5. Select an administrator account, then click Next.

6. Enter the password for the administrator account, then click Continue.

   When the Recovery app appears in the menu bar, you can choose any of the available options in the window or the menu bar.

Follow these instructions if you need to pair a Bluetooth^® keyboard, trackpad, or mouse with your Mac when you start up in macOS Recovery.

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > Shut Down.

   Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar and keyboard) are off.

2. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until the system volume and the Options button appear.

3. Press the power button three times.

   Note: Each press of the power button needs to be made within 1 second after the previous press. If you press the power button too fast it won’t register because rapid presses are reserved for other purposes, such as VoiceOver.

4. Use Bluetooth Setup Assistant to pair your Bluetooth accessories with your Mac.

   Note: You don’t see Bluetooth Setup Assistant if you already have an input device connected.

5. Select an administrator account, then click Next.

6. Enter the password for the administrator account, then click Continue.

   When the Recovery app appears in the menu bar, you can choose any of the available options in the window or the menu bar.

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > Shut Down.

   Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar and keyboard) are off.

2. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until the system volume and the Options button appear.

3. Select a volume.

4. Press and hold the Shift key, then click Continue in Safe Mode.

   The computer restarts automatically.

1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > Shut Down.

   Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar and keyboard) are off.

2. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until the system volume and the Options button appear.

3. Select a volume.

4. Press and hold the Option key, then click Always Use.

   The computer restarts automatically.

In macOS Recovery, you can check the Wi-Fi status and connect to a Wi-Fi network.

If the Wi-Fi menu icon (in the upper-right corner of the screen) contains one or more bars , Wi-Fi is turned on and connected to a wireless network. If the Wi-Fi menu icon doesn’t contain any bars , Wi-Fi is turned on but isn’t connected to a wireless network. If the Wi-Fi menu icon has a slash through it , Wi-Fi is turned off. Wi-Fi needs to be turned on before you can join a wireless network.

On your Mac, do any of the following:

• Turn on Wi-Fi: Click the Wi-Fi menu icon, then choose Turn Wi-Fi On.

• Turn off Wi-Fi: Click the Wi-Fi menu icon, then choose Turn Wi-Fi Off.

• Join a network: Click the Wi-Fi menu icon, then choose a network. If requested, type the network’s password.

• Join a closed network: Click the Wi-Fi menu icon, then choose Join Other Network. Enter the network’s name and, if requested, the network’s password.

If you have issues with your computer or if you started your computer and the macOS Recovery window appeared, you may need to repair your computer’s internal storage.

1. Start up your computer in macOS Recovery.

2. In the Recovery app, select Disk Utility, then click Continue.

3. In the Disk Utility app, choose View > Show All Devices.

4. In the sidebar, select a volume, then click .

5. In the First Aid dialog, click Run, then follow the onscreen instructions.

6. When the First Aid process is complete, click Done.

7. Repeat steps 4 through 6 for each volume on the storage device.

8. In the sidebar, select a container, then click .

9. In the First Aid dialog, click Run, then follow the onscreen instructions.

10. When the First Aid process is complete, click Done.

11. Repeat steps 8 through 10 for each container on the storage device.

12. In the sidebar, select the storage device, then click .

13. In the First Aid dialog, click Run, then follow the onscreen instructions.

14. When the First Aid process is complete, click Done.

If Disk Utility can’t repair your disk, back up as much of your information as possible, then follow the instructions in Erase and reinstall macOS.

To return to the Recovery app, choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.

If you previously created a Time Machine backup, you can restore your files from the backup.

1. Start up your computer in macOS Recovery.

2. If your backup is on a Time Capsule, make sure you’re connected to the internet.

3. In the Recovery app, select “Restore from Time Machine,” then click Continue.

4. In the Time Machine System Restore app, follow the onscreen instructions.

Under some circumstances, you may need to reinstall macOS. You can reinstall macOS while keeping your files and user settings intact.

1. Start up your computer in macOS Recovery.

2. Make sure you’re connected to the internet.

3. In the Recovery app, click Reinstall macOS [name], then click Continue.

4. Follow the onscreen instructions.

   Important: When you’re asked to select a disk, select your current macOS disk (in most cases, it’s the only one available).

If you erase and reinstall macOS, your user accounts, network settings, and all of the files and folders on your Mac are deleted. Before you erase macOS, attempt to log back in to your system, then back up any files you want to keep by copying them to another storage device. Also, write down your network settings from Network settings to make it easier to get connected again after reinstalling macOS.

1. Start up your computer in macOS Recovery.

2. Make sure you’re connected to the internet.

3. In the Recovery app, click Disk Utility, then click Continue.

4. In Disk Utility, select the volume you want to erase in the sidebar, then click the Erase button in the toolbar.

5. Type a name for the volume in the Name field.

6. Click the Format pop-up menu, choose APFS, then click Erase Volume Group.

7. When the erase process is complete, click Done, then choose Disk Utility > Quit Disk Utility.

8. In the Recovery app, click Reinstall macOS [name], click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions.

1. Start up your computer in macOS Recovery.

2. In the Recovery app, choose Utilities > Startup Security Utility.

3. Select the system you want to use to set the security policy.

4. If the disk is encrypted, click Unlock, enter the password, then click Unlock.

5. Click Security Policy.

6. Select one of the following security options:

   • Full Security: Ensures that only your current OS, or signed operating system software currently trusted by Apple, can run. This mode requires a network connection at software installation time.

   • Reduced Security: Allows any version of signed operating system software ever trusted by Apple to run.

7. If you selected Reduced Security, select any of the following options, if needed:

   • Allow user management of kernel extensions from identified developers: Allow installation of software that uses legacy kernel extensions.

   • Allow remote management of kernel extensions and automatic software updates: Authorize remote management of legacy kernel extensions and software updates using a mobile device management (MDM) solution.

8. Click OK.

9. If you changed the security policy, click the User pop-up menu, choose an administrator account, enter the password for the administrator account, then click OK.

10. Choose Apple menu > Restart.

    You must restart your Mac for the changes to take effect.

You can transfer files between a Mac booted into macOS Recovery and another Mac by sharing a volume and connecting the two computers with a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable.

1. Connect the two computers with a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable.

2. Start up your computer in macOS Recovery.

3. In the Recovery app, choose Utilities > Share Disk.

4. Select the volume you want to share, then click Start Sharing.

5. On the other Mac, open a Finder window, then click Network in the sidebar under Locations.

6. In the Network window, double-click the Mac that has the shared disk, click Connect As, select Guest in the Connect As window, then click Connect.

7. Transfer the files.

8. When you’re done transferring files, eject the volume on the other Mac.

9. In the Share Disk app, click Stop Sharing.

10. Choose Share Disk > Quit Share Disk.

The recovery log contains messages logged by macOS Recovery. You can specify the types of messages to display, filter messages to search for specific text, and save the recovery log to a file.

1. Start up your computer in macOS Recovery.

2. In the Recovery app, choose Window > Recovery Log.

3. Click the Detail Level pop-up menu, then choose which messages to display:

   • Show Errors Only: Choose this option to display only error messages.

   • Show Errors and Progress: Choose this option to display error messages and progress messages.

   • Show All Logs: Choose this option to display all messages.

4. To filter messages, type the text you want to search for in the Filter field.

5. To save the recovery log, click the Save button, choose a location for the file, then click Save.

6. When you’re finished viewing the recovery log, click in the top-left corner of the window.

If you file a problem report using Feedback Assistant, you may be asked to provide a recovery diagnostics file. You can create the file and save it to an external storage device.

1. Connect an external storage device to your Mac.

2. Start up your computer in macOS Recovery.

3. Press Control-Option-Shift-Command-Period.

4. After the screen flashes, wait a few moments until a dialog appears.

5. Use the dialog to save the recovery diagnostics file to a location on your external storage device.

Your Mac restarts automatically while restoring your system from Time Machine or reinstalling macOS. In other cases, you need to quit macOS Recovery manually (for example, if you want to back up your files before reinstalling macOS, or if you just changed a setting using Startup Security Utility).

In the Recovery app on your Mac, do one of the following:

• Restart your Mac: Choose Apple menu > Restart.

• Choose a different startup disk before restarting your Mac: Choose Apple menu > Startup Disk, select a startup disk, then click Restart.

• Shut down your Mac: Choose Apple menu > Shut Down.