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Mac shows a folder with a question mark after factory resetting

I erased my Mac to factory reset it. Now, when I start up my Mac, it shows me a folder with a question mark. The Disk Utility window has also changed.

Best Answered by

Jenny Zeng

Answered on Monday, April 29, 2024

To start up your Mac correctly, you need to reinstall macOS.

The presence of the folder with a question mark shows that your Mac doesn't have a working operating system, which is caused by you erasing the startup disk. So the solution is to acquire a new macOS. To make sure that you format your startup disk correctly, follow the steps below to reformat your Mac again and then reinstall macOS.

  1. Close Disk Utility if you're still on the window.
  2. Click the Apple logo and turn off your Mac.
  3. Wait for it to shut down completely.
  4. Hit the power button, then immediately press and hold the Option + Command + R keys until seeing the spinning globe.
  5. In the macOS Utilities menu, check which macOS you can reinstall.
  6. Click Disk Utility > Continue.
  7. Click View > Show All Devices if available.
  8. Select the drive (248 D6 GB P4 243 media in your case) and click Erase.
  9. Name the drive Macintosh HD.
  10. Keep the default format. (Should be APFS if you're reinstalling macOS 10.13 or later.)
  11. Keep the scheme GUID Partition Map.
  12. Click Erase.
  13. Exit Disk Utility.
  14. Click "Reinstall macOS" and Continue.
  15. Follow the onscreen instructions to reinstall macOS.