Several weeks ago, I purchased a refurbished MacBook 2017. Unfortunately, some of the keys are stuck and I can’t enter my password. So, I decided to return it after deleting and factory reseting it. I’ve watched several YouTube videos and searched solutions on Google but nothing worked so far. It’s running macOS Catalina. Can anyone help me factory reset this MacBook with Catalina on? Thx!
The following steps should help you factory reset your MacBook running Catalina. In fact, it’s suitable for all macOS versions on Intel-based Macs:
Warning: Factory resetting a MacBook erases everything on it. Back up the essential data before starting!
- Turn off the Mac.
- Now, press the power button and immediately press and hold the keys Command + R.
- When the Apple logo shows up, release the keys.
- Next, you’ll see the macOS Utilities window.
- From there, tap Disk Utility, followed by Continue.
- Click View > Show All Devices to reveal the physical disk.
- Select the topmost level of your internal hard drive, the physical disk named Apple SSD xxxx, and click the Erase button from the toolbar.
- Label the drive as Macintosh HD.
- Choose APFS as its format.
- Ensure the scheme is GUID Partition Map.
- Click Erase.
- After your Mac is erased, you can close Disk Utility and return to the macOS Utilities window.
- Choose “Reinstall macOS Catalina” and click Continue.
- Then the system will guide you to install macOS Catalina.
- If you wish to leave the installation to the seller, you can quit the installer and shut down your Mac.
1 Like
I just finished factory resetting my MacBook Pro running Catalina. The steps provided above are solid. But the erase didn’t work in the regular macOS Recovery Mode, booted from Command-R. Instead, I was able to get into Internet Recovery by using Option-Command-R. If Command-R also fails you, make sure you give Option-Command-R a try.
Thx!! This is exactly what I need.