How to Completely Factory Reset MacBook Pro/Air? Step by Step

Table of Contents:

• 1. How to erase a MacBook?
• 2. How to restore MacBook Pro/Air to factory settings
• 3. Reinstall macOS
• 4. FAQ

To factory reset a MacBook or a Mac is a big move, but it is necessary especially when you prepare Mac for sale, trade in, or donate this computer. Then the person the computer eventually goes to will not have the access to your account and your personal data.

Restore your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air to factory settings also can help resolve Mac crashing issues and other underperformance due to full storage, malfunctioning software, sticky viruses, or a crashing operating system. Then you can set up the Mac like a brand new one.

How factory reset Mac works:

How to erase a MacBook?

Unlike an iPhone or iPad, there is no reset button on your Mac, helping you erase it and restore it to factory settings with one click. To wipe a MacBook includes erasing all saved files on Mac's internal hard drive, deleting personalized settings, and disconnecting the MacBook from services and software to avoid conflicts.

But you may be confused about how to erase the MacBook and how to delete connections on software and services.

We will walk you through the process to erase all content and settings.

Step 1: Back up your Mac

Resetting a MacBook Pro to factory settings will force your Mac to return to the state when it leaves the manufacturing plant. All your user settings and stored files ever since you turned on the computer for the first time will be completely cleaned up. Therefore, it is strongly suggested that you make a full backup of data before you proceed to factory reset a Mac.

You need an external storage device with Mac OS Extended to back up your Mac with Time Machine. Mac's Time Machine software can back up the current operating system, apps, settings, and user files. Read to know how to set up and back up a Mac using Time Machine.

Another advantage of using Time Machine backup is that you can transfer the data to a new Mac easily with Migration Assistant afterward.

Step 2: Remove the computer from associated devices

Currently, Apple allows users to associate and authorize up to 10 Apple devices (no more than 5 computers) with the same Apple email account. On these associated devices, all purchased content including games, software, and music can be downloaded and played.

It is important to remove the associated Mac to avoid the limit of association. If you are going to factory reset MacBook Pro 2012 or older models, you should take this as a priority because the iTunes Store account can only be used up to 5 devices in macOS Mojave or older versions.

How to remove the Mac from associated devices:

1. Open Apple Music app on your Mac.

2. Go to the Apple menu bar where the Apple logo is at the top left corner and Choose Account > Authorizations > Deauthorize This Computer.

3. Enter your Apple ID email and password on the pop-up. Forgot the Apple ID password?

4. Click Deauthorize to confirm.

If this article is helpful, please share it.

Step 3: Sign out of Apple ID

Any services that your Apple email is linked to should be disconnected, especially services and apps associated with privacy such as iCloud, iMessages, and Find My.

If you don't log out, sometimes the new users somehow might have trouble logging in his or her Apple account.

You can either open each software or service to log out or remove the computer from your Apple account totally.

1. Go to the Apple ID website and log in with your email address and password to manage your Apple account.

2. Scroll down to the Device section and find the Mac computer you will reset to factory defaults.

3. Select it and click "Remove from account".

Step 4: Unpair Bluetooth devices (Optional if you will keep this Mac)

If you have any devices including keyboard, mouse, music players, speakers, and headphones paired with the MacBook Pro once, you'd better unpair them if you are going to keep those devices but send away your Mac.

Otherwise, it will be frustrating that your devices are connected to the MacBook Pro again after you pass it on to someone in the office or next door.

1. Go to Apple menu > Apple icon > System Preferences… in Apple menu > Bluetooth.

2. Click "Turn off Bluetooth" or Click the "X" button beside the paired device to remove it.

3. Click "Remove" when a dialog pops up.

Share the article to let others know how to erase a Mac in a safe and clear way.

Step 5: Reset NVRAM

NVRAM stores certain settings needed for loading macOS like screen solution, volume level, and startup disk selection. These files can get corrupted or cannot be completely erased by a Mac factory reset, so resetting NVRAM is necessary if you or the new user want a totally refreshed Mac.

To do this, click Apple lo and shut down your Mac. Then turn it on by hitting the power button and immediately press and hold the Option, Command, P, and R keys together. Release the keys after about 20 seconds.

Step 6: Erase Touch Bar data

An OLED strip called Touch Bar is equipped on some MacBook Pro models in 2016 and later (Apple removed it from MacBook Pro 2021 with M1 Pro and M1 Max chip). It restores additional data for the Touch Bar and Touch ID sensor. The data is not erased by default if you reset a MacBook Pro by formatting the hard drive and reinstalling OS.

Unless the ownership will transfer on this MacBook Pro, there is no need to erase Touch Bar data. If you want to clear out all Touch ID information and Touch Bar configuration data from Touch Bar, here is how to do it:

1. Click on the Apple icon at the top left corner of the menu bar, choose "Restart" and hold down Command + R keys immediately.

2. Release the keys until you see the Apple logo and wait for your Mac to boot into Mac Recovery Mode.

3. Click on "Utilities" at the top menu bar and select "Terminal".

4. Type in "xartutil --erase-all" and hit "Return".

5. Type "yes" to erase Touch Bar data and hit "Return" to confirm.

6. Click on "Terminal" on the top menu bar and quit.

How to restore MacBook Pro/Air to factory settings

After you have deauthorized accounts and cleaned up data that cannot be wiped by a Mac factory reset, now you can erase your Mac to reset it.

The instructions are a little different depending on the versions of macOS you are using.

How to erase your MacBook in macOS Monterey, Ventura and Sonoma

macOS Monterey and later version offer a shortcut for resetting your Mac without reinstalling macOS - This feature is "Erase All Content and Settings".

Open Apple menu > System Preferences, choose Erase All Content and Settings.

How to erase your MacBook in macOS Catalina, macOS Big Sur:

1. Press the power button to start your Mac and immediately press down Command, Option, Shift, and R keys together before your Mac chimes.

These four keys will download the version of macOS that was shipped (or the closest compatible version) with your Mac later for OS reinstallation.

2. Release the keys until you see a spinning globe and connect the Mac to the network if it isn't connected to a known network automatically.

3. Choose Disk Utility and click Continue in the macOS Utilities window.

4. Once in Disk Utility select Macintosh HD, or whatever volume you have called your Mac's hard drive, which contains your operating system.

5. Click Erase from Disk Utility's toolbar.

6. Name the volume and leave the format as APFS. Use GUID Partition Map as Scheme.

7. Click Delete Volume Group to delete Macintosh HD, Macintosh Hd Data, and any other volumes you created.

8. Click Erase to confirm.

How to erase your MacBook in macOS Mojave or earlier:

The process of formatting your Mac's startup disk is less complicated in macOS Mojave or older versions of macOS.

1. Start up your Mac in Recovery Mode as above and choose Disk Utility in the macOS Utilities window. If your MacBook is stuck in Recovery Mode, then read the full guide to fix it on Apple Report. 

2. Click on the Mac hard drive, usually labeled as Macintosh HD or Apple SSD. It is the disk name, not the volume name. This time you are going to format the entire hard disk instead of a volume.

If you can't see the startup disk in Disk Utility, click "View" on the top menu and choose "Show All Devices".

3. Click on "Erase" at the toolbar in the Disk Utility window.

4. Give the startup disk a name and reformat it.

You will see APFS or Mac OS Extended as the format and GUID Partition Map as Scheme. Leave them as they are.

You can go to the top Apple menu, click Disk Utility, and click Quit Disk Utility, but don't restart the Mac yet because you need to reinstall macOS in the macOS Utilities window.

Restoring Mac to its factory settings is easier than erasing the Mac, tell other people the tricks.

Reinstall macOS

After you have erased all content and settings, you cannot just sell, trade-in, or give away your Mac notebook with a blank hard drive. The new user might encounter a flashing Mac folder with a question mark on the screen when he or she starts up the Mac because no OS is installed for loading up.

To reinstall macOS, select Reinstall macOS in the macOS Utilities window in Recovery Mode and then follow the onscreen instructions to install a fresh copy of macOS on your Mac.

Read to know how to clean reinstall macOS from macOS Recovery mode, including clean reinstalling the original version, the current version, or the latest compatible version of macOS.

The macOS reinstallation typically will take half to an hour and your screen will show multiple process bars or other indicators. After restart, your Mac will boot to a setup assistant with a welcome screen.

If you are going to pass on the Mac to another owner after you factory reset a Mac, you can shut it down at this point. If you will keep this Mac, follow the setup assistant to set up your Mac.

Verdict

Some guides will tell you to jump in erasing and reforming your Mac immediately if you want to factory reset a Mac like a MacBook Pro or MacBook Air, but that might leave issues with your data, associated devices, and Apple email after the computer is sent away.

Therefore, for a complete factory reset without losing data, it is necessary to back up files, disconnect the Mac computer from signed-in accounts, and clear the data that won't be restored to the defaults.

This article is also helpful when you need to factory reset your iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Pro.

Do you like this article? Please help us by sharing it.

Also read:

Will Formatting My Mac Make It Faster? Here Comes Answer

[Tutorial]How to Recover Data After Factory Reset Mac

How to Factory Reset MacBook Pro/Air without Password or Apple ID?

FAQ