There was a time when figuring out how to wipe and restore a Mac device back to its factory settings was a long and complicated process. However, with the updates brought on by the new macOS software, restoring your device back to its original setup has never been easier. After all, if you find yourself experience a number of software issues, and nothing seems to work to solve them, then you can easily perform a reset to eliminate any hidden issues or gremlins that may be causing you a heap of stress.

However, do make sure that you have tried alternative options before resorting to this. In some cases, even if you can’t find a fix to the problem, you can always find a temporary fix. For instance, if your Mac screen is giving you issues and you need to work, you can always use a usb c to dual hdmi to connect it to an external monitor.

You also have to keep in mind that performing a factory reset involves erasing everything on your Mac, so if you have any important files or data, then we suggest transferring your files to an external storage device like an SD Card, for example. In this respect, since Macs no longer have SD Card ports, you can always use an sd card adapter for mac to facilitate the transfer.

#1. Erase Your Data

As we stated, once you make the decision to erase your data, there will be np way to recover it, so make sure you data is well-backed up first. After that you need to enter Recovery mode, which will enable you to wipe the Mac. You can do this by restarting your device and holding down the Command and R keys, until you see the Apple logo.

Once you're in macOS Recovery, you will need to open Disk Utility from the options on the screen and then click the Macintosh HD drive under the heading Internal. From there, you can select Erase. A dialog box will appear on the screen, and you can the set the format to APFS or Mac OS Extended. If you have connected any external hard drives, they would also show up on that list of drives under External, but since you aren’t erasing those you can leave them be, However, its best to unplug any devices you have connected to your Mac and those also includes any usb-c hub adapter you may use.

#2: Reinstall macOS

Once you are back to the main window of the macOS Recovery, you can now begin the process of reinstalling a fresh copy of macOS on the device. This is a necessary step because when you erased your Mac, the macOS system was also deleted in the process. For this step, you also need to ensure that your Mac is plugged into a power source, as you do not want the download process to be interrupted midway. You'll also need to connect to a Wi-Fi network, once done, you can click on Reinstall macOS, which will prompt a set of on-screen instructions to complete the reinstallation. The instructions are also usually relatively easy to follows so you won’t need to do much. The macOS software will automatically download the latest version from the web and install it on the device. However, it may take some time to complete so you can leave it for a while and come back to continue the rest of the process later.

#3. Set Up macOS

Once the download process is complete, you can decide to set up the device. However, if you are planning on selling it then you can always let the new owner do that by themselves. If you are planning on using the Mac, then you can allow the instructions that will be provided by the Setup Assistant. The process will be exactly the same as when you first bought the device, so it should feel pretty familiar.

It will naturally ask you to select your country and region, and you can then sign in to your Apple ID. You will also need to select some basic settings for the device, and ensure that it is connected to Wi-Fi network. Once this setup process is complete, that’s it, you will have a fresh Mac like it is completely brand new.

This means that if you happen to b=having struggling with a number of system issues then you can be sure that whatever was coasting it, even if it was a virus, was completely erased and all settings that may have been erroneous have been reverted back to standard. So, you can continue using your Mac or sell it as though it is new, the choice is yours!