How to reset your MacBook to factory settings. How to reset NVRAM and PRAM memory settings, as well as SMC controller parameters

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We received the following question:

Hello.
The other day I was thinking about replacing my Macbook Pro 2011 with a Macbook Air 13.
In principle, I like everything, but that’s the question.
How to prepare a laptop for sale, in particular, the question is this.
After all, MAC OS is installed on my APPLE ID, but I will not sell with my ID.
So what happens, how to prepare the system? delete it?
Thank you in advance

Hello!

Of course, you need to sell your MacBook cleaned of all information and re-install it. installed system, this is in the interests of both the seller and the buyer. But reinstalling the system for many Mac users looks like some kind of super-complicated operation, although in fact everything is very simple. There are many incorrect rumors circulating around the system that appeared several years ago. automatic recovery systems via the Internet. For some reason, it is generally accepted that the system is tied to the Apple ID, and it will no longer be possible to download it from another account. This is completely false.

The free copy of Mac OS X available to any Mac owner is tied to a hardware hardware identifier, which, of course, does not change from one owner to another. Therefore, both you and the future buyer will always have the opportunity to restore the system via the Internet, regardless of Apple ID.

Preparing your MacBook for sale comes down to several steps:

• First of all, make sure that there is no valuable information left on your Mac, in otherwise it will no longer be possible to save her (only through Time Machine)
• restart your computer. As soon as the screen goes dark, press and hold Cmd+R on your keyboard until you see the apple logo with a spinning daisy at the bottom
• Instead of regular Mac OS X, the recovery partition shell will load:

• launch Disk Utility from the menu that appears
• on the left, select the partition with OS X (usually called Macintosh HD), on the right, go to the “Erase” tab and click the button of the same name on it
• At the end of the process, your Mac will be almost completely clean. “Almost” - because the recovery partition from which you booted will remain untouched
• close Disk Utility. You will be taken back to the menu for selecting recovery utilities
• select "Reinstall OS X"
• The Mac will prompt you to connect to the Internet (if it can't do it itself) and check the hardware ID against a database on Apple servers
• then the downloading, unpacking and installation of the system will begin

At the end of the process, your Mac will look exactly the same as it did when you first turned it on after purchasing it in the store. There will be no traces of your Apple ID left on it.

But there are two more important things:

• Each Mac also comes with a free copy of the iLife package (iPhoto, iMovie, GarageBand). Unlike the system itself, these applications are tied to the Apple ID of the computer with which you first logged into the Mac App Store. You won’t be able to transfer them to another account later, so the next buyer won’t get them
• Do not repeat the most popular mistake when reinstalling the system. Many people forget to deauthorize their computer from the iTunes Store. You can download content from the iTunes Store and App Store to a maximum of five computers linked to one iTunes Store account. If you sell a Mac that is not disconnected from your account, you will lose one of the five slots. Of course, you can reset all occupied slots once, but you can do this once a year (). To deauthorize your computer, launch iTunes, select “Store-Deauthorize this computer” in the top menu and enter your username and password for your iTunes Store and App Store account.

As you can see, preparing a MacBook for sale is a task that requires minimal intervention on your part.

To use your Macbook 100%, you need to be able to perform various operations. The most important of them are returning data from backup, restoring password characters, returning to original settings. The last operation is discussed in detail below, but the others are also mentioned. All procedures are easily performed using “native” tools. In difficult situations, an installation disk is required.

If the device on Mac OS functions with errors or the owner is preparing it for sale, you will need to perform a reset procedure. Before you begin, you should create a backup, since all information will be irretrievably erased during the operation. To do this, it is recommended to use Time Machine software. Copy storage location – external HDD. It should be formatted in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

After execution preparatory stages, the algorithm of actions will be as follows:

• Open the list of software and launch Time Machine.
• Click on the disk selection section.
• We indicate the external source where the backup will be saved and click on “Use.” disk".
• The backup generation function will offer to erase the data present on the external drive. You must agree to this operation, otherwise creating a copy will not be possible.
• If you need to include not all elements in the backup, proceed to the parameters section. There, using the “plus” button, we add to the list data that will not be included in the backup.
• Once you've finished adjusting the values, the Time Machine slider will turn on. A complete backup operation will take a long time. After completing the procedure, you can return the original settings to the device. To this end, we move on to the next stage.
• Reboot the MacBook by pressing Command and R.
• Expand the utilities section and launch the disk drive.
• On the left side of the panel, select the boot disk and go to the erase section.
• Specify the format “Mac OS Extended” and click on the erase button.

After completing the procedure of formatting the disk and resetting the values ​​to the original values, exit the disk utility. We reinstall the operating system again, following the advice in the corresponding utility window.

Method for restoring data from backup

To get back all the information lost during the data reset process, you need to make a backup. The steps to create a copy are:

• Connecting external storage with a copy from the MacBook.
• Place the installation disk in the device. When the system starts, press the “C” element to enter the installer section. We select the language.
• Open the utilities section and start the system restore operation from backup.
• Click on the continuation element in the pop-up window.
• Select the drive where the backup is saved .
• Specify the date of the final backup .
• Select the disk where we will restore the data.

After finishing calculating the time for this operation, click on the restore button. A warning will pop up about cleaning up the disk you are working with. Click the continue button and recovery mode will start. Upon completion of the operation, reboot the device. During the startup process, the system will be displayed as it was on the date the copy was created. All edits made after the operation will be cancelled.

Steps to recover password characters

You can reset your forgotten password using one of 3 methods:

• Using the installation disc.
• By ID number.
• Using the terminal in recovery mode.

If you have an installation disk for the Mac OS X operating system, it won’t take hours to reset the password characters, just a few minutes will be enough:

• Place the disc in the drive and reboot the device.
• When you hear startup sounds, press the “C” item. Hold until a spinning gear appears.
• Select the language and press the continuation element.
• In the OS installation menu, select the utility software section and launch the password reset mechanism.

The wizard will reset the current key that you forgot and configure new symbols. This method is the easiest. But if you don’t have a disk with the operating room, nothing will work. In such a situation, try to enter the wrong password characters three times, an installation window will pop up via ID number.

However, there is a requirement here too. The option to recover password characters using ID must be active in the MacBook settings. If this is not the case, you should resort to the following method, which works on all variations of the operating system and always works 100%:

• Reboot your device. To do this, press the Command+R elements at the same time until the loading indication appears.
• Select Russian as the main language. The system will boot into recovery mode.
• Open the utilities section at the top and launch the operating system.
• Type “resetpassword” and click Enter.
• Check the section where the user account is located.
• Select an account and enter the new password characters twice.
• Click on the consent element to confirm the data reset.

After discarding the symbols, restart the operating system. At startup, a warning will pop up about the impossibility of unlocking the keychain to log in. Click on the new login element and enter the characters of the password specified after resetting the previous key.

That's all the instructions on how to return your MacBook to factory settings, how to backup and restore the system. All these operations will not be difficult to perform on any model of an Apple laptop - Air or MacBook Pro. They are necessary when various kinds of problems or errors arise. Every device owner should know how to reset to the original settings, because if the device is sold (or when you need to restore it), this is simply necessary. But before returning to factory settings, you will need a backup copy, because all data will inevitably be erased. The copying process is also very simple. The easiest way to do this is to use iCloud.

Do you feel like you need to start over? clean slate? Know that you can restore your Mac to factory settings at any time. This means that all your activity will be erased, and the device will look like it came out of the box (with the possible exception of a couple of scratches). This is a simple procedure that does not take much time, and we will tell you how to do it safely and effectively.

Often, deleting all data becomes a cause of anxiety and even hysterics, but there are cases when it cannot be avoided. For example, if you decide to sell your computer. Part of this involves deleting the device from iTunes and cutting off all connections to the cloud. But another important aspect is restoring factory settings.

First, make sure your Mac is connected to the Internet. The process of formatting the drive is quite simple, but you will need to access the factory settings when everything is finished. It's also a good idea to connect your MacBook to a network to avoid draining the battery.

Now go to the Apple menu (the one with the Apple logo) and select Restart. Wait until the computer turns off and starts up again, then when the gray restart screen appears, hold down the Command key and the R key.

This will take you to OS X utilities, where you can make important and potentially dangerous changes. Select Disk Utility. Now the process will begin to differ slightly depending on the version of OS X. Here you need to find the desired drives, select them and go to the Erase tab. Next, in the format options, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and click Erase again. Once the procedure is complete, go to the Disk Utility menu and select Quit.

Now you've deleted all your data, but that's only half the way. When you exit the Disk Utility menu, you will see an option to Reinstall your current OS X. Select this option and confirm that you really want to continue. You may have to go through several confirmations before the installation is ready to begin.

This is where you need an Internet connection. Apple stores all factory data on its servers, so your Mac can find the original version operating system and load all its settings.

Note: This online solution only works for newOS X versions starting from like Lion, Mountain Lion. If you are running Snow Leopard or an earlier version of OS X, you will need the original installation disk, supplied with the computer.

It's obvious that full reset This is a serious step and you need to make sure that no important data is lost. Backing up your computer is a necessary part of the procedure and it is highly recommended to start with it. Here are some ways you can save your data.

• Use Time Machine if possible. The program will allow you to save settings and data on an external drive. You can then put a "snapshot" of your Mac, including all the information, into a Time Capsule and move them to another system.
• You may need to reinstall Apple apps on your new computer. Visit the Mac App Store and you will see an option to reinstall all apps.
• If you already have a second computer, you can use Migration Assistant to simply move your data using fast cloning disk.
• Cloud backup may help a little, but its volume is unlikely to be enough for all the information on the computer system, so in such procedures it is better to use physical methods copying.

Sometimes situations occur on Mac computers when some kind of failure occurs and the MacBook or iMac, or the peripherals connected to it, do not work properly. In such cases, the first thing you need to do is reset the NVRAM and PRAM settings, as well as the parameters of the SMC system management controller. Often, possible problem will disappear immediately after reset.

Resetting NVRAM and PRAM

If you have problems with the operation of the system or devices connected to your Mac, then one way to solve the problem is to reset the computer's memory (NVRAM and PRAM), which is stored on the hard drive and is not erased when turned off. This memory stores settings such as boot disk data, virtual memory, monitor and speaker settings, system fonts and other settings. To reset NVRAM and PRAM:

Step 1 Turn off and on again Mac computer

Step 2 Press and hold the ⌥Option(Alt) + ⌘Cmd + P + R keys on your keyboard

Step 3 After some time, the image on the computer screen will go dark and you may think that the Mac has restarted

• For Mac models released before mid-2016: You'll hear the startup sound again, and then you can release the keys
• For Mac computer models released since late 2016, the keys can be released after a few seconds after rebooting

Note! If your Mac has a firmware password set, using hotkeys will not reset and your computer may start in macOS recovery mode. To reset NVRAM memory settings, you will need to first remove the firmware password

After booting your Mac, configure the reset settings: sound volume, screen resolution, boot disk If you have multiple systems or drives installed, you may also have to reset your time zone.

Resetting the SMC Controller

If you notice problems related to computer power, entering and exiting sleep mode, battery charging and temperature of the MacBook or other problems related to power, as well as the operation of the light sensor and keyboard backlight, then in this case the solution is to reset the parameters and settings of the controller SMC.

MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro

Step 1 Turn off your laptop and plug it in using a MagSafe or USB-C power adapter

Step 2 Hold down the ⇧Shift + ⌃Ctrl + ⌥Option(Alt) keys and, without releasing them, press the power button

Step 3 Release the keys and press the Power button again to turn on the laptop

iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro

Step 1 Turn off your Mac and unplug the power cord

Step 2 Wait 15 seconds and plug the power cable back in

Step 3 Wait 5 seconds and then press the Power button to turn on the computer

As annoying as it may be, sometimes there are times when you just need to completely reset your computer and clean it up. Personally, I do this periodically, and I'm willing to bet that you have to do it too. The good news is that backing up and restoring a MacBook isn't that hard to do, but not everyone knows how to do it. Well, as you probably already guessed, today we will tell you how to reset and restore Apple MacBook.

Backup MacBook

So, before wiping your device, it's a good idea to back up your MacBook. Frankly, even if you don't intend to completely erase files from your computer, it's a good idea to back up your laptop data on a regular basis.

The best way to back up your data is to an external hard drive using Time Machine. First of all, I would recommend using a hard drive with USB interface 3.0 or compatible Thunderbolt unit. The memory capacity should be at least twice the hard drive space of your MacBook laptop.

If you have a hard drive, then connect it to your MacBook and go to the “Disk Utility” section. The easiest way to do this is to press the combination Ctrl keys+ Space, in the window that appears, enter Disk Utility and press Enter. Here you will have to format your hard drive in order to use it with Time Machine.

Formatting a disk is a very simple process: just click on external drive in Disk Utility and go to the Delete tab. After these manipulations, a window will pop up in which you need to enter a new name for your disk, and then click Erase to format the disk. If you wish, you can split the disk into several partitions; to do this, use the Partition button. Breaking process hard drive is also simple, you just need to specify the size of each partition.

The next step is to launch Time Machine itself. To do this, in the upper left corner and click the System Preferences button, and then click the Time Machine button, then click the Select disk button and point to the external hard drive or if you have partitioned the disk, select the desired partition. Move the slider to the “ON” position and Time Machine will begin backing up your MacBook data.

You should know this:

Data recovery on Apple MacBook

There are times when you need to restore the system on your MacBook, say roll back a few days ago or for some other reason completely restore the system. First, in order to roll back the system, the Time Machine settings must have the option for backups checked, and the Apple MacBook must be working fine.

Once you are sure of this, click on the icon in the menu bar and press “Enter Time Machine”, where all the backups will be presented. Restoring a backup is very simple, you just need to select the day for which you want to restore.

If your Apple MacBook is new or has been repaired, then you will have the option to restore your MacBook from a Time Machine backup when setting up your computer for the first time. Just plug in your external hard drive and choose what you want to do, that's it! Apple did great job with backup, I personally did not have any problems restoring my MacBook after repair.

Reset MacBook

Here you will need to do a few things simple steps before you reset your Apple MacBook to factory settings. The first thing to do is back up your data!

Then turn off your computer, press the power button and hold Ctrl+R. The laptop will boot into Mac recovery OSX.

Here, click on the "Disk Utility" button, select your startup disk and click on the "Delete" button to format it. Make sure that "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)" is selected, and then click the "Uninstall" button.

We continue, now your main partition contains nothing, not even the operating system.

To reinstall OS X, you need to exit Disk Utility (CMD+Q), and then click "Reinstall OS X" in the main recovery window.

Results

Apple has made backup, restore and reset much easier MacBook settings. There are all sorts of troubles in life, but you can rest easy knowing that your data is safe. Now, it's easier than reinstalling Windows on your computer. Do you use backup copy Time Machine? If not, then you should start using it immediately!