Software tower · floor

How to factory reset MacBook, and what survives it

Working out how to factory reset MacBook takes about four clicks. The part worth reading first is what Apple says the feature leaves behind, because it is not what the phrase suggests.

“Use the Erase All Content and Settings feature to quickly and securely erase all settings, data, and apps, while maintaining the operating system currently installed.”

That last clause is the whole difference between what a Mac does and what the phrase “factory reset” usually implies. The macOS on the machine afterwards is the macOS that was on it before — same version, same updates, not a fresh copy of whatever it shipped with. If the reason for erasing was a suspicion about the operating system itself, this is not the tool that addresses it, and Apple’s wording says so without arguing about it.

The feature is called Erase All Content and Settings, and if you have met it on an iPhone the name will be familiar — it is the same idea moved across. What opens is an erase assistant, and its job is to sign you out of things in the right order before it removes anything.

macOS Monterey 12 or later

requirement one

Below that version the button does not exist. Apple sends you to a longer procedure instead — a different one depending on what you actually want.

Apple silicon, or a T2 chip

requirement two

“Only on a Mac with Apple silicon or a Mac with the Apple T2 Security Chip.” Both conditions have to hold, not either one.

No Windows partition

the message that stops it

A message about “other volumes” needing to be erased first points at Boot Camp. Apple’s instruction is to use Boot Camp to remove Windows and its partition.

Those requirements are worth checking before you go looking for the button, because a Mac that does not meet them does not show a greyed-out version — it simply has no such option, and people conclude they are in the wrong menu. Apple’s fallback then splits into two different answers depending on what you actually wanted: one procedure “to both erase your Mac and reset it to factory settings”, and a different one “to only erase your Mac without resetting it to factory settings”. Those are not the same job and Apple does not pretend they are.

The route — macOS Ventura 13 or later

Four clicks to the button, then an assistant that asks for two different passwords.

  1. Apple menu → System Settings.
  2. General in the sidebar, then scroll down on the right.
  3. Click Transfer or Reset.
  4. Click Erase All Content and Settings.
    On macOS Monterey 12 the route is different: System Preferences, then Erase All Content and Settings from the System Preferences menu in the menu bar.

Somewhere in the middle Apple slips in the sentence that this page would put first if it were writing the instructions: “You might be asked if you want to back up your Mac with Time Machine before resetting it.” Might. The erase happens whether or not that question appears, so the backup is worth doing before you open the menu rather than hoping to be prompted inside it.

Two passwords, and they are not the same one

The assistant first wants your administrator credentials — Apple is specific: “enter the password that you use to log in to your Mac”. Later, separately, it may ask you to sign out of your Apple Account, and that is the other password. Confusing the two is the most common way to get stuck at the first screen of a process that is otherwise unremarkable.

Read the summary — it is per-account

Before anything happens “you will see a summary of all the settings, media, data, and other items that will be turned off or erased”. Where the Mac has more than one user account, the Mac User Guide says to click next to your user name to review the items. The summary defaults to showing you yours, and a shared machine has other people’s underneath it.

Your other devices are untouched

Apple states it in the same paragraph, and it is worth having in advance because signing out of iCloud mid-erase feels like it should be global: “This does not affect the settings or content on any of your other Apple devices.” It also says you can ignore any alert asking you to sign back in to keep using iCloud.

If the Mac was repaired, check first

A recent addition, and one worth knowing about: on a Mac with Apple silicon running macOS Tahoe 26 or later that “was previously repaired, or you’re not sure”, Apple says to use Repair Assistant to check for an unfinished repair before erasing.

How you know it finished, and what to do if you are selling it. “When the erase process is complete, your Mac displays “Hello” on the screen. The Mac can now be set up for a new user.” On the way there it may ask you to turn on a Bluetooth keyboard or mouse — Apple notes that if the accessory “doesn’t connect within 30 seconds, turn the accessory off and back on” — and it may ask you to pick a Wi-Fi network. If the Mac is going to somebody else, Apple’s instruction at the “Hello” screen is to leave it alone: don’t use the setup assistant, just “press and hold the power button on your Mac until it turns off”.

One question this page cannot answer for you is whether an erase is the right response to whatever is wrong. Apple describes the feature as a way to erase settings, data and apps — not as a repair. If the machine is slow, or a drive is reporting problems, those have their own answers and neither of them is reached from this menu.

And it will not tell you that erasing makes a Mac faster. Apple makes no such claim about this feature, the operating system is unchanged afterwards, and a page that promised it would be promising something nobody has measured.

The floors below cover the three things worth doing around this one: the backup that should come first, the checks worth running before you conclude an erase is needed, and the rest of the handover if the Mac is going to somebody else.

Where to start

Three ways in. If the Mac is being sold, the third one is the important one.

“Where is the button?”
Four clicks, two versions — the route
“What will I lose?”
The summary, and what it excludes — what goes and stays
“I am selling this Mac.”
Stop at the Hello screen — handing it on

The route

Four clicks in Ventura, a different path in Monterey, and nothing at all below that. Plus the two hardware conditions that decide whether the option exists.

Restarting a MacBookOne menu item and one checkbox — and the power button does two other things entirely.Open this floor → Backing up a MacBookApple lists four ways and puts them in an order — and only one recovers a deleted file.Open this floor → Factory resetting Windows 11Two options that sound alike and remove very different amounts.Open this floor → Force quitting on a MacThree routes, and the one that works when the screen has stopped responding.Open this floor →

What goes and what stays

Settings, data and apps go. The operating system stays, at the version it was on. And your other Apple devices are explicitly out of scope.

Checking a drive’s healthThe command every guide names has been deprecated — and Microsoft names the replacement.Open this floor → Clearing a cache on a MacTwo separate commands — and one of them also forgets which sites asked for your location.Open this floor → Deleting apps on a MacTwo different routes, and the one that leaves things behind.Open this floor →

Handing it on

The erase signs you out and turns off Activation Lock. What is left is knowing when to stop — and Apple says to stop at the word Hello.

Turning off Find My iPhoneWhat Activation Lock actually locks, and why the order of steps matters.Open this floor → Recovering deleted filesWhere a deleted file actually goes, and how long the window stays open.Open this floor → Backing up your computerWhat to copy, where to, and how to find out whether it worked before you need it.Open this floor →

What this tower will not do

It will not tell you an erase speeds up a Mac. Apple does not claim it, the operating system is the same one afterwards, and nobody here has measured it.

It will not walk you through erasing a Mac that cannot use this feature. Apple publishes two different procedures for that case depending on what you want to end up with, and sending you down the wrong one would cost more than sending you to read them.

And it will not recommend third-party erasing software. The feature described here is built in, documented, and free. What holds instead is simple: the description of Erase All Content and Settings as erasing settings, data and apps while maintaining the operating system currently installed, the routes through System Settings on macOS Ventura 13 or later and through System Preferences on macOS Monterey 12, the requirement of macOS Monterey 12 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon or the Apple T2 Security Chip, the two different fallback procedures, the Boot Camp message about other volumes, the instruction to enter the password used to log in to the Mac, the possible Time Machine prompt, the summary of items and the per-account review, the statement that other Apple devices are unaffected, the Repair Assistant check on macOS Tahoe 26 or later, the thirty-second Bluetooth note, the “Hello” screen and the instruction to hold the power button when leaving the Mac in an out-of-box state are quoted from Apple’s documentation listed below.

Where this page got its facts

  1. Apple, Erase your Mac and reset it to factory settings — Apple Support, published 13 May 2026 (that Erase All Content and Settings erases all settings, data and apps while maintaining the operating system currently installed; the Repair Assistant check for a previously repaired Mac with Apple silicon on macOS Tahoe 26 or later; the macOS Ventura 13 or later route through System Settings, General, Transfer or Reset; the macOS Monterey 12 route through System Preferences; the instruction to enter the password used to log in to the Mac when the erase assistant asks for administrator credentials; the possible prompt to back up with Time Machine; the summary of settings, media, data and other items to be turned off or erased and the statement that this does not affect the settings or content on any other Apple devices; that any alert asking to sign back in to iCloud can be ignored; the Bluetooth accessory note about thirty seconds; the Wi-Fi network prompt; the instruction not to use the setup assistant and to press and hold the power button when leaving the Mac in an out-of-box state; the availability requirement of macOS Monterey 12 or later on a Mac with Apple silicon or the Apple T2 Security Chip; the two separate fallback procedures for erasing with and without resetting to factory settings; and the message about other volumes pointing to a Boot Camp Windows partition) — support.apple.com, read 22 August 2026.
  2. Apple, Erase your Mac — Mac User Guide (the steps through System Settings, General and Transfer or Reset; entering administrator information in Erase Assistant and clicking Unlock; reviewing the list of items to be removed and, on a Mac with multiple user accounts, clicking next to the user name to review them; and that when the erase process is complete the Mac displays “Hello” and can be set up for a new user) — support.apple.com, read 22 August 2026.

Written by Alberto Gulotta

Founder and editor of AI Tools Primer, writing from Palermo, Italy. Thirty-five years of taking computers apart, starting with a Commodore 64 — the long version is on the about page.

Something wrong on this page? Write to aitoolsprimer@gmail.com and it gets fixed.

Written on 22 August 2026.

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