Factory reset MacBook Pro: Your Step-by-Step Guide

Factory reset MacBook Pro without password Do you remember your password? Just restart and hold down “Command” and “R” while it boots up. Then, choose the “Erase All Content and Settings” option. It’s like saying “bye-bye!” to everything with one click.

Here is how you can factory reset a MacBook Pro without requiring an Apple ID or password:

Turn off your MacBook Pro completely.
Restart your MacBook Pro and immediately press and hold the Command (⌘) + R keys. Keep holding them until you see the Apple logo or boot options on your screen.
After a few moments, you should enter macOS Utilities or Recovery Mode. Select “Disk Utility” then continue.
Select your main internal hard drive volume from the left-side list. It is typically named “Macintosh HD.”.
Click the “Erase” button.
Give the hard drive volume a name (Macintosh HD is fine). Set the format to APFS or Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click “Erase” to confirm.
Quit Disk Utility when done erasing the drive.
Select “Reinstall macOS” from the main Utilities window. Follow the prompts to reinstall the Mac operating system, without needing to enter Apple ID details or other account info.

Here are some additional tips for resetting a MacBook Pro to factory settings without a password:

Factory reset MacBook Pro Use Target Disk Mode

You can also factory reset by starting up your MacBook Pro in Target Disk Mode and connecting it to another Mac. To do this:

Power off the MacBook Pro you want to erase
Hold down the T key as you power it back on
Use a Thunderbolt or FireWire cable to connect the MacBook Pro to another Mac
On the connected Mac, open Disk Utility and select the MacBook Pro drive
Erase the drive using the steps above

Erase from the Finder

If you’re able to login to your Mac, you can also erase from the Finder:

Click the Apple menu and select “Restart…”
Immediately press and hold Command + R until the utilities window appears
Select Disk Utility and erase the drive as explained above
Quit Disk Utility, return to the main menu and select “Restart”

Use Terminal to Erase

You can also use Terminal to erase the disk if you can get shell access:

Type diskutil list to get disk identifiers
Run diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ "Macintosh HD" diskX (replace X with disk ID)
Type reboot to restart when complete

Erase Using Single User Mode

You can boot into single user mode to gain root access without needing the login password:

Restart your MacBook Pro and immediately press and hold Command + S
Wait for white text on a black background to appear
Type /sbin/mount -uw / to mount the filesystem as writeable
Run rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone to delete the setup marker file
Enter reboot to restart
This will launch Setup Assistant, allowing you to erase and reinstall macOS

Factory reset MacBook Pro Wipe the Drive Using Diskpart

If you boot to Windows or another OS, you can use diskpart to fully wipe the drive:

Boot to Windows or an OS with diskpart
Open a diskpart prompt
Enter list disk to show disks
Select the MacBook Pro disk with select disk X
Clean it by running clean
You can then install macOS fresh from recovery mode

Internet Recovery

You can also erase and reinstall over the internet:

Boot to recovery mode (Command + R at startup)
Connect to WiFi if prompted
Go to Disk Utility and erase the drive
Quit Disk Utility and reinstall macOS over the internet

Use a Bootable macOS USB Installer

Create a bootable USB installer for the version of macOS your Mac came with
Boot from the USB drive by holding Option at startup and selecting the drive
Open Disk Utility from the Utilities menu and erase your Mac’s internal drive
Quit Disk Utility and reinstall macOS fresh from the USB installer

Remove the SSD and Connect Externally

Power off your MacBook Pro and remove the SSD
Connect the SSD externally to another Mac using a USB enclosure or adapter
On the second Mac, open Disk Utility and select the external SSD
Click Erase to reformat the drive, then reinstall it into your MacBook Pro
Boot to recovery mode and reinstall macOS

Erase NVRAM to Reset Settings

Shut down your MacBook Pro
Power it back on and immediately press Command + Option + P + R
Hold the keys down until you hear the startup chime a second time
This resets NVRAM/PRAM to default settings prior to macOS installation

Use target disk mode with Another Mac

Start up your MacBook Pro, quickly holding T at boot
Use a Thunderbolt cable to connect your MacBook Pro to another Mac
The other Mac will mount your MacBook Pro drive as an external
Use Disk Utility on the second Mac to erase your MacBook Pro’s drive
Disconnect the target disk mode cable and restart

Detailed steps for completely resetting a MacBook Pro to factory default settings without needing an Apple ID, password, or using the built-in recovery options:

Create a Bootable macOS Installer Drive

On another Mac, download the macOS installer for the version that came with your MacBook Pro from the App Store
Connect a 16GB or larger USB thumb drive
Launch Disk Utility and erase the thumb drive, formatting it as “Mac OS Extended”
Quit Disk Utility and launch the Terminal app
Type sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ [version].app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/[drive name] replacing in brackets with the correct macOS installer name and USB drive name
Allow the installer to run—this will create a bootable install drive

Boot to the Install Drive and Wipe the Internal SSD

Connect the bootable install drive and turn on your MacBook Pro, immediately holding the Option key
Select the install drive from the boot manager
Once booted to the drive, launch Disk Utility
Click “View” and “Show All Devices”
Select the top-level internal SSD disk
Click Erase in the toolbar and choose a name and format
Quit Disk Utility once the SSD is erased

Factory reset MacBook Pro Reinstall macOS Clean

From the Utilities menu, select Reinstall macOS
Follow the prompts to reinstall macOS and setup a new account
The system will be reset to factory default settings

This process allows you to completely wipe, reset, and reinstall macOS without needing the password, recovery partition, internet access, or any other authentication. Let me know if any part needs more clarification!Copy

Here are some additional advanced tips for resetting the factory-reset MacBook Pro default settings without a password:

Boot to macOS Internet Recovery

Internet Recovery allows you to erase and reinstall macOS over the internet, without needing local recovery partitions or boot drives.

Turn on your Mac and immediately hold down Option-Command-R
This will boot directly to Apple’s servers into a limited recovery mode
Connect to wifi if prompted
Use Disk Utility to fully erase the drive
Quit Disk Utility and select Reinstall macOS to download and clean install the OS

Remove and Reset SMC and NVRAM

The System Management Controller (SMC) can cache old data and settings. Resetting it can resolve issues.

Shut down your MacBook Pro
Press left shift-control-option on the left side of keyboard and power button at the same time
Let go after 10 seconds and restart normally

You can reset NVRAM similarly:

Shut down MacBook Pro
Hold down option-command-P-R during boot up
Keep holding through the 2nd boot chime

Securely Wipe Data

To fully delete data before erasing the drive:

Boot to Single User Mode (Command-S at startup)
Run diskutil secureErase freespace LEVEL: 1 /
Choose LEVEL: 0 for fast or LEVEL: 4 for most secure (takes longer)

Use a Custom RAM Disk to Wipe the Drive

Boot to Single User Mode (Command-S at startup)
Type hdid -nomount ram://[size] to create a RAM disk for temporary storage (e.g. hdid -nomount ram://8192)
Run newfs_hfs /dev/rdiskX to format RAM disk as HFS+
Mount RAM disk using sdisk /dev/rdiskX
Use dd command to copy zeros over entire system drive to wipe contents (e.g. dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/rdiskY bs=1m)
Reboot to internet recovery after drive wiped to reinstall OS

Remove the drive and connect to another Mac

Fully shut down and disconnect battery
Remove SSD from MacBook Pro
Connect SSD externally to another Mac using SATA adapter
Use Disk Utility on second Mac to securely erase SSD
Reinstall wiped drive into original MacBook Pro
Boot to internet recovery to reinstall macOS

Boot to Linux Live USB and Use DD

Create bootable Linux USB drive
Boot MacBook Pro from USB drive
Use Linux dd command to overwrite system drive with zeros
You can also use shred tool for multiple-pass overwrite
Reboot afterwards into Recovery HD to reinstall macOS

Here are some additional methods for resetting a MacBook Pro to factory default settings without a password, with titles and focus keywords:

Complete Guide to Erasing your MacBook Pro Without Passwords

Follow this complete step-by-step guide to fully erase and reset your MacBook Pro when you no longer have the password or recovery options.

Using Target Disk Mode to Reset a MacBook Pro

Utilize Target Disk Mode and another Mac to easily erase and reset your MacBook Pro to default factory settings.

Bootable USB Method to Wipe a MacBook Pro System Drive

Learn how to leverage a bootable USB drive to bypass passwords and recovery partitions to fully erase your MacBook Pro.

External SSD Technique for Resetting Forgotten Passwords

By removing the SSD from a locked-out MacBook Pro and connecting it externally to another Mac, you can format and reset the drive, allowing you to set up the laptop like new again.

Linux Live Boot Option for Securely Erasing a MacBook Pro

Boot your MacBook Pro into a Linux environment from USB to gain access powerful SSD erasure tools for properly wiping all data.

Factory reset MacBook Pro: Your Step-by-Step Guide to a Clean Machine