How do I factory reset / erase all an M1 mba?

[SuperMikey]

Hi,
I’ve seen a few posts about issues reformatting the M1’s.

I was wondering if anyone could let me know what the least risky/simplest way would be to get one of these back to as close to an out of the box state as possible (for returning to a non-Apple store, not unhappy with it at all, just had 2 different specs to test my work load).

Thank you.

 

[0128672]

Here are the steps from Apple to reset your Mac with some Apple Silicon additions:

Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support

How to erase (format) the built-in startup disk of an Intel-based Mac.

support.apple.com

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

Reset your Mac to factory settings to prepare it for a new owner.

support.apple.com

 

[aajeevlin]

Here are the steps from Apple to reset your Mac with some Apple Silicon additions:

Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support

How to erase (format) the built-in startup disk of an Intel-based Mac.

support.apple.com

What to do before you sell, give away, trade in, or recycle your Mac - Apple Support

Reset your Mac to factory settings to prepare it for a new owner.

support.apple.com

Thanks this will be useful down the road.

 

[kougra6541]

I had to go the apple configurator 2 route and restore from DFU mode. There’s an article on these forums somewhere sorry I don’t have the link to it right now!

 

[AustinIllini]

Boot into disk utility (hold command R on reboot until the apple logo shows up)

 

[Diversion]

Did Apple fix the online download for M1 macs? I formatted and it wouldn't work.. had to use the Restore function from Apple Configurator 2 (another Mac is required).

Not sure how this was released with a broken online-recovery in the first place, how does this go untested from such a massive company?

 

[walterpaisley]

@AustinIllini FYI booting into recovery or safe mode on the m1 macs is totally different - you hold down the power button at startup until you see the boot options screen appear.

 

[kougra6541]

Did Apple fix the online download for M1 macs? I formatted and it wouldn't work.. had to use the Restore function from Apple Configurator 2 (another Mac is required).

Not sure how this was released with a broken online-recovery in the first place, how does this go untested from such a massive company?

That’s the route I had to take too. And the best part was the apple techs trying to help me before that didn’t know that was a problem and told me to wipe the SSD through disk utility.

I asked them “isn’t that what’s bricking the current Macs right now?” And they just kept ignoring it. Then told me to come in for service once I said it couldn’t be reinstalled ??‍♀️

looked up the configurator 2 instructions myself and got it back up and running!

 

[Serban55]

Boot into disk utility (hold command R on reboot until the apple logo shows up)

no more combo for the M1 macs...just press and hold the power button to Boot into disk utility

 

[AustinIllini]

no more combo for the M1 macs...just press and hold the power button to Boot into disk utility

Oops, that's right. I just blew through the "M1" descriptor

 

[kp98077]

is there an easy way to erase the M1 if you are returning or selling it? such as the citrl R method on the intel?

 

[SuperMikey]

Not sure if this helps you - but for various reasons I've returned 2 now.

The first came with OSX 11.0.0, and was a little scary to reformat - I updated to 11.0.1 and followed the instructions towards the end of the thread here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...te.2269226/page-5?post=29317709#post-29317709 I found them really useful and worked for me.

The second came with OSX 11.0.1 pre-installed, and the experience was very different (in a positive way). The below might seem wordy, but it was really much simpler than my previous experience.

* I unlinked all my iCloud items from my Account.
* Shutdown. Then held the power button until the Loading Options screen appeared.
* I forget the exact wording, but selected the continue to options from here.
This then gave me a different screen to the one I'd seen before (rather than 4 options, there was just one, I was expecting to launch Disk Util - but the option wasn't here!)
* From the menu bar at the top, I selected, I think it was 'Reformat' (yes, I should have made notes...) - there was only 1 option however.
* This then gave me a helpful screen telling me I can Erase and re-install if something has gone wrong or similar, with a single 'Erase' button.
* I pressed the Erase button - it wiped the drives and then rebooted and then when done, took me to a screen to re-install OSX.
* At this point I needed to re-add my wifi connection, and OSX installed.

Done! Took about an hour and a half, with most of that the Mac just sat there downloading and installing OSX.
Apologies if any of these steps are a little off - they're all from memory.

 

[acidfast7_redux]

Not sure if this helps you - but for various reasons I've returned 2 now.

The first came with OSX 11.0.0, and was a little scary to reformat - I updated to 11.0.1 and followed the instructions towards the end of the thread here: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...te.2269226/page-5?post=29317709#post-29317709 I found them really useful and worked for me.

The second came with OSX 11.0.1 pre-installed, and the experience was very different (in a positive way). The below might seem wordy, but it was really much simpler than my previous experience.

* I unlinked all my iCloud items from my Account.
* Shutdown. Then held the power button until the Loading Options screen appeared.
* I forget the exact wording, but selected the continue to options from here.
This then gave me a different screen to the one I'd seen before (rather than 4 options, there was just one, I was expecting to launch Disk Util - but the option wasn't here!)
* From the menu bar at the top, I selected, I think it was 'Reformat' (yes, I should have made notes...) - there was only 1 option however.
* This then gave me a helpful screen telling me I can Erase and re-install if something has gone wrong or similar, with a single 'Erase' button.
* I pressed the Erase button - it wiped the drives and then rebooted and then when done, took me to a screen to re-install OSX.
* At this point I needed to re-add my wifi connection, and OSX installed.

Done! Took about an hour and a half, with most of that the Mac just sat there downloading and installing OSX.
Apologies if any of these steps are a little off - they're all from memory.

Nice informative post.