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Hieveryone

macrumors 603
Original poster
Apr 11, 2014
5,632
2,347
USA
I want my MacBook Pro to be like I just unboxed it. I have an external drive to save my most important files. How do I start over?
 
1. Save the files that you want to save to an external drive.

2. Reboot into internet recovery:
Command-OPTION-R
(it will take a while and you'll need your wifi password)

3. Open Disk Utility. Go to the View menu and select "show all devices".

4. Select the topmost line on the left. This represents the physical drive inside.

5. Click on "erase". Choose APFS with GUID partition format.

6. Once the drive is erased, quit Disk Utility and open the OS installer.

7. Install a new copy of the OS. This may involve one or more reboots, and several "progress bars" displayed onscreen. It will take a while.

8. When done, you should see the initial setup screen ("choose your language").

9. If you are selling the MBP, at this point I would PRESS AND HOLD DOWN the power button (does it have one?) until the display goes black and the computer shuts down. It's now ready to be sold or given to someone else. When THEY open the lid, the MBP should boot right to the setup screen, as if it were new...
 
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