Will factory reset remove Sonoma beta and return Ventura?

[yellowhelicopter]

I want to factory reset my Mac but I want to remain with Sonoma. I'm afraid that after I do factory reset the system will download and install the last stable release, i.e. Ventura, is it so or not?

 

[chrfr]

I want to factory reset my Mac but I want to remain with Sonoma. I'm afraid that after I do factory reset the system will download and install the last stable release, i.e. Ventura, is it so or not?

It depends what you mean by “factory reset” and what Mac you’re using. If it’s an Apple Silicon Mac or a Mac with a T2 chip, using the “erase all content and settings” option will only revert back to a clean install of whatever OS you’re using now, which in this case, is Sonoma.
If it’s an Intel Mac and you use internet recovery you can restore to an older version of macOS easily. If it’s an Apple Silicon Mac, the fastest thing to do is to put the Mac into DFU mode and use another Mac in conjunction with Apple Configurator to revert macOS and the computer’s firmware back to a release version. Apple has several documents on this process.

 

[yellowhelicopter]

It depends what you mean by “factory reset” and what Mac you’re using. If it’s an Apple Silicon Mac or a Mac with a T2 chip, using the “erase all content and settings” option will only revert back to a clean install of whatever OS you’re using now, which in this case, is Sonoma.

Yep, I meant "erase all content and settings", and my Mac is Mini M1. So I'll get Sonoma then, OK. I just thought that may be a beta version wouldn't be preserved.

 

[Siliconpsychosis]

It depends what you mean by “factory reset” and what Mac you’re using. If it’s an Apple Silicon Mac or a Mac with a T2 chip, using the “erase all content and settings” option will only revert back to a clean install of whatever OS you’re using now, which in this case, is Sonoma.
If it’s an Intel Mac and you use internet recovery you can restore to an older version of macOS easily. If it’s an Apple Silicon Mac, the fastest thing to do is to put the Mac into DFU mode and use another Mac in conjunction with Apple Configurator to revert macOS and the computer’s firmware back to a release version. Apple has several documents on this process.

I easily went from Sonoma back to Venture on my M2 14"

Boot into recovery, erase the drive. It will ask to reboot.
When it boots back into recovery after the erase, "Reinstall Ventura" was available and it downloaded it from the internet and installed it just fine. No faff or issues. It actually downloaded 13.4 so i didnt have any updates to do after either

 

[chrfr]

I easily went from Sonoma back to Venture on my M2 14"

Boot into recovery, erase the drive. It will ask to reboot.
When it boots back into recovery after the erase, "Reinstall Ventura" was available and it downloaded it from the internet and installed it just fine. No faff or issues. It actually downloaded 13.4 so i didnt have any updates to do after either

This works but won’t restore the firmware back to a release version, which may or may not matter to some users.

 

[Siliconpsychosis]

This works but won’t restore the firmware back to a release version, which may or may not matter to some users.

my boot and system firmware versions are now the same as ventura 13.4 release......?

 

[macbookguy]

I easily went from Sonoma back to Venture on my M2 14"

Boot into recovery, erase the drive. It will ask to reboot.
When it boots back into recovery after the erase, "Reinstall Ventura" was available and it downloaded it from the internet and installed it just fine. No faff or issues. It actually downloaded 13.4 so i didnt have any updates to do after either

This is the way.

 

[Kevrani]

I tried this:

• If I left the hard drive alone, the option was to reinstall Sonoma
• If I erased the hard drive, the option to install was Ventura

Hope that helps

 

[FreakinEurekan]

I created a new Volume, and put Sonoma on that. If I want to “roll back” to Ventura I just delete the Sonoma volume, and… done. If Sonoma is working, once it’s released and I’m sure I don’t need Ventura, then I delete the Ventura volume and… done. Couldn’t be simpler.

 

[shenfrey]

It's posts like these that help when I'm thinking about trying the beta, and then thankfully decide against it.

 

[LouisPiper]

my boot and system firmware versions are now the same as ventura 13.4 release......?

This shouldn't be the case. iBoot firmware versions will vary from release to release, especially in beta, and wiping using your method doesn't change the firmware. I believe Sonoma db2 is something like 10151.0.156.505.1, while Ventura's latest is 8422.121.1.

 

[Kottu]

I was running Sonoma in my 16" M1pro. Before selling it, I deleted everything and reinstalled from the partition. It was Monterey in it.