How to enter recovery mode on a Mac

The Recovery Mode of Macs with Intel processors is, fortunately, not the most used on a day-to-day basis. However, on some occasions it may be necessary to access it to perform maintenance or repair of the equipment. For example, from this mode it is possible to access Disk Utility to repair or replace a hard disk or modify the size of the partitions, restore the computer from a Time Machine backup, configure firmware passwords, among other options.

The way to access Recovery Mode on Intel Macs is quite simple and along the following lines I would like to explain to you what are the steps to access in case you need it at any time.

Boot an Intel Mac into Recovery Mode

As a general rule, you should only access this mode if you know exactly what you are doing, since the available tools could make profound changes to the computer that would force you to have to reinstall the entire operating system from scratch and even make the computer unable to restart normally.

In addition, even if you know what you are doing, it is more than advisable that before entering you make a complete backup of the Mac through Time Machine or another similar tool, so in case of disaster you can always recover all the data and settings on your computer.

It is also important to mention that these instructions are only valid for Mac with Intel processors , if your computer is among the latest generations, you should visit this other page that explains how to access Recovery Mode on Mac M1 , the new processors developed by Apple itself.

If you are sure of what you are doing, here are the instructions to access Recovery Mode on Mac with Intel chips:

  1. Shut down your Mac completely.
  2. Turn on the computer and as soon as the boot process begins, press and hold the Command + R keys.
  3. When the Apple logo appears on the computer screen, you can release the keys.

Now you just have to wait for the boot process to finish. When it does, you’ll see that your Mac displays a window with several available macOS tools. This indicates that you are in Recovery Mode and you already have tools available such as restoring from Time Machine, reinstalling macOS from scratch, accessing Disk Utility, etc, etc …

How to get out of Recovery Mode on Mac

When you have finished performing all the tasks you needed in Recovery Mode or if you have only accessed it out of curiosity, you can exit in a very simple way.

The only thing you will have to do to leave is to pay or restart the computer as you do normally :

  1. Click on the apple icon in the upper left corner of the screen.
  2. Select the option Turn off computer or Restart.

If you choose to Restart the computer, it will start the boot process again and start the operating system in the usual way (unless you use a keyboard shortcut again during startup, in this case it will access the mode you have selected with that combination keys). The same will happen if you choose the option Turn off computer, although in this case it will not start until you press the power button on the computer.

by Abdullah Sam
I’m a teacher, researcher and writer. I write about study subjects to improve the learning of college and university students. I write top Quality study notes Mostly, Tech, Games, Education, And Solutions/Tips and Tricks. I am a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence or virtue.

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