macOS Monterey Allows You to Erase a Mac Without Needing to Reinstall the Operating System

[MacRumors]

It's been a few days since Apple announced macOS Monterey, and we continue to dig through new features that weren't mentioned during the WWDC keynote, including a much more convenient way of erasing a Mac.

Following in the footsteps of the iPhone and iPad, the Mac has gained an "Erase All Content and Settings" option on macOS Monterey. The option allows you to erase all user data and user-installed apps from your Mac without needing to reinstall the macOS operating system, making it far easier to restore a Mac to like-new factory settings.

From the macOS Monterey features page on Apple's website:

Erase all contents and settings
System Preferences now offers an option to erase all user data and user-installed apps from the system, while maintaining the operating system currently installed. Because storage is always encrypted on Mac systems with Apple silicon or the T2 chip, the system is instantly and securely "erased" by destroying the encryption keys.

In the macOS Monterey beta, the new option can be found by opening the System Preferences app, clicking on System Preferences in the menu bar at the top of the screen, and clicking on "Erase All Content and Settings" in the drop-down menu. An administrator password is required to proceed with restoring the Mac to factory settings.

Erasing a Mac running an earlier version of macOS requires formatting the startup disk and reinstalling macOS, so this new option will make it far more convenient to restore your Mac to factory settings, whether you simply want to start fresh with your Mac or are planning to sell or gift the Mac to another person. After erasing a Mac, it will display the Setup Assistant and be ready to be set up like new.

macOS Monterey is available now in beta for developers, with a public beta to follow in July.

Article Link: macOS Monterey Allows You to Erase a Mac Without Needing to Reinstall the Operating System

 

[nouvejetzt]

Nice! I had to erase my mac two days ago. This would’ve made things easier.

 

[Apple_Robert]

This is awesome news. So glad to see this. Will it replace using Configurator 2 on the M1 to restore / revive?

Great coverage on the new OS releases, MR. I appreciate the hard work.

 

[Khedron]

Insta-deleting all personal files seems very useful for certain criminals.

 

[PatriotInvasion]

I’ve only been waiting for a feature like this since Tiger in 2006. I’ll take it 15 years later!

 

[Gregintosh]

When I sold a MacBook last year it was a real pain to wipe and reinstall MacOS. Took many hours as I had a slow internet connection. An option like this would’ve been great.

This will make it also a lot less of a pain to do an occasional reset if things ever start slowing down or having random software issues.

Edit: Since I haven't used Windows in a while I didn't realize they had this also. Anyway, it's still good its here on the Mac!

 

[neuropsychguy]

Insta-deleting all personal files seems very useful for certain criminals.

It’s also useful for those of us who are not criminals!

 

[ayembee]

"Finally" Had to erase two Macs recently and it was something of a pain - this is a great update. You don't need it often, but when you do (eg: selling an older laptop) it will be so much better... All in favour of quality of life improvements!

 

[turbineseaplane]

This is perhaps the best thing I've heard about Monterey honestly

 

[Apple_Robert]

MR, did you try this feature before reporting? If so, how long did it take? Do you still need to sign out of your other IOS devices first, in order to keep from getting a Mac duplicate name in iMessage text forwarding?

 

[FightTheFuture]

This is a welcome feature. But I would still feel more secure reformatting the disk under recovery mode.

 

[patearrings]

Also as per the highlighted text, does this only work for either apple silicon and t2 macs? i.e any imac before 2020 wont be able to do it?

 

[mannyvel]

This is because they split the volume into the system and user volumes. Blast the user volume and ta-da! The system is clean and ready to go.

I suspect/hope that if you turn off SIP this won't work, since there's no way for the system to guarantee you didn't mess with the system volume.

 

[kalafalas]

HOLY ****. This is a HUGE game changer for IT, and EASILY one of the best features in years. Not even mentioned in the keynote!

 

[Apple_Robert]

Macs from 2017 forward supported.

 

[matrix07]

Also as per the highlighted text, does this only work for either apple silicon and t2 macs? i.e any imac before 2020 wont be able to do it?

My bet is you'll need T2 machines.

 

[boswald]

Awesome news! Thank you, Apple.

 

[peter108]

Wow. This is great. Is it still necessary to unlink your apps and sign out of iCloud as is currently the case?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Wow. This is great. Is it still necessary to unlink your apps and sign out of iCloud as is currently the case?

From what I can see, doing this signs you out of iCloud on that machine.

 

[JippaLippa]

The OS has been wrongly described as "featureless", but I'm actually digging all the "smaller" features that are being announced.

 

[mi7chy]

Guess Apple listened to all the complaints with how broken resetting Big Sur is relative to other OS' like Windows 10.

Now if Apple can fix palm rejection on Big Sur.

 

[CPx]

This is great! Reinstalling before selling a computer is a pain.

 

[pi6xjdskfa]

will this erase all the cruft that builds up in os x months after install? every time i clean install my mac runs super fast and lot more space on ssd even after i move all files to backup drive before reinstall.

 

[Apple_Robert]

The OS has been wrongly described as "featureless", but I'm actually digging all the "smaller" features that are being announced.

I think the people saying the presentation was a bust are wrong. More and more great features are being found.

 

[Apple_Robert]

will this erase all the cruft that builds up in os x months after install? every time i clean install my mac runs super fast?

Yes. It is the same as erasing your phone and setting up as new.