If you are planning on selling your Macbook Air or facing issues with it, then a Factory Reset can be good for the laptop. A factory reset will erase everything on the laptop, just like it was when you first got it.
While MacBook is one of the finest machines that usually don’t get hiccups, but if you ever had to hard reset your MacBook Pro or Air running OSX, it’s easy. Though, I would warn you that when you hard reset MacBook Pro or Air to factory settings (without disc), it will wipe clean everything. I have a Macbook air 10.9.4. I want to reset it to the factory settings. I do not know the admin password though. I tried doing to holding down command and R thing, but all that happened was a grey screen came up with a picture of a lock, and a block for a password to be entered in, but I don't have a password.
One of the most common reason to perform a factory reset, is when the Macbook Air is put up for sale. It would be stupid to not do a reset and sell your laptop, as that would allow the buyer to gain access to your personal files and settings. It is always a good idea to reset Macbook Air before selling it.
Another reason why you may want to perform a factory reset, is if your Macbook Air is running slow or lagging. Sometimes, when there’s too much data on your laptop, things start to lag. A factory reset will not only clean your hard drive, but also improve the performance of the laptop.
Therefore, if you are facing performance issues with your Macbook Air, a reset may help. Of course, a factory reset is the last option here. If no other tuning tricks improve the performance of your laptop, then you are left with no choice, but to perform a reset.
What is Factor Reset
Once you factory reset your Macbook Air, it would be in the same state as when you first received it from the Apple Store. This way, the person who buys it from you, will be able to set it up as a new computer with ease. Before you reset your Macbook Air, it is highly recommended that you perform a backup. If you’re running on macOS High Sierra or above, then you need to keep two things in mind.
- If your Macbook Air came with a hard drive that is APFS formatted, then you will have to erase your hard drive in the same format.
- If the hard drive is in macOS Extended format, then you should format it in Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
Now, let’s get started with the factory reset of your Macbook Air.
1. Backup your Macbook Air
It is quite simple to take a backup of all the stuff on your laptop. All you need is an external hard drive and a little bit of free time. If there isn’t anything you would like to backup, then you can move on to the next step.
1. Plugin your external hard drive via the USB cable.
2. Click on the Apple logo on the top right corner of your MacBook Air.
3. Select Preferences and click on Time Machine.
4. Time Machine is where you can easily backup all the content on your laptop.
5. Click on Select Backup Disk and choose the connected hard drive.
6. Now select Encrypt backups followed by Use disk.
7. Next, Turn on the Time Machine and your Macbook Air will automatically start backing up your data.
8. Once the data is backed up on your external hard drive, you can disconnect and move on to the next process.
2. Disconnecting iCloud and Apple services
If you are planning on selling your Macbook Air, you will need to sign out of all your Apple accounts. This includes services such as iCloud, iTunes, iMessages, and FaceTime. Follow the instructions below to log out of these services.
Sign out of iCloud
1. For signing out of iCloud, you will need to click on the Apple logo on the top left corner.
2. Then select Preferences and choose iCloud.
3. Simply click on the Sign Out button and follow the onscreen instructions.
4. You will need to enter your Apple ID password to sign out.
Sign out of iTunes
1. If you use iTunes and have connected your Apple account, you will need to deauthorize iTunes.
2. Launch iTunes and click on Accounts in the top menu bar.
3. Select Authorization option and then click on Deauthorize this computer.
4. You will once again need to enter your Apple ID and Password.
5. Click on Deauthorize to disconnect your account.
Sign out of iMessages and FaceTime
![Factory Reset Macbook Air Factory Reset Macbook Air](http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/reset-2018-macbook-pro-air-smc-p1-610x411.jpg)
1. To sign out of iMessages, launch the Messages app.
2. Navigate to the Messages option on the top menu bar and select Preferences.
3. Now click on the iMessage Tab and select Sign out. For FaceTime, do the same.
4. Launch FaceTime, select FaceTime on the top menu bar and then select Preferences.
5. Next, click on the Sign out option next to your Apple ID.
6. You should now be signed out of all your accounts.
That’s about it! Let’s move on to the next process, and the final one.
3. Factory Reset Macbook Air
The time has come to erase your Macbook Air and give it a full factory reset. All your data will be erased and the latest OS will be installed again.
To start the process, you will need to shutdown or restart your Macbook Air and enter Recovery Mode. You can only factory reset in Recovery mode. Follow the steps below carefully to enter this mode and start the process.
1. Restart or turn on your Macbook Air and press the Command+ R button.
2. Keep holding the two buttons till you see the Apple logo.
3. Once the Apple logo has disappeared, you will see a new Utility window.
4. This is where you will be able to erase your Macbook Air and install a fresh copy of the latest supported OS.
5. Select Disk Utility and click on Continue.
6. Now select View and Show All Devices.
7. Select the internal hard drive and choose Erase.
8. As mentioned earlier, if the Macbook Air is running a macOS High Sierra or later, then choose the APFS format.
9. If your Macbook Air is running macOS Sierra or older, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
10. Now click on the Erase button.
11. Wait till the software does its work. It could take a while.
4. Re-install Mac OS
Now that your Macbook Air is completely erased, you should install the latest version of macOS that is supported by your model. Here’s how to do it.
1. In the Utilities window, select the Reinstall macOS option.
2. Click on Continue to follow the on-screen instructions carefully.
3. Once the installation is complete, press Command Q and Shut Down the laptop.
Your Macbook is now factory reset and is as good as new, in terms of software. When the buyer turns on the laptop, they will have to go through the Setup process to setup the laptop according to their preferences and with their Apple ID.