How to reset a Mac without a password

Before you erase your device, find out if it contains data you need, especially files that you haven’t backed up.

If this is the case, consider recovering the password instead of resetting the device. We have a tutorial on how to recover a forgotten Mac password for this.

Before you begin this process, you may later find that you need a USB-C drive to boot macOS if, once the recovery process starts, you don’t have internet access on the affected Mac.

We have a how-to guide on how to reinstall macOS on a Mac that should help with this.

Whether you need to wipe your Mac to pass it on to a new user, or because you forgot the password, you should boot into recovery mode. We’ll cover how to use Mac Recovery Mode in a separate article, but we’ll quickly go through the process here:

The method depends on whether you have an Intel-powered Mac or a Mac with an Apple M-series chip.

On an M-series Mac:

1. Turn off the Mac.
2. Press the power button and keep it pressed.
3. Eventually the Apple logo will appear with text below it indicating that continuing to hold the power button will allow you to access boot options. Keep pressing that button.
4. Eventually you will be able to select Options > Continue and this will open Recovery, as in the image below (excuse the quality if it is not possible to take a screenshot!)

On an Intel Mac:

1. Turn off the Mac.
2. Turn it back on while holding down the Command and R keys at the same time until you see the Apple logo or hear a chime. At this point, release the keys.
3. The macOS Utilities screen shows a series of options.

This is where you erase everything on the Mac, so if you’re not sure what to do, you can try Target Disk Mode, now renamed Mac Disk Sharing, so you can copy files. We cover how to do that here: How to share a Mac’s drive with another Mac, although you may still need a password.

Assuming you’re okay to go ahead and uninstall, follow these steps:

1. Click Disk Utility and continue.
2. Once in the Disk Utility app, your drives will all be listed in the left column.
3. Select the internal drive, traditionally called Macintosh HD. You must select the parent drive, as opposed to any aliases below it – see the screenshot for a clearer example.
4. With the drive highlighted, click Erase.
5. Name your drive in the pop-up window.
6. The Format and Scheme drop-down list should be set to Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and GUID Partition Map, respectively.
7. Click Clear.

Erasing the disk may take a few minutes, but when it’s done, go back to the macOS Utilities menu and select Reinstall macOS. We’ll go through how to reinstall macOS separately, but we’ll explain the steps below.

You must now reinstall macOS through Recovery. Again, the process depends on whether you have an Intel-based Mac or an Apple-silicone Mac (an M1, M2, or newer).

You should be able to install macOS over the Internet, but you may prefer to use the USB drive you prepared earlier with the macOS installer (which may be faster).

1. Select Reinstall macOS in Disk Utilities.
2. Click Continue.
3. If necessary, enter your Apple ID and wait while macOS is reinstalled.

If your Mac won’t connect to the Internet to download macOS, click the Wi-Fi menu in the top-right corner of the screen, select the Wi-Fi network, and enter your Wi-Fi password. If that still doesn’t work, use the USB boot drive.

Once macOS is installed, check out our list of the best free Mac apps to get the most out of your new (old) machine.