How to reset a macbook air

The below article shows how to reset a macbook air or MacBook Pro? Following the below instructions, you will be able to reset macbook air and delete everything. The below method to reset a MacBook works for High Sierra, macOS mojave, macOS Catalina.

If your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro is not turning on and you want to reset it, then you must read our article related to If your Mac doesn’t turn on or start up or charge.

If you are facing any problem with your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air and the issue or the error can’t seem to go away, Or you want to sell or exchange your Apple laptop with the new one, so that, it does not have any trail of your personal data then the most feasible method is to reset your MacBook Air.

Also see: How to restart a macbook air when it wont turn on

Resetting your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro can solve many problems. Wiping your MacBook air completely will set your MacBook Air or Pro as a new device and then you can add a new MacBook account. So below , we will be showing you how you can reset or securely erase your MacBook Air SSD (Hard drive) to factory settings and wipe all the date from your MacBook pro before selling it or trading it in with Apple buy-back program?

So follow the below guide to know how to reset a MacBook Air, MacBook Pro or any Mac computer, which can solve any of those issues.

Before resetting your Apple device, be it a; MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or a Mac make sure you made a backup. And if you are selling your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro then make sure to sign out of iMessage, iCloud and any other accounts before you reset. You can also follow these instructions to know how you can backup your MacBook or other Mac devices.

You can also follow these guides: How you can improve the performance of MacBook?, tips to free MacBook storage, and how you can improve MacBook battery?

Before proceeding to factory reset your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro to wipe all SSD drive data make sure you backup up your Mac data, and also check, if you have logged out of your MacBook’s iTunes, iCloud, and other account services.

Now, plugin your Mac system and follow the below procedure to start the factory reset process:

How to Reset MacBook Air: Create a Backup

The first thing to do is to create a backup of your MacBook Air or Pro before factory resetting it using default back up service “Time Machine” provided by Apple. Using the Time machine you can save your MacBook files to an external drive and can transfer your Mac files or documents to a new Macbook Air or MacBook Pro.

With the Time machine, you can backup your music, photos, apps) to an external drive.

The most common and the fastest way to backup your MacBook is using Time Machine. Follow the below steps to create a backup using time machine:

The first thing you should do is to connect an external drive to your MacBook or a Mac.
Now go to the top-left corner of your MacBook Air menu bar and click on Apple icon.
Now go under system preferences.
Select Time Machine or you can also search Time Machine in the search bar.
Now you will see the option of Select Backup Disk, just click on it.
You will see the available compatible external disks that are connected to your MacBook Pro or MacBook Air.
Now select your external drive on which you want to backup your data and then click on the Encrypt backups and Use Disk options.
In the last step just click on the ON button.

Your Backup will be started and completed by Time Machine here on and you can later use it to restore your file documents and files whenever you need it.

NOTE: Time Machine only backup’s files, apps, documents but does not clone your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro system, so, if you want to backup a full copy of your Mac OS system then you can always use one of these software’s to clone your MAC system:

Stellar Drive Clone.
EaseUS Todo Backup For Mac
Carbon Copy Cloner.
ChronoSync.
SuperDuper.

How to Reset MacBook Air: Sign Out of Your ‘iServices’

Before giving away or trading in your Apple MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, make sure that you have logged out of all of Apple services, like, iTunes, iCloud and iMessage. This way your MacBook can be used as a new device after wiping all the data from your MacBook hard drive.

HOW TO SIGN OUT OF ICLOUD

Go to the top-left corner of your MacBook Air menu bar and click on the Apple icon.
Now go to System Preferences.
Look for iCloud, (if you can’t find iCloud) you can search iCloud and then click on iCloud.
Click Sign Out, If you are using macOS Catalina then you should click on Overview which is on the left side and then click on the signout option.

HOW TO SIGN OUT OF ITUNES

Unlock your MacBook Air and Open iTunes.
Now go to the menu bar (top of the MacBook Air screen) then Click on Account.
Now after clicking on Account a drop-down menu will appear on the screen, from there, click on Authorizations.
Now, Select De-authorize This Computer…
It will now ask you to re-enter your Apple ID and Password for confirmation.
You have been successfully logged out of iTunes account on your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.

HOW TO SIGN OUT OF IMESSAGE

Open Messages app on your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro (You can do it by clicking on the Messaging icon on the taskbar menu or you can also press Command + Space Bar, to open Spotlight search and then can search Message app from there.)
Now after opening the messaging app on your Mac, go to the top menu like the previous steps and click on Preferences…
Now select iMessage tab
And then click on Sign Out button, which is on the right side of your Apple account’s e-mail ID.

Now your Mac laptop is safe and secure and all the accounts are removed from your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.

After signing out of all the Apple accounts, now, we are going to factory reset your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro and wipe all the data from MacBook’s hard drive, so that, it can be used as a new device.

How to Reset MacBook Air: Performing a Factory Reset (Recovery Mode)

Before resetting or formatting MacBook Air or MacBook Pro, you have to boot up your Mac System in Recovery Mode.

Now, press and hold Command + R keys until you see the Apple Logo. After the restarting of MacBook is done, you will see a Utilities window. Now follow the below instructions toknow how to reset MacBook Air to factory and wipe all the data using recovery mode and using it as a new MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.

1. Command + R

press and hold Command + R keys until you see the Apple Logo.

Wipe All data and reset MacBook Air or MacBook Pro

2. Disk Utility

Choose Disk Utility and click continue.

Go into disk utility and factory reset Mac

3. Choose disk

Now you have to choose your MacBook’s startup disk (from the left side) named “Macintosh HD by default,” and click on erase button.

Select default Mac SSD drive and click on Erase

4. Choose macOS format type

Now from the dropdown menu choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) option and click on Erase. If you want a more secure macOS, you are free to select Mac OS Encrypted (Journaled) option (for this version, you have to create a secure password)

5. Wiping or formatting will now start

After clicking or Erase, it will start the formatting process. After it is completed, Click Done.

Once it has finished you can then reinstall macOS, just follow the below instructions:

Click Reinstall macOS in the Utilities menu…
Then you have to click on Continue
Now, just follow the macOS instructions to complete the installation of your MacBook Air or MacBook Pro.

You must remember one thing, if you are willing to sell or trade-in your MacBook pro or MacBook Pro to someone or to Apple store then you must stop after the STEP 5 and avoid reinstalling the macOS on your MacBook Pro, which will leave Mac in it’s pristine and factory condition.

So, you now know how to reset a macbook air or MacBook Pro or any other Mac system from recovery mode and wipe all the data from MacBook’s hard drive, so that your data is safe.

What to do if you’ve forgotten your Mac password – or don’t know the password for the Mac you are using.

So, this is how to restart your macbook air like new?

If you have any questions about MacBook Air resetting, formatting or MacBook Pro backups’s then do tell us in the comments.

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