How to Wipe Your Mac Without Reinstalling the OS

Sometimes you need to reset your Mac to make things right. Maybe it’s running a bit too slow for your taste, or you’re dealing with a intrusive glitch with the software. 

Of course, the process of resetting and reinstalling the entire macOS operating system from scratch can sound daunting. In the ye older days, you’d need to have a disk, a USB drive, or to wait hours for macOS recovery assistant to redownload the entire macOS installation file. But now, with the latest versions of macOS, things have changed. You can wipe your Mac and reset it, like you do with your iPhone or iPad, with no need to redownload the entire OS. 

Is your Mac supported?

If you have a modern Mac, chances are you’re good to go. All of Apple’s Macs that run Apple Silicon (M1, M2 and M3), are supported. Even older Intel Macs that come with Apple’s T2 security chip are supported (all models between 2017 and 2019). 

On the software side, the feature is supported starting with macOS Monterey. However, when Apple released macOS Ventura with the new System Settings app, the way this feature works changed slightly. Below, we will recount the steps that work for macOS Ventura, macOS Sonoma, and newer. Before doing this, we would recommend you first update your macOS software from System Settings > General > Software Update. And, above all, make sure to take a full backup of all your important data. 

How to wipe and reset your Mac without reinstalling macOS

Now that you’re ready, let’s get started with the process itself. When you wipe the Mac, Apple will automatically sign you out of your Apple ID, FaceTime, and they’ll also remove your Touch ID fingerprint data. 

First open System Settings app on your Mac and choose the General option from the sidebar. Here, open Transfer or Reset, click the Erase All Contents and Settings button, and log in with your account password.

This will open the Erase Assistant in a new window. Here, choose your main administrator account, if you have more than one. Mac will now tell you that your account, and all associated data, like your login information, files and biometrics data is ready to be wiped. Click the Continue button and watch as macOS shuts down all open apps, restarts, and wipes your Mac clean.

The steps for macOS Monterey are slightly different as the feature is hidden. Open the System Preferences app, then click the System Preferences drop-down in the menu bar and choose the Erase All Contents and Settings option to open the Erase Assistant. Then follow the steps to wipe your Mac.