#How to Enter Recovery Mode on a Mac with Apple Silicon

The macOS Recovery Mode is the only way to fix a dead Mac. If you want to reinstall the operating system or format the drive, this is where you go. Here’s how to enter Recovery Mode on Macs with Apple Silicon.

If you’re a long-time Mac user, you might be familiar with the keyboard shortcut that’s used to enter Recovery Mode on Intel Macs. You just hold the Command+R keys when booting up. But this won’t work if you’re using a Mac with Apple Silicon (M1 Chips or higher).

Once you’ve made sure that you’re using a Mac with Apple Silicon (You can click on the Apple icon in your menu bar, then select “About This Mac” to confirm.), follow the steps below to access Recovery Mode.

First, turn off your Mac. Next, press and hold the Power/Touch ID button on your MacBook.

If you’re using a standalone Mac, press and hold the Power button that’s on the back of the case.

Keep holding down the Power button until you see the “Loading Startup Options” text on the screen.

In a couple of seconds, you’ll see your Mac boot drive and an “Options” button. Select the “Options” button, then click the “Continue” button.

Now, your Mac will ask you to select a user. Choose the user and click the “Next” button.

Here, enter the password for the user account.

You are now in your Mac’s Recovery Mode.

It’s now business as usual. Here, you can choose to reinstall the OS, restore from Time Machine, use Disk Utility to format the Mac, and you can use Safari to browse the web. The steps for doing all these are the same as they were with Intel Macs.

Once you’ve completed your task, it’s time to go boot into macOS. To do this, click the Apple button from the menu bar and choose the “Restart” option.

In just a couple of seconds, your Mac will reboot and you’ll see the login screen.

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