Enter recovery mode on Intel and Apple Silicon Macs

What is Recovery Mode used for?

Sometimes the Mac has strange errors that are difficult to explain and fix. In these cases, reinstalling macOS on the system volume can help.

Also, if you want to run certain Terminal commands, like those to repair permissions you'll need to boot the Mac in Recovery Mode. How you enter this mode depends on whether you have a Mac with an Intel chip or an Apple Silicon chip (M1, M1 Pro/Max).

Apple Silicon or Intel chip?

You can find this out, for example, by clicking on the Apple menu in the top left corner of the Finder and selecting "About This Mac." In the "Chip" line, you will see what type it is.

Accessing Recovery Mode on an Intel Mac

To enter Recovery Mode on an Intel-based Mac , proceed as follows:

1. Restart the Mac
2. Hold down the cmd + R keys immediately upon startup
3. Release the keys when the Apple logo appears

Shortly after, the window with options in the Recovery menu will appear.

 

Accessing Recovery Mode on an Apple Silicon Mac

If you want to enter Recovery Mode on a Mac with an Apple Silicon chip , follow these steps:

1. Shut down the Mac
2. Press and hold the power button
3. The Mac will now boot and display the startup volumes and "Options"
4. Select "Options" to enter Recovery Mode