Use macOS Recovery
macOS Recovery provides tools to reinstall macOS, use Disk Utility, or access the Terminal. You could guide a user to use macOS Recovery to perform system maintenance, troubleshooting, and security configuration.
macOS Recovery system startup options
macOS Recovery provides several system startup options to help troubleshoot and manage a system. You can access these options with these steps:
Turn off Mac.
Press and hold the power button until “Loading startup options” appears.
Click Options, then click Continue to enter macOS Recovery.
Option
Function
Description
Disk Utility
Lets you repair or erase the internal storage and connected devices.
Use First Aid to check and repair file system errors, and also erase and reformat storage.
Install or Reinstall macOS
Installs the current version of macOS that the Mac was previously using.
If you installed a macOS upgrade and then used Disk Utility to erase the disk, you might get the macOS that you were using before upgrading.
Recovery Assistant
Recovery identifies and attempts to resolve any issues it discovers.
This Mac encountered an issue while starting. The recovery process looks for any problems and attempts to resolve them if found. If you still need help, see support.apple.com/mac/recovery.
Web Browser
Browse Apple’s support site or other resources
This option is a limited browser that’s useful for troubleshooting or looking up Apple Support articles during recovery.
Share Disk
Share a Mac computer’s internal storage with another Mac.
Allow file transfers between connected Mac computers using a or Thunderbolt or USB-C cable.
Startup Disk
Choose the device you want to use to start up a Mac.
This option is useful if you have multiple macOS installations.
Startup Security Utility
Manage security policies for a Mac.
Adjust security policies to allow any version of signed operating system software ever trusted by Apple to run.
Terminal
Change settings using the command line.
Use the
resetpasswordcommand to reset user passwords.
macOS Recovery logs
The recovery log contains messages logged by macOS Recovery. You can specify the types of messages to display:
In macOS Recovery, choose Window > Recovery Log.
Click the Detail Level pop-up menu, then choose which messages to display:
Show Errors Only: Choose this option to display only error messages.
Show Errors and Progress: Choose this option to display error messages and progress messages.
Show All Logs: Choose this option to display all messages.
You can also filter messages to search for specific text and save the recovery log to a file.
In macOS Recovery logs, you can view entries that give you insight into system activities such as network access, installation logs, Disk Utility activity, and more.
Here are a few common error messages you might encounter:
APFS container corrupt: Could be a disk issue. (Consider Disk Utility ordiskutilrepair.)startosinstall failed with exit code 1: Invalid install target or issue with install media.Volume could not be mounted: Damaged volume.
Note: Depending on your organization’s data security and recovery policies, many of these issues might need to be escalated.
If you can’t access macOS Recovery
What to look for:
Mac won’t start up or shows error symbols during startup.
What’s happening:
The Mac may have hardware issues or corrupted system files preventing normal Recovery access.
Steps to take:
Hold the power button for 10 seconds to completely shut down, then try the startup process again.
Check network connection for Internet Recovery options.
Use another Mac to create bootable installer if Recovery fails.
Contact Apple Support if hardware service may be required.