Restart your Mac and try again.ģ) If asked, type in your administrator username and password. After a few seconds (or minutes, depending on your setup), the macOS Utilities window will appear. If you see a login window or your own desktop, you didn’t press the keyboard combination early enough and have booted in regular macOS mode. If you own a Mac notebook, press the keys on its built-in keyboard as the keystroke might not register on external keyboards. How to enter Recovery Mode on your Intel Macġ) In the Apple menu choose Restart, or power on your Mac.Ģ) As your Mac restarts, hold down the Command – R combination immediately upon hearing the startup chime. Hold the keys until the Apple logo appears. Check your Internet connection or get help online using Safari.Restore your Mac from a Time Machine backup.Erase, install or reinstall factory-preloaded macOS or OS X version.Scan, verify, and repair connected drives with Disk Utility.If your Mac cannot be recovered in any other way, use Recovery Mode to diagnose disk problems, get help online or install the version of macOS that previously ran on this Mac. Recovery Mode is a special mode that loads macOS’ built-in recovery tools from a special disk partition that holds a recovery image along with a copy of the macOS installer. And that is where knowing how to start up your Mac in Recovery Mode can come in handy. For instance, you may use them for troubleshooting complex issues that might require more than fixing disk permissions. However, the aforesaid startup modes aren’t very helpful if the startup disk has become corrupted or damaged. MacOS startup modes can be quite helpful. Our prior tutorials educated you on the ways to start up your Mac from a bootable media, pick a startup disk at boot time or after the fact, mount another Mac’s startup drive on your desktop in Target Disk Mode and boot your computer in Safe Mode or Verbose Mode. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to enter Recovery Mode at boot time and use the built-in recovery tools to bring your Mac in perfect working condition. It is typically your last chance to repair the startup disk, reinstall macOS or restore from a backup after a fatal failure that prevents your Mac from starting up properly. Starting your Intel or Apple silicon Mac in Recovery Mode provides the tools you need to solve various problems.

How to backup mac from os x utilities