How to boot into recovery mode in Apple Silicon Macs?

Views 515 

macOS Recovery is the built-in recovery system of our Mac, and macOS recovery mode in Apple Silicon Macs is the same. For years, we boot into this special mode to restore Time Machine backups, reinstall Mac operating system when it’s crashed, repair the startup disk when it’s corrupted or damaged. All these in Intel-based Macs are approached by Command + Option + R using the local recovery system.

However, this has been totally changed in 2020 when Apple Silicon M1 Macs are released to the public leaked by tech news.

macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon keeps the path to repair your internal disk, reinstall macOS, restore your files from a Time Machine backup, set the security policy for different disks, transfer files between two Mac computers. But it also add more options like changing the default boot volume, starting up in safe mode, sharing disk, and more.

How to boot into macOS recovery mode on Apple Silicon Macs?

1. Turn off the Mac totally by clicking on the Apple logo and click on the Shut down option.
2. Long press and hold the power button until you see the “Loading startup options.”
3. Click Options, then click Continue.
4. When it’s requested, you need to enter the password for an administrator account.

How to reinstall macOS in Recovery mode on Apple silicon Macs?

After getting to the recovery mode, everything will become familiar just as in Intel-based Macs and MacBooks. Then how to reinstall the system on M1 Mac computers?

I’ll show you in the following steps:

1. Booting into recovery mode as I explained in the first part.
2. Make sure the Mac is connected to the network during reinstallation.
3. In the Recovery app window, select Reinstall macOS, then click Continue.
4. Follow the onscreen instructions that guide you to select a disk (the current macOS volume).

For disk repairing and Time Machine backup, they are pretty much the same except for selecting a different option from the list of the recovery options.

How to boot into safe mode from recovery mode on M1 Macs?

This will be a little different from Intel-based Macs by directly press Shift at startup. Here is how it works for an Apple silicon Mac.

1. From the Apple menu and choose Shut Down to turn off the Mac first.
2. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until you see “Loading startup options.”
3. Select a system volume to start your Mac.
4. Press and hold the Shift key, then click Continue in safe mode.
5. Then the computer restarts automatically.

How to change the default startup volume on Apple Silicon computers?

We used to shift the boot volume by directly press Option when booting up our Macs. While this also is possible in Recovery mode.

1. Shutting down the Mac is a regular step to boot into Recovery mode on Apple Silicon M1 Macs.
2. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until you see “Loading startup options.”
3. Select a volume to load the operating system.
4. Press and hold the Option key, then click Always Use.
5. The computer will restart automatically from the newly selected system volume.

How to Share Disk to transfer files between two Macs on M1 computers?

Similar to the Target disk mode on the previous model of Macs, there is a “Share Disk” option on Apple Silicon Macs. You can transfer files between a Mac booted into macOS Recovery and another Mac by sharing a volume and connecting the two computers with a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable.

1. Connect the two Macs using a USB, USB-C, or Thunderbolt cable.
2. In Recovery mode, choose Utilities > Share Disk from the top drop-down menu.
3. Select the volume you want to share, then click Start Sharing.
4. On the other target Mac, open a Finder window, then click Network in the sidebar under Locations.
5. In the Network window, double-click the source Mac that has the shared disk, click Connect As.
6. Select Guest in the Connect As window, then click Connect to transfer the files.
7. When you’re done transferring files, eject the volume on the other Mac.

Generally speaking, a slight of change can be seen from the aspect of functions, while a bit redesign from the visual aspect. Anyway, I get accustomed to this new window in a short time and the feasible recovery options provided in Apple silicon Macs.

By the way, macOS 11 Big Sur works like a soulmate with the M1 Mac computers.