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How to Start Up a Mac in Internet Recovery Mode

Introduction

If your Mac isn't connected to a storage drive with macOS installed, or your boot drive is corrupted, the computer will flash a question mark folder icon on startup, and then shut down.

Follow this guide to boot your Mac to Internet Recovery mode and access recovery tools like Disk Utility, Time Machine, and the macOS installer.

Internet Recovery is only available on Apple computers made after 2009. If your computer was released in 2010 or 2011, you may need to update to the latest version of macOS and/or perform an EFI and SMC firmware upgrade to enable Internet Recovery.

  1. How to Start Up a Mac in Internet Recovery Mode, How to Start Up a Mac in Internet Recovery Mode: step 1, image 1 of 1

    • Shut down the computer.

    • If you're installing MacOS to a new drive with Internet Recovery, you can skip this step.

    Edit

  2. How to Start Up a Mac in Internet Recovery Mode: step 2, image 1 of 1

    • Once the computer is completely shut down, press the power button, then immediately press and hold the key combination cmd + option + R.

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  4. How to Start Up a Mac in Internet Recovery Mode: step 3, image 1 of 2 How to Start Up a Mac in Internet Recovery Mode: step 3, image 2 of 2

    • When the spinning globe animation appears, you can release the keys.

    • The globe will spin while Internet Recovery starts up. If you are not using a wired internet connection, a choose network prompt will appear. Use this menu to connect the computer to a WiFi network.

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  5. How to Start Up a Mac in Internet Recovery Mode: step 4, image 1 of 1

    • Once a network connection has been established, a progress bar will appear underneath the spinning globe.

    • This process is prone to timing out. If you receive an error, try again using a cable connection to reach the internet rather than WiFi. Depending on your model, you may need an adapter to accomplish this.

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  6. How to Start Up a Mac in Internet Recovery Mode: step 5, image 1 of 1

    • When Internet Recovery has loaded, you will see the macOS recovery screen.

    Edit
Conclusion

From the recovery menus, you can restore your data from a Time Machine backup, Reinstall macOS, get help online, and use Disk Utility to format and diagnose problems with any connected storage drives.

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Taylor Dixon

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35 Comments

Apparently PowerBook G4 12” does not work for restoral based upon this exercise?

72Yonatan - Reply

Oh, I’m so sorry! I forgot to specify: internet recovery mode is only available on newer Apple computers. I’ve updated the intro now, sorry for the confusion!

Taylor Dixon -

So a mid 2009 computer won’t have internet recovery mode?

Carlos Perdomo - Reply

I bought a Asgard (seems operates from HongKong) 2TB NVME PCIe M.2 SSD that I installed into mackbook pro 15in mid 2015 with sintech adapter for conversion to MacBook AHCI controller. The disk utility does not show this SSD. Later I installed in same way another Sabrent SSD 2TB it worked fine.

What might have gone wrong in the fist SSD. Could that SSD itself faulty or incompatible? any fixes available?

GBish - Reply

Two main reasons:

- You aren’t pushing deep enough your new ssd drive into the slot. Please reopen your mac, unplug the battery connector and push the new ssd to a fashion position.

- Your are missing the Alt/Option key. Please make the full shorcut: Alt+Shift+R.

Orlando Gomez -

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