How do I factory reset my 2009 iMac

Shutdown iMac. Unplug power cord from back of iMac. Press and hold power button for 20 seconds. Restore power cord; power on iMac. Immediately on hearing Startup Chime, press and hold Command-Option-P-R keys (⌘⌥ P R)

How do I restore my old iMac to factory settings?

To reset your Mac, first restart your computer. Then press and hold Command + R until you see the Apple logo. Next, go to Disk Utility > View > View all devices, and choose the top drive. Next, click Erase, fill out the required details, and hit Erase again.

Can I completely wipe my Mac?

You can wipe your Mac computer — or, in other words, factory reset it — through the macOS Utilities menu. This is a good plan if your Mac is malfunctioning, or you’re looking to sell it. Doing this will wipe all of your personal data and applications. It’ll be like you just turned on your Mac for the first time.

How do I reset my 2009 iMac without the password?

First you’ll need to turn off your iMac. Then press the power button and immediately hold down the Control and R keys until you see the Apple logo or spinning globe icon. Release the keys and shortly afterward you should see the macOS Utilities window appear.

How do I wipe my iMac clean without disk?

Erase your Mac using Erase Assistant. Restart your Mac. Choose Apple menu > Shut Down, press and hold the power button until “Loading startup options” appears, select Options, click Continue, then follow the onscreen instructions.

How do I wipe my iMac and start over?

Shut down your Mac, then turn it on and immediately press and hold these four keys together: Option, Command, P, and R. Release the keys after about 20 seconds. This clears user settings from memory and restores certain security features that might have been altered.

How do I wipe my 2008 iMac?

Open Disk Utility from the OS X Utilities window, then use Disk Utility to erase your built-in hard disk using the OS X Extended (Journaled) format. Quit Disk Utility when done. Choose Reinstall OS X from the OS X Utilities window, then follow the onscreen instructions.

How do I factory reset my iMac 2010?

Restart your Mac and hold down the “Command” and “R” keys during startup until you Mac is in Recovery Mode.
Select “Disk Utility” and click “Continue”
Choose your main startup disc (named “Macintosh HD” by default) and click “Unmount”

What is the Command key on a Mac?

The Command key is the most common modifier key in Mac OS X. Many menu items, such as Quit, Close, and Save, have a keystroke shortcut using the Command key. To use such a shortcut, hold down one of the Command keys and press the letter key for that item.

How do I reset my Mac password without a recovery key?

Click the option to reset using your Apple ID, then proceed as follows: …
If you’re asked to create a new keychain to store the user’s passwords, click OK to restart your Mac.
If you’re asked to select an admin user you know the password for, click “Forgot all passwords?”.

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How can I get admin access to a Mac without knowing the current password?

Hold ⌘ + S on startup.
mount -uw / ( fsck -fy is not needed)
rm /var/db/.AppleSetupDone.
reboot.
Go through the steps of creating a new account. …
After logging in to the new account, go to the Users & Groups preference pane.
Select the old account, press the Reset Password…

How do I reset my Apple computer without a password?

Turn off your computer and hold the power button + Command R. Wait for the loading bar to appear on the screen while your Mac boots to Recovery. Next, choose Disk Utility > Continue > Utilities Terminal. Type “resetpassword” (in one word) and click Return.

How do you wipe a computer?

Open Settings and select Update & Security.
Click the Recovery tab, then Get Started.
Select Remove everything.

How do I erase an external hard drive on a Mac?

Connect the hard drive to your computer, power it on and launch Finder. …
Click the Go menu and select Utilities. …
Select the external hard drive (left; sorted Internal, External, and Disk Images) and click the Erase button. …
Enter a Name, select the Format and Scheme, and click Erase.

How do you do a hard reset on an iMac?

How to Force Restart Your Mac. Press and hold down the Command (⌘) and Control (Ctrl) keys along with the power button (or the ‌Touch ID‌ / Eject button, depending on the Mac model) until the screen goes blank and the machine restarts.

How do you erase all content and settings on a Mac?

Click the Apple () symbol in the menu bar and select System Preferences….
When the preferences pane appears, select System Preferences -> Erase All Content and Settings from the menu bar.
Enter your admin password in the Erase Assistant dialog prompt and click OK.

Is erase all content and settings the same as factory reset?

Answer: A: Reset All Settings and Erase All Content and Settings do different things. Reset all Settings removes things like your Wifi password and settings you’ve set on your iPad for Apps, mail, etc. Erase All Content and Settings restores a device to it’s out of the box state when it was first turned on.

What does command Z do?

Command-Z: Undo the previous command. You can then press Shift-Command-Z to Redo, reversing the undo command. In some apps, you can undo and redo multiple commands.

How do you Ctrl on a Mac?

The Macintosh offers a key labeled Control (or, on laptops, “ctrl”), but it isn’t the equivalent of the PC’s Ctrl key. The Mac’s Control key is primarily for helping you “right-click” things, as described earlier. Instead, the Macintosh equivalent of the Windows Ctrl key is the ⌘ key. It’s right next to the space bar.

Does Ctrl C work on Mac?

The Command Key It’s a modifier key you can press to issue keyboard shortcuts to applications. For example, while you press Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, and Ctrl+V to copy, cut, and paste on Windows, you press Command+C, Command+X, and Command+V to do the same on a Mac. This key has the ⌘ symbol on it.

How do I find my administrator name and password for Mac?

Select System Preferences. In the System Preferences window, click on the Users & Groups icon. On the left side of window that opens, locate your account name in the list. If the word Admin is immediately below your account name, then you are an administrator on this machine.