macOS 12: How to wipe your Mac's data and settings and prepare it for sale

If you belong to the group of individuals who already own several iPhones or iPads, then you have probably already found yourself in a situation where you wanted to sell the old model. In iOS or iPadOS, this procedure is very simple - just deactivate the Find function, and then use the wizard to reset the entire iPhone to factory settings and delete all data on it. However, if you have started selling an old Mac or MacBook, you surely know that the process is much more complicated. In macOS, it is necessary to disable Find, and then move to macOS Recovery mode, where you format the disk and install the new macOS. However, it is not a completely friendly and simple process for the average user.

macOS 12: How to wipe your Mac's data and settings and prepare it for sale

The good news is that with the arrival of macOS 12 Monterey, the entire procedure for deleting data and resetting settings will be simplified. It will no longer be necessary for you to move to macOS Recovery - instead, you will do everything directly in the system in a classic way, similar to on an iPhone or iPad, through a wizard for deleting data and settings. You run it as follows:

• First, on your Mac with macOS 12 Monterey installed, tap on the top left corner  icon.
• Once you've done that, tap on the box from the menu that appears System Preferences…
• This will bring up a window with all available sections for editing system preferences - that's it for now doesn't care
• Instead, you need to tap on the tab on the left side of the top bar System Preferences.
• Next, a drop-down menu will appear in which you can click on an option Erase data and settings.
• Once you do so, it will be necessary for you to through authorized passwords.
• Then it starts wizard for erasing data and settings, in which it suffices click through to the end.

Gallery

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So, using the above method, a wizard can be run on a Mac with macOS 12 Monterey, thanks to which you can easily wipe data and reset settings. Once you've clicked through the wizard completely, your Mac will be ready for you to sell without any problems. To put it into perspective, specifically, all settings, media and data will be deleted. In addition, it will also remove Apple ID sign-in, all Touch ID data and fingerprint, cards and other data from Wallet, as well as disable Find and Activation Lock. By disabling Find and Activation Lock, there will be no need to do a manual deactivation, which is definitely handy since many users don't know about it.

Discussion of the article

[Moncha]

And what is the progress for Monterey now? Wouldn't it rather have some up-to-date procedures?

[Pavel Jelic]

I've already explained it here several times. This procedure is probably of no use to you, but we are also read by developers, or other users who have installed the first developer beta versions of new systems. Such users are trying to find and try out all the new features - and these articles will help them. So that readers like you can easily recognize these instructions, which are intended for new operating systems, we put, for example, "iOS 15" or "macOS 12" at the beginning of the title before the colon. Simply, without having to click on the article, you will find out that this guide is not intended for you and you can read a bunch of other content that we publish in our magazine. Up-to-date instructions, intended for the current latest operating systems for the public, are posted here for the rest of the year, even twice a day. I trust that you will survive the few weeks that we will be publishing guides here for the developer beta versions of the systems.

[Filip]

For this, developers don't need to read apple people, because they follow the developer discussion forum, which is dedicated to this.

[Pavel Jelic]

…we are read by developers, or other users who have installed the first developer beta versions of new systems… You really can't read? I really feel like I'm speaking Spanish in some situations. Or are you unable to understand the written text?

PS: And changing your name will definitely not help you with your anonymity.