Along with the move to the Apple Silicon, performing things like a restore is different with M1 Macs compared to its Intel predecessors. Follow along to see how to revive and restore Macs M1, what’s the difference, when to use them and what to try before performing these steps.
Performing a restore (factory reset) with Intel Macs uses macOS Recovery. While it is still an option to do things like reinstalling macOS on M1 Macs, there is a different process for fully restoring an M1 Mac or, in limited cases, the need to revive an M1 Mac.
How to revive and restore Macs M1 – MacBook Air, Pro and Mac mini
What is a Mac M1 revive?
Here’s how Apple describes when you need to “revive” a Mac M1 and what it does:
In very rare circumstances, such as a power outage during a macOS update, a Mac may stop responding and therefore the firmware must be reactivated. A revive updates the firmware and updates recoveryOS to the latest version. A reviver is designed to make no changes to the boot volume, user data volume, or any other volumes.
However, remember that if you need to reinstall macOS after performing a revive, your drive will be erased.
What is a Mac M1 restoration?
A restore will erase your Mac drive, but it also restores the firmware, updates recoveryOS to the latest version, and reinstalls the latest version of macOS. As such, you will want to back up your data.
Have you tried to reinstall macOS?
If you are able to boot your M1 Mac to macOS Recovery, you can reinstall macOS without having to revive or perform a full restore, which requires a second Mac and Apple Configurator 2. This will erase your drive.
- With the Mac turned off, press and hold the power button until you see “Loading startup options”
- Choose Options and click Continue
- If necessary, enter your password
- Now choose Reinstall macOS, click Continue and follow the instructions
What you need to revive or restore M1 Macs
If you can’t do this or know that you want to fully restore your Mac M1, here’s what you need:
- A second Mac with the latest version of Apple Configurator 2 installed (and Internet access)
- Apple notes, “You may need to configure your web proxy or firewall ports to allow all network traffic from Apple devices to Apple’s 17.0.0.0/8 network.” Read more about it here.
- A USB-C to USB-C cable (or USB-A to C cable) Apple notes that it must support power and data and Thunderbolt 3 cables will not work for this process
How to revive or restore
If your Mac M1 doesn’t respond, you can try to revive it first that won’t erase your data. If that doesn’t work or if you know you want to delete your M1 Mac, you can restore. Here are the main steps:
- Start Apple Configurator 2 on a secondary Mac and connect it to the Mac that is having problems
- Restart your M1 Mac that is not responding with a special sequence
- Use Apple Configurator 2 on the secondary Mac to revive or restore
On a secondary (functional) Mac
- Make sure you are using the latest version of Apple Configurator 2
- Connected to power and the Internet
- Connect the USB-C cable
- Start Apple Configurator 2
Preparing a MacBook Air or Pro M1 that doesn’t work
- Press the power button
- While holding down the power button, simultaneously press all of these keys for about 10 seconds
- Right shift key
- Left option key
- Left control key
- After 10 seconds, release all keys except the power button until the Mac appears in Apple Configurator 2 on your secondary Mac
Apple notes that “You will not see any activity on the screen” on the Mac that is trying to revive / restore.
Preparing a M1 Mac mini that doesn’t work
- Connect it to a monitor to see when the process is complete
- Unplug the power cord from the Mac mini for at least 10 seconds
- Press and hold the power button
- While still pressing the power button, reconnect the power cord
- Release the power button
- You should see the status indicator light turn red (amber), but you will not see any activity on the screen for now
Reviving the secondary Mac (working)
- In Apple Configurator 2, select the Mac M1 you need to revive / restore
- From the top menu bar, choose Actions> Advanced
- Or press Control and click on the device> Advanced
- To choose Revive Device
- Apple notes that “When reactivating the firmware, you should verify that the process was successful because Apple Configurator 2 may not alert you.”
- You can now exit Apple Configurator 2 and disconnect the USB cable
Restoring from secondary Mac (working)
- In Apple Configurator 2, choose the Mac M1 you want to restore
- From the top menu bar, choose Actions> Restore
- Or hold down the Control key and click M1 Mac> Restore
- Choose Restore in the dialog box to confirm the process
- The process may take some time and during it the Apple logo will appear and disappear
- Your Mac will restart when the process is complete
- As with a revive, “When restoring your Mac, you should verify that the process was successful because Apple Configurator 2 may not alert you.”
- Apple points out that when a restore is successful for a Mac M1, the macOS setup wizard will appear
- You are ready to exit Apple Configurator 2 on your secondary Mac and disconnect the USB cable
To learn more about reviving and restoring M1 Macs, you can find the Apple support document here. And here is the support document on how to use macOS Recovery with M1 Macs, including reinstalling macOS.
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