macOS Recovery

A special boot environment on Macs that provides tools for reinstalling macOS, restoring from backup, and accessing disk utilities when the main system won’t boot.

What to Know

macOS Recovery provides essential system maintenance and recovery capabilities when macOS won’t boot or is severely corrupted. It includes Disk Utility for repairing file systems, reinstall macOS for restoring the operating system, and security settings for managing Startup Security and Activation Lock. Without Recovery Mode, many troubleshooting and repair tasks would require bootable external drives or professional service, significantly increasing downtime and support costs.

Common Scenarios

Enterprise IT: IT teams guide users through accessing Recovery Mode to run Disk Utility First Aid, reinstall macOS without losing user data, or adjust startup security settings when troubleshooting boot failures or enrollment issues. Recovery Mode enables many repairs without requiring physical device access.

MSP: MSPs use Recovery Mode to remotely guide clients through macOS reinstalls, disk repairs, and NVRAM resets when Macs won’t boot normally. This avoids costly on-site visits for issues that can be resolved via Recovery Mode and phone support.

Education: School IT trains student workers and teachers to boot into Recovery Mode for common tasks like running First Aid or reinstalling macOS on lab Macs. This empowers first-tier support to resolve many issues without escalating to central IT.

In Addigy

While Recovery Mode operates outside of MDM, Addigy can deploy documentation and guides that instruct users on accessing Recovery Mode for specific troubleshooting steps. After repairs are completed and macOS boots normally, Addigy management resumes and any policies or apps that were lost are automatically reinstalled.