College Library - Troubleshooting - Reimaging "locked" Loaner Mac Laptops
Instructions for troubleshooting the reimaging process on a circulating Mac laptop
- Plug a Mac Provisioner flash drive into the computer
- Hold Option (⌥) while powering the Mac on until the Apple logo disappears
- If you see an option to boot to "Install macOS Big Sur", choose that and press enter (figure 1)
- If no options appear, then press Command-R to boot into Recovery Mode
- If you come to a screen that asks for a user password (figure 2), click Recovery Assistant at the top of the screen and select "Erase Mac..."
- After selecting this, you will see a new screen to erase the Mac, click Next (figure 3)
- You will have to confirm this choice (figure 4).
- The computer will reboot and you can proceed as you normally would to reimage the Mac.
Note: Figure 5 shows a boot mode for external configuration of the Mac's internal drive. Rebooting will return you to normal operations.
Option Boot, Figure 1
Recovery Stuck, Figure 2
Erase Mac, Figure 3
Erase Confirm, Figure 4
Target Disk Mode, Figure 5