How to Clean Install macOS Monterey Easily Using the New Erase Mac Option

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Apple today released macOS 12 Monterey, and whenever a new operating system is released for the Mac, some users prefer to perform a clean installation. This article explains how to perform what is effectively a clean install of Monterey using a brand new option that’s available on Apple silicon-powered Macs and Intel Macs with a T2 security chip.



Clean installing macOS is often done to remove annoying quirks and strange behaviors that a Mac may have inherited over time, and can also help to reclaim disk space caused by junk files left by third-party apps. However, even if neither of these issues have arisen for you, sometimes it’s just nice to start afresh for that “brand new Mac” feeling and then migrate your apps, documents, and data, either manually, or by migrating from a Time Machine backup.

Clean installing previous versions of macOS usually involves creating a bootable copy of the macOS installer on a flash drive or USB stick and then reformatting your drive before installing the bootable copy on your Mac, or using macOS Recovery to reinstall the Mac operating system over an internet connection. In Monterey, however, a third option has come into play on newer Macs that offers a very simple and straightforward way to erase your Mac without needing to reinstall the operating system.

Following in the footsteps of the iPhone and iPad, Apple silicon Macs and Intel Macs with a T2 security chip (2017-2020 models) now have an “Erase All Content and Settings” option available in macOS Monterey. Because storage is always encrypted on Mac systems with Apple silicon or the T2 chip, the system is instantly and securely “erased” by destroying the encryption keys.

erase Mac

Not only does this effectively erase all user data and user-installed apps from your Mac without reinstalling macOS, it a

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