2018 Intel mini won't boot to Recovery mode

[laserfan]

Brand-new (to me anyway) and I decided before I made an external Recovery disk (inspired by an AppleInsider article) that I'd boot it in Recovery mode--mine has the T2 chip and, well, I'd never tried it before. Doesn't work, no amount of any of the CMD-R or option variants do anything but get me to my normal login screen. Tried CMD-R on Wife's Macbook 12 and it worked straight-off, so I know what it looks like.

Could my problem be that I'm using a 3rd-party keyboard? This Satechi bluetooth kb and mouse set works great, but maybe my Mac doesn't connect at boot? Yes, I know, try another (e.g. wired) keyboard but I don't have such a thing. But I'd try that if anyone thinks that's my problem.

 

[kitKAC]

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/guide/mac-help/mchl338cf9a8/15.0/mac/15.0#mchl4260d54a

Is the machine set to "Allow booting from external or removable media"?

 

[Adora]

Try Internet Recovery:

• Command-R: Start up from the built-in macOS Recovery System. Use this key combination to reinstall the latest macOS that was installed on your system, or to use the other apps in macOS Recovery.
• Option-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall macOS and upgrade to the latest version of macOS that’s compatible with your Mac.
• Option-Shift-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall the version of macOS that came with your Mac or the closest version that’s still available.

 

[DeltaMac]

Normal Recovery mode is neither external nor removable media.
So, won't help if the issue is the keyboard, and the OP would have to boot to recovery to change those boot settings. Kind of a catch-22 on that, right?

Definitely try a wired USB keyboard/mouse (always good to have for emergency use when you have a wireless setup.

 

[Patrice Brousseau]

Normal Recovery mode is neither external nor removable media.
So, won't help if the issue is the keyboard, and the OP would have to boot to recovery to change those boot settings. Kind of a catch-22 on that, right?

Definitely try a wired USB keyboard/mouse (always good to have for emergency use when you have a wireless setup.

I second, use any USB direct keyboard.

 

[Honza1]

I keep old USB mac keyboard at home specifically for this purpose. And wired mouse... BT keyboard/mouse are not connected yet when you need to do cmd-R.

 

[Fishrrman]

Try a wired keyboard.

 

[laserfan]

Try Internet Recovery:

• Command-R: Start up from the built-in macOS Recovery System. Use this key combination to reinstall the latest macOS that was installed on your system, or to use the other apps in macOS Recovery.
• Option-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall macOS and upgrade to the latest version of macOS that’s compatible with your Mac.
• Option-Shift-Command-R: Start up from macOS Recovery over the internet. Use this key combination to reinstall the version of macOS that came with your Mac or the closest version that’s still available.

Tried all those--none work.

Gotta be the BT keyboard then. The one wired keyboard I have in this house is an MS with the old style plug. I'll either borrow a keyboard from a neighbor or grab one when I'm at our other house where I have a few USB, though they are all Windowz type. I guess they might work but I have to use the WIN key I guess.

Or maybe I just get one from Amazon and be done with it.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you need a USB keyboard "just to have around" for situations like this, I'd suggest an old Macally from ebay...

 

[tonmischa]

Havent tried it myself, but maybe this can help?

Can I initiate a MacOS restart to Recovery mode solely from the command line?

I've done some searching online without luck, hoping that one of you Mac virtuosos might know the answer. On Intel Macs, I know I can hold Command + R but I'm looking for a terminal command to ini...

apple.stackexchange.com

 

[laserfan]

Havent tried it myself, but maybe this can help?

Can I initiate a MacOS restart to Recovery mode solely from the command line?

I've done some searching online without luck, hoping that one of you Mac virtuosos might know the answer. On Intel Macs, I know I can hold Command + R but I'm looking for a terminal command to ini...

apple.stackexchange.com

That's interesting tonmischa, but I'm not going to try it without having a kb--otherwise if something went wrong I might end-up stuck booting to Recovery.

I'm not in a hurry so will play it safe and get a proper keyboard to use.

 

[laserfan]

So bizarre. I borrowed an ancient Mac USB keyboard (genuine Apple) from elderly neighbor and CMD-R gets me something different: I see alternate images of the underside of a mouse and the backside of a kb indicating I need to turn them on. No response to my USB kb and turning on the Satechi devices is no help--I just can shut the thing off and start-over, booting as normal to my login page and using the BT items.

I have a new Macally kb arriving in a couple days; I hope that works as it should. Else I might have to borrow and pair elderly neighbor's wireless Apple keyboard (she has an iMac) and try that. Can't believe this is so difficult...

EDIT: On a whim, after I'd booted the Mini successfully I plugged-in the old Mac kb and tested it with Notes--worked. Then I tried a Restart, and again got the alt images of the kb and mouse, and idly pressed the Mini's Power button and got the initial Recovery screen! Showed my pic and wanted my pw but since the mouse wasn't working I found no way to select it. Fiddling with either kb's arrow keys etc. didn't seem to do anything. I fear now that I should have ordered a wired mouse too.

 

[laserfan]

Epilog: The wireless Satechi keyboard & mouse don't work to boot to Recovery, but my new Macally mini USB-C keyboard does, though I found I do need also a wired mouse to select my login image. A Windows/MS USB mouse I had on hand worked for that, as did an MS USB keyboard I tried before taking delivery of the Macally.

Interesting (to me) was that the Startup Utility, accessible it seems only via the Recovery screen, did need me to set "Allow external boot drives". I'd thought from another screen somewhere in Settings that I was ok in that regard. Guess not. Finally ready to make a Recovery disk with a 512GB external SSD I had bought for that purpose.