Internet recovery of original OS on Apple Silicon

[dougmon]

Hi. This might be a question answered elsewhere, but if so, I can't find the answer.

On the Intel Macs, there was a key combination (when starting up) that would allow the user to reinstall the original operating system through internet recovery. That is, even if the computer had Sonoma installed, but the originally installed OS was Ventura, you could install Ventura over the network.

I can't seem to find a way to do this on the Apple Silicon machines. Is there a way?

Thanks.

 

[Bigwaff]

It’s baked into Recovery on Apple Silicon Macs

Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon

Learn how to use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon.

support.apple.com

 

[dougmon]

It’s baked into Recovery on Apple Silicon Macs

Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon

Learn how to use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon.

support.apple.com

Thanks!

 

[theorist9]

It’s baked into Recovery on Apple Silicon Macs

Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon

Learn how to use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon.

support.apple.com

I read through that article and couldn't find anything about reinstalling the original OS. Can you tell me where in the article it appears?

According to this post by Encryptor5000 on https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255161644?answerId=259606198022&sortBy=best#259606198022 , it's not possible to do this using Recovery, and one must instead use either of these procedures if one wishes to downgrade from Sonoma in an Apple Silicon Mac:

 

[chrfr]

it's not possible to do this using Recovery, and one must instead use either of these procedures if one wishes to downgrade from Sonoma in an Apple Silicon Mac

This is correct. The ability to downgrade isn’t possible without either creating a USB installer or using the DFU restore. The DFU restore will revert the Mac’s firmware and software back to whatever version of macOS you’re reinstalling, while a USB drive won’t do that.
There actually isn’t really an internet recovery function in Apple Silicon Macs, at least not in the way that it works on Intel.

 

[erikkfi]

I read through that article and couldn't find anything about reinstalling the original OS. Can you tell me where in the article it appears?

According to this post by Encryptor5000 on https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255161644?answerId=259606198022&sortBy=best#259606198022 , it's not possible to do this using Recovery, and one must instead use either of these procedures if one wishes to downgrade from Sonoma in an Apple Silicon Mac:

View attachment 2354097

Does "a second Mac running macOS Monterey 12.4 or later" include Sonoma versions?

 

[theorist9]

Does "a second Mac running macOS Monterey 12.4 or later" include Sonoma versions?

I assume you're wondering if they meant "Monterey, 12.4 or later" or "Monterey 12.4 or later". I believe it's the latter, so you'd be fine with Sonoma.

 

[chrfr]

Does "a second Mac running macOS Monterey 12.4 or later" include Sonoma versions?

Yes. In fact the most recent version of Apple Configurator 2 requires Sonoma. However, with a Mac that is running Sonoma, you can connect a Mac that’s in DFU mode and restore it without using Configurator at all.

 

[iStorm]

Yes. In fact the most recent version of Apple Configurator 2 requires Sonoma. However, with a Mac that is running Sonoma, you can connect a Mac that’s in DFU mode and restore it without using Configurator at all.

About Apple Configurator 2... I tried to download Apple Configurator on my 2017 Mac running Ventura, but it said it wasn't compatible and that I needed to update my OS...but I can't...Ventura is the latest supported OS on that Mac.

To get around this, I had to "Get" (download/purchase) the app on my M3 Mac running Sonoma, and then go back to my 2017 Mac and download it from my purchase history. That ends up downloading the latest compatible version (2.16) for Ventura. Luckily I caught this now, otherwise I would have been screwed if my M3 Mac happened to be non-functional with no way to get the app into my purchase history.

Now that I have Apple Configurator (2.16) on my 2017 Mac, I assume it should be safe to restore my M3 Mac with it if the need ever arises? Or will it still require version 2.17 or newer to be able to handle restoring to the new M3 Mac?