You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

"This service not available" when resetting to factory settings

i have a 5 year old macbook i want to reset to factory settings, ad remove all personnel content. I follow the instructions and get a message , this service not available at this time try again


[Re-Titled by Moderator]

Posted on Sep 26, 2020 2:17 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 26, 2020 6:02 PM

One of the main sites to use would be the following:


• What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065


Another suggests how to Erase and Install a newer or newest

operating system (download installer, for internet install -or-

start from Recovery partition and download newer files online.)


Step #7 in above, is where your Mac should try & go.

Erase your hard drive and reinstall macOS

The best way to restore your Mac to factory settings

is to erase your hard drive and reinstall macOS.


This also can be useful to ready the new Mac OS for new owner.


"After macOS installation is complete, the Mac restarts to a setup

assistant that asks you to choose a country or region. To leave the Mac

in an out-of-box state, don't continue setup. Instead, press Command-Q

to shut down the Mac. ~ When the new owner turns on the Mac, the

'setup assistant' guides them through the setup process."


Depending on where the Mac was upgraded to, and original macOS

you may need to begin even earlier. Hopefully it had already been

upgraded or shipped with later Mac system, & not need DVD installer.


Good luck & happy computing!🌞🐝

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 26, 2020 6:02 PM in response to Mark1459

One of the main sites to use would be the following:


• What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201065


Another suggests how to Erase and Install a newer or newest

operating system (download installer, for internet install -or-

start from Recovery partition and download newer files online.)


Step #7 in above, is where your Mac should try & go.

Erase your hard drive and reinstall macOS

The best way to restore your Mac to factory settings

is to erase your hard drive and reinstall macOS.


This also can be useful to ready the new Mac OS for new owner.


"After macOS installation is complete, the Mac restarts to a setup

assistant that asks you to choose a country or region. To leave the Mac

in an out-of-box state, don't continue setup. Instead, press Command-Q

to shut down the Mac. ~ When the new owner turns on the Mac, the

'setup assistant' guides them through the setup process."


Depending on where the Mac was upgraded to, and original macOS

you may need to begin even earlier. Hopefully it had already been

upgraded or shipped with later Mac system, & not need DVD installer.


Good luck & happy computing!🌞🐝

"This service not available" when resetting to factory settings

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.