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.

MacOS Recovery Mode = annoying

I'm frustrated with MacOS recovery mode.


To boot into MacOS recovery mode, you're at risk of an unsafe shutdown due to its poor design. You have to use the power button, which can easily be held down at the wrong time, potentially corrupting your OS by triggering a forced shutdown. This design is incredibly stupid.


When I attempt to boot into it by holding down the power button for the entire duration of the computer starting/booting, csrutil doesn't work consistently. Occasionally, it magically starts working, but the conditions required for csrutil to function properly are not clear.

MacBook Pro 14″, macOS 14.0

Posted on Sep 27, 2023 12:06 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 27, 2023 4:53 AM

Excerpt from below link and I see no danger of Corrupting the Drive or Installation on 3 different M1 / M2 Apple Silicon Computers


Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon


Start up your computer in macOS Recovery

  1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > Shut Down.
  2. Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar and keyboard) are off.
  3. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until the system volume and the Options button appear.
  4. Click the Options button, then click Continue. 
  5. If asked, select a volume to recover, then click Next.
  6. Select an administrator account, then click Next.
  7. Enter the password for the administrator account, then click Continue.
  8. When the Recovery app appears in the menu bar, you can choose any of the available options in the window or the menu bar.



10 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 27, 2023 4:53 AM in response to daslastic

Excerpt from below link and I see no danger of Corrupting the Drive or Installation on 3 different M1 / M2 Apple Silicon Computers


Use macOS Recovery on a Mac with Apple silicon


Start up your computer in macOS Recovery

  1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu  > Shut Down.
  2. Wait for your Mac to shut down completely. A Mac is completely shut down when the screen is black and any lights (including in the Touch Bar and keyboard) are off.
  3. Press and hold the power button on your Mac until the system volume and the Options button appear.
  4. Click the Options button, then click Continue. 
  5. If asked, select a volume to recover, then click Next.
  6. Select an administrator account, then click Next.
  7. Enter the password for the administrator account, then click Continue.
  8. When the Recovery app appears in the menu bar, you can choose any of the available options in the window or the menu bar.



Sep 27, 2023 5:04 AM in response to daslastic

Odd, I’ve never had an unsafe shutdown. You have to Shutdown to get into a state that you can startup in one true recovery (1TR), so there isn’t any unsafe shutdown.

Are you actually trying to get into Recovery while the Mac is booted normally?

Even on an Intel Mac that doesn’t use the power button, you have to restart. How are you managing to cause an unsafe shutdown?

Sep 27, 2023 10:43 AM in response to Barney-15E

On an Intel Mac, you can't mess it up. On my MacBook, I shut it down before beginning the process. The reason for this is that there is no indicator to show when it is fully shut down. This lack of an indicator means I might press the power button at the wrong time because I don't know when it's safe to do so.


This means that, by accident, I may hold the power button at the wrong time and shutdown my laptop. The proper method to access the SIP functions is to reboot. That's why my method was not working.


The only mistake I made was not realizing it required a reboot. Even with that, I messed it up and experienced an unsafe shutdown. Fortunately, somehow, because I rebooted (despite it appearing to shut down), it allowed me to access it the next time.


Overall, what I'm trying to say is that to access any MENU you should not be using the power button, you have the rest of the keyboard for that. Why apple? It is very easy to mess up for no reason.


To check if you got a unsafe shutdown from this, install smartmontools and do smartctl -a /dev/disk0 (not exclusive of course, but you check after doing it)

Sep 27, 2023 1:22 PM in response to daslastic

I don’t access any menus with the Power button. On Apple Silicon you have to hold down the power button to securely enter one true recovery so nobody can remotely restart and enter Recovery.

I have no idea why that is so difficult for you.

The power button on the back of my mini is back underneath the monitor and behind it so I have to wrench my wrist around to depress and hold the button and I have never managed to mess that up.

The backlighting on my M2 MacBook Pro turns off when it shuts down.

Sep 27, 2023 1:36 PM in response to Barney-15E

Why the power button? It is easy to mess up, I do not understand what you trying to say. It's not clear.


"I don’t access any menus with the Power button" - your on Intel?

Whatever the case is, using the power button to access the menu is also what you use to force a shutdown (in the middle of boot or booted). Is illogical. Anything else would help avoid messing it up.


Personally, I do find it difficult to reboot and then know when the device starts.


When powered off:

I have to press the power button, wait a second for it to start, then hold it. I have to use intuition to know when it's appropriate or it does a unsafe shutdown. (I do mess this up sometimes)

Rebooting:

I don't know when it's starting, when the apple logo shows up it is too late.

My point:

Any other key to access the menu would avoid this issue. Because it's not the power button.


It is indisputable that anything other than the power button is still easier than using the power button itself.

Why are you arguing against that saying that "it's so difficult for you." It's easy to mess up surely I'm not the only one.


I find this quite frustrating and don't downplay the stupidity of using the power button to access the menu.

It is very possible you have triggered an unsafe shutdown without knowing it during this process. I think that's what you're struggling to understand. Additionally, unsafe shutdowns are awful for PC's, same goes with Unix devices alike.

Have you even tried to csrutil before? That specifically requires a reboot?? For some reason.


I posted this to complain about it, but looks like you want to defend this?

Ik, this isn't a complaint place I was just really annoyed ok! Sorry.


I'm a developer I access this menu very often due to me changing out my Operating System.

I have 24 unsafe shutdowns because of this.

Sep 27, 2023 1:50 PM in response to daslastic

"I don’t access any menus with the Power button" - your on Intel?
Whatever the case is, using the power button to access the menu is also what you use to force a shutdown (in the middle of boot or booted). Is illogical. Anything else would help avoid messing it up.

I told you I have an M2 MacBook Pro. I don't access any menus with the power button on it, either. You can access Recovery using the power button, but no menus drop down or pop up.

Personally, I do find it difficult to reboot and then know when the device starts.

When powered off:
I have to press the power button, wait a second for it to start, then hold it. I have to use intuition to know when it's appropriate or it does a unsafe shutdown. (I do mess this up sometimes)

If it has never started up, it won't cause any damage to anything.

Why are you waiting. There's no reason to wait. You can even just hold it down. No intuition needed.

Rebooting:
I don't know when it's starting, when the apple logo shows up it is too late.
My point:
Any other key to access the menu would avoid this issue. Because it's not the power button.

What menu are you trying to access? Do you mean Recovery? That's not a menu.

It is indisputable that anything other than the power button is still easier than using the power button itself.

Press one button, then press another or press one button. Seems indisputably easier to just use the one button.

Why are you arguing against that saying that "it's so difficult for you." It's easy to mess up surely I'm not the only one.

I find this quite frustrating and don't downplay the stupidity of using the power button to access the menu.
It is very possible you have triggered an unsafe shutdown without knowing it during this process. I think that's what you're struggling to understand. Additionally, unsafe shutdowns are awful for PC's, same goes with Unix devices alike.
Have you even tried to csrutil before? That specifically requires a reboot?? For some reason.

I don't disable SIP. Why do you think you need to. If you regularly need to disable SIP you should run Linux or some other unprotected operating system.

I posted this to complain about it, but looks like you want to defend this?

I have no idea why it is so difficult for you to do. There's nothing to defend. It just isn't a problem.


Ik, this isn't a complaint place I was just really annoyed ok! Sorry.

I'm a developer I access this menu very often due to me changing out my Operating System.
I have 24 unsafe shutdowns because of this.

Why do you need to disable SIP to change your OS. You can create numerous APFS volumes with different OS versions. You can create virtual machines with different OS versions. What are you doing when you switch that requires you disable SIP?

Sep 27, 2023 2:11 PM in response to Barney-15E

Brother, you are completely misunderstanding me and starting to argue here.


"I don't disable SIP. Why do you think you need to. If you regularly need to disable SIP you should run Linux or some other unprotected operating system." I do not care, what you need to do with your Mac, stop personalizing it to your needs. There are reasons why I use Mac over Linux but telling me to shooo is uh??? I simply use Yabai, and I sometimes I feel like reinstalling my OS. Therefore I need to partially disable SIP for the couple of features it gives that I would like.


"Why are you waiting. There's no reason to wait. You can even just hold it down. No intuition needed." - This doesn't work for me. Its shutdown, I hold it and nothing happens? I recall it not working for me, I'm happy if its as simple as holding it down for you.


"Press one button, then press another or press one button. Seems indisputably easier to just use the one button." -what???? no its not. Because you know, you might shut it down on accident, oops.


"If it has never started up, it won't cause any damage to anything." - arrogance, you use the power button while it boots. If the recovery thing 'menu' does not pop up, you force shutdown while that operating system is starting, therefore, you can potentially corrupt data.


"What menu are you trying to access? Do you mean Recovery? That's not a menu." - you know what I mean? Idk what it would be then, I don't know the specific terminology sorry.


"Press one button, then press another or press one button. Seems indisputably easier to just use the one button." - No. Hold down Ctrl+D for instance, while it boots or rebooting, 100% guaranteed to work. Now, I heard the power button is being used for security purposes, doesn't have to be the power button tho. (maybe internal hardware, which still begs the question of why the power button)


"Why do you need to disable SIP to change your OS. You can create numerous APFS volumes with different OS versions. You can create virtual machines with different OS versions. What are you doing when you switch that requires you disable SIP" - reinstalling my main work machine.


"I have no idea why it is so difficult for you to do. There's nothing to defend. It just isn't a problem." For you! And I'm glad! Sorry to get you fussed about it, its best we stop talking about a pretty small petty problem. 24 unsafe shutdowns isn't something to not call a problem, it's not as if I wasn't trying to figure it out, I'm just scared now to access the menu.


I'm not about to start a full debate on an Apple form, this'll be my last response.

MacOS Recovery Mode = annoying

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