Recovery mode on Mac with 3rd party or wireless keyboard

Question

Recovery mode on Mac with 3rd party or wireless keyboard

Is there a way to instruct my Mac to restart in Recovery mode or Safe mode without relying on keyboard shortcuts? I’ve frequently come up against the frustrating problem of a wireless or 3rd party keyboard not being recognised on startup. It’s as if Apple has completely forgotten that not everyone uses a MacBook or Apple keyboard and mouse. Mac users for decades have had good reason to prefer a 3rd party option for these peripheral devices. Surely there could be a Utility to allow you to choose startup options BEFORE shutting down? Or an options tab next to the startup command in the Apple menu where you could select Recovery, Safe, Alternative Startup volume etc.?

Please tell me I’m missing something!

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Dec 10, 2021 5:12 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Jack-19

Level 8

45,722 points

Dec 10, 2021 8:41 PM in response to Matt (Guitar) Roberts

And you can't access anything but the latest Mac OS in the App Store.

That is incorrect. See: How to get old versions of macOS - Apple Support.

Jack

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Answer 2

Dec 10, 2021 8:33 PM in response to rkaufmann87

Ridiculous don't you think? And you can't access anything but the latest Mac OS in the App Store. Just astounding that the company is able to be so monolithic and distant from its customers and users.

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Answer 3

Dec 11, 2021 1:43 AM in response to rkaufmann87

I will do that thanks. I’m certainly not alone. Many posts online from users of a desktop Mac with a wireless keyboard on which keystrokes are not registered by the computer until after the startup chime.

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Answer 4

Dec 11, 2021 4:34 PM in response to tbirdvet

“I always have a wired keyboard and mouse as backup just in case…”

Exactly. And when every new Mac has shipped with wireless keyboard for many years, should that kind of precaution be necessary or expected, or should Apple include a Restart utility with options to restart the machine in Safe or Recovery or Bootable Disk options?

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Answer 5

ku4hx

Level 7

23,496 points

Dec 11, 2021 4:44 PM in response to Matt (Guitar) Roberts

How hard is it to press and hold the shift key as power is applied? I consider this a Restart Utility. Every electrical device ever created has a restart utility, it's call the power button.

I like being responsible for learning a few "alternate methods" as opposed to being spoon fed everything.

There are bootable disk options, I have five of them. The fact it's via a 3rd party app is on no consequence. In, fact I like that too. Inventive ingenuity is fostered and not concentrated in one walled garden.

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Answer 6

rkaufmann87

Level 10

141,048 points

Dec 10, 2021 10:52 PM in response to Matt (Guitar) Roberts

No I don't. I have never had anyone complain about how to access the Recovery Partition before, yours is the first. You can always post your feedback to Apple at www.apple.com/feedback.

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Answer 7

rkaufmann87

Level 10

141,048 points

Dec 10, 2021 8:14 PM in response to Matt (Guitar) Roberts

No, you need the keyboard and the keystrokes to boot into the Recovery Partition.

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Answer 8

Dec 10, 2021 9:10 PM in response to Jack-19

The links do not work in Safari or other browsers on Mac OS Mojave. Browser goes to an empty page and App Store does not open. I’ve seen many others observe this.

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Answer 9

Jack-19

Level 8

45,722 points

Dec 10, 2021 9:45 PM in response to Matt (Guitar) Roberts

It is a server issue. It should be fixed shortly.

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Answer 10

ku4hx

Level 7

23,496 points

Dec 11, 2021 5:20 AM in response to Matt (Guitar) Roberts

True, but considering the millions of Mac of all sorts out there, the number of reports of problems such as yours is trivial. Not to you obviously, but still rare indeed.

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