I followed the above instructions but was unable to restore my 2015 MacBook Air to factory settings. The above process just refreshes the state it was in when I began the restore. What am I doing incorrectly? Any assistance will be very appreciated.

lkwersen wrote:

I used the Catalina installer, because that is what was installed when my son gave me the Air.

Try to use the Monterey installer and follow the steps in the article to startup from it.

Then, Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support. When erasing your Mac, select "View" > "Show All Devices" in Disk Utility and erase the main drive. Its name will end in "Media". Make sure this information matches:

Name: Macintosh HD

Format: APFS

Scheme: GUID

After erasing your startup disk, reinstall macOS: How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support.

After erasing your Mac and reinstalling macOS, you will be presented with a Setup Assistant. Set up your Mac, and you're done!

Enjoy your Mac!

Jack

Hello!

When you followed the steps to create a macOS bootable installer, what version of macOS did you use? Your Mac is compatible with macOS Monterey, the latest version of macOS.

Jack