Is Monterey Recovery installation local or does it require internet access?
I am reinstalling Monterey on an Intel iMac. My first attempt involved booting into Recovery Mode using Command-R which, as I understand things, uses the built-in Recovery System to reinstall macOS. But it sure looks like it is downloading macOS Monterey from Apple via the internet, not reinstalling from a local installer.
Do all the recovery modes download a fresh copy of the installer?
Here's the reference doc I have already gone over -> Use macOS Recovery on an Intel-based Mac - Apple Support
iMac Line (2012 and Later)