How do I restore the 2011 MacBook Air to factory setting??

Boot from the Recovery HD by restarting the computer and after the chime press and hold down the COMMAND and "R" keys until the computer starts from the Recovery HD. Select Disk Utility from the main menu and click on the Continue button.

2. After DU loads select your hard drive (this is the entry with the mfgr.'s ID and size) from the left side list. Click on the Partition tab in the DU main window.

3. Under the Volume Scheme heading set the number of partitions from the drop down menu to one. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, set the partition scheme to GUID then click on the OK button. Click on the Partition button and wait until the process has completed.

4. Select the volume you just created (this is the sub-entry under the drive entry) from the left side list. Click on the Erase tab in the DU main window.

5. Set the format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.) Click on the Options button, check the button for Zero Data and click on OK to return to the Erase window.

6. Click on the Erase button. The format process can take up to several hours depending upon the drive size.

At this point all your data are securely removed. You can shut down the computer or reinstall Lion from the main menu.

Security options is greyed out because you cannot wipe the start up drive. If you entered disk utilty via the recovery on the drive, then it won't let you wipe it. You need to boot from a CD or USB and then you will be able to wipe the drive. You can create a USB recovery from here: http://support.apple.com/kb/dl1433

If you just erase the drive but do not reinstall Lion, then you will return the computer with a blank drive, not as if it were new.

However, the computer you are returning will only be resold as a refurbed unit, so Apple will install whatever software needs to be installed on it. You are not obliged to do that yourself unless you want to.

If you follow the drive prep procedure I provided all your data is essentially securely erased. That is what the one pass Zero Data Security option does.

Yep, you've erased the drive (not securely) so now it's not bootable. Again, boot into the Recovery HD by restarting and after the chime press and hold the COMMAND and "R" keys until it boots from the Recovery HD.

Follow the previous procedure from Steps 4-6 to simply do a secure erase of the Macintosh HD volume.

I have had the same problem...security option is greyed out. I followed your steps perfectly to the point I went back in by holding down the Option key at start up, connected the wifi, went back into disk utility and followed your steps again, still no security option. Is the security option not available because it's SSD?

I erased the partition and did a clean install of Lion as I couldn't get a secure erase. Very frustrating.

This is how its done:

It works on Mac OS X Lion only.

1. Launch the Terminal application on you Mac. Then run the following sequence of commands (one at a time):

sudo su

dscl . -delete /Groups/admin GroupMembership yourAccountNameHere

dscl . -delete /Users/yourAccountNameHere

2. Now reboot your Mac into single-user mode by holding Command-S at startup.

3. Once booted into single-user mode, run the following sequence of commands (one at a time):

/sbin/fsck -fy

/sbin/mount -uw /

rm -R /Users/yourAccountNameHere

cd /var/db/

mv .AppleSetupDone .RunLanguageChooserToo

rm -R /Library/Caches/*

rm -R /System/Library/Caches/*

rm -R /var/vm/swapfile*

reboot

Your Mac will reboot to the start of the initial Apple Setup program just like when you first powered it on after purchase. All clean and ready to sell or give to a new user.

I'm having this same issue. "Security options" button is greyed out. I need to securily wipe a computer that needs to be returned to my employeer. Anyone figure anything out? It is very important that I securily wipe it. I deal with confidential student information.

Well I have the same issue"security options" but I check the next window...I do not remember the name and its says Data Zero so, what I did was erase it. After that I turn off the computer, you have to start the computer again in Recovery HD or you will see an icon that is a filed with a question mark on it. When you used COMMAND and R keys...if you wait it will show you first that is serching and then a window with 4 options....used the option for install the Mac OX lion and then continue. The document created before, has the same side of the original that we erase, install it.. will take about two hours...in my case..the computer asked me to restart before finishing the process, I did it and i have to star all over from the COMMAND + R key and turn on/off computer button, but at the end when the dowload finished it restart itself as factory setting!!

I don't usually reply to posts on noticeboards, but I do have to say thank you very much for your contribution!

I bought a MacBook Air for my girlfriend on eBay and it had to be reset.

Your solution worked absolutely brilliantly!

Thanks mate!

Hi darrenfox,

I have a question rnegarding your solution for restoring MacBook Air to factory settings...

When I add the sudo su command and press enter to add the next command I get a warning that it can incur data loss which is cool, but then it says;

To proceed, enter your password, or type Ctrl-C to abort.

Password:

From here I cannot proceed as it does not even allow me to type, I try and type and it just remains blank... . .?

Any ideas as to how to proceed?

Thanks for your time,

Alex

I'm not an expert but I would've thought that if facing problems with the erase/wipe option, perhaps the easiest way to "wipe" your data would be to turn on file-vault and then re-install OSX on top of that. The underlying data would remain encrypted and there would simply be no way to recover it?

I'm stuck following DarrenjFox instructions. I get to /sbin/mount -uw / and receive a bunch of "device is write locked" messages. If I try to continue to the next step (rm -R /Users/myusername) I get "No such file or directory". If I reboot I can only access Guest Safari browsing login so I'm stumped on how to even reinstall Lion or do Time Machine backup to restrore device. I'm ultimately trying to wipe the device clean to give to someone else. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Another side note, I have a Win7 partition and am still able to login to that......for what it's worth.