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How do I do a Factory reset without internet connection ?

My wife's iPad won't link to wifi all of a sudden I have tried many solutions and now need to try a factory reset but it wants to connect to internet to allow the factory reset. Hoe can I do a factory reset without internet access?

iPhone 4, iOS 7.1

Posted on Jun 13, 2014 5:16 PM

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Posted on May 14, 2015 12:57 AM

None of these helped me, but I did find the answer.

My iPhone (4S) was deactivated and couldn't connect to WiFi, and Find My iPhone had been turned on. I needed to wipe it in order to return it to Verizon, but couldn't Erase from the phone because of Find My iPhone requires an internet connection to erase.


The solution was to boot the iPhone into DFU mode.

DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade) mode is not the same as restore mode. DFU mode bypasses the current OS installed and allows you to upgrade or downgrade your OS. If you are getting errors trying to restore in iTunes, DFU mode is very likely for you.

DFU mode is not recovery mode. Recovery mode has a picture that says connect to iTunes. In DFU mode, the iPhone screen backlight is not even on and the display is blank. If you have anything on your display you are not in DFU mode.

This is how to achieve DFU mode. You can do it on every phone:


  • Attach the phone to the pc
  • Turn the phone off
  • Press and hold power. Keep holding power. As soon as you see display on the screen of any sort press and hold home.
  • Hold power and home together for *exactly* 10 seconds
  • Release power but keep holding home until the pc beeps as a USB device is recognized.
  • At no point will the display come on. Now your restore should work.


iTunes should detect your iPhone in DFU mode, and it will ask if you would like to reset it. If you want, you can make a backup of your iPhone's data before doing this. If not necessary, then just go ahead and reset your iPhone. Reset in this case means ERASE EVERYTHING to return to factory default.


4. Wait for a while, it can take up to and hour to reset. The computer downloads the latest iOS and then deploys it on the phone. When done, your iPhone should turn on, clean from all it's data.



Sources: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20131119125513AAtRloc

http://thebigboss.org/guides-iphone-ipod-ipad/dfu-mode

13 replies
Question marked as Best reply

May 14, 2015 12:57 AM in response to Jonathan10101

None of these helped me, but I did find the answer.

My iPhone (4S) was deactivated and couldn't connect to WiFi, and Find My iPhone had been turned on. I needed to wipe it in order to return it to Verizon, but couldn't Erase from the phone because of Find My iPhone requires an internet connection to erase.


The solution was to boot the iPhone into DFU mode.

DFU (Device Firmware Upgrade) mode is not the same as restore mode. DFU mode bypasses the current OS installed and allows you to upgrade or downgrade your OS. If you are getting errors trying to restore in iTunes, DFU mode is very likely for you.

DFU mode is not recovery mode. Recovery mode has a picture that says connect to iTunes. In DFU mode, the iPhone screen backlight is not even on and the display is blank. If you have anything on your display you are not in DFU mode.

This is how to achieve DFU mode. You can do it on every phone:


  • Attach the phone to the pc
  • Turn the phone off
  • Press and hold power. Keep holding power. As soon as you see display on the screen of any sort press and hold home.
  • Hold power and home together for *exactly* 10 seconds
  • Release power but keep holding home until the pc beeps as a USB device is recognized.
  • At no point will the display come on. Now your restore should work.


iTunes should detect your iPhone in DFU mode, and it will ask if you would like to reset it. If you want, you can make a backup of your iPhone's data before doing this. If not necessary, then just go ahead and reset your iPhone. Reset in this case means ERASE EVERYTHING to return to factory default.


4. Wait for a while, it can take up to and hour to reset. The computer downloads the latest iOS and then deploys it on the phone. When done, your iPhone should turn on, clean from all it's data.



Sources: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20131119125513AAtRloc

http://thebigboss.org/guides-iphone-ipod-ipad/dfu-mode

Jun 14, 2014 4:36 AM in response to Jonathan10101

This would be too easy, and I assume that you tried it already but have you reset the iPad like this?


Reset the iPad by holding down on the sleep and home buttons at the same time for about 10-15 seconds until the Apple Logo appears - ignore the red slider if it appears on the screen - let go of the buttons. Let the iPad start up.

Oct 4, 2015 3:39 PM in response to Triceptis

This helped me too. (DFU MODE)


Old 4S, sending in for repair due to no wifi, bt, and no sim due to upgrading to iPhone 6.... So reseting through settings menu was also 'no worky' as it needs the iCloud password, but this won't work as no connection to internet possible...


So found this thread and it just worked perfectly 🙂

Thanks for posting.


may the force be with you all....

Jun 13, 2014 5:52 PM in response to brianfromromulus

Please be careful about what you are posting. This will not help in this situation if no internet or WiFi is available,


This erases the device but does not reinstall the iOS software. That in and of itself is not the end of the world, but if he wants to reinstall the iOS software, that will not happen when you erase the device and activate it again.


Not only that, after he erases the iPad, he will not be able to activate it without WiFi and an internet connection.


So ..... You cannot reset/restore/erase the device and start over again without an internet connection.

Jun 13, 2014 5:48 PM in response to Jonathan10101

Hello Johnathan10101:


Try this:


Erase your device

Erasing all content and settings will delete all the data from your device, including songs, videos, contacts, photos, calendar information, and any other data. All device settings are restored to their factory condition.

To remove all settings and information from your device, tap Settings > General > Reset > Erase All Content and Settings. Learn more about Erase All Content and Settings.

Why is your wife's iPad not connecting to wifi?


You will have to have a working internet connection to update or restore.


Try the above and I hope this help.

Jun 14, 2014 3:15 AM in response to Jonathan10101

You said in your first post that you have tried many solutions, but without knowing what those solutions are, I might be repeating something that you already tried. Nonetheless, here are a couple of things to try. You will not lose any data when you perform either of these steps.


Settings>General>Reset>Reset Network Settings. You will have to enter all network settings again.


Settings>General>Reset>Reset all Settings. All of your device settings will have to be entered again.

Jun 14, 2014 2:51 AM in response to Demo

Hi to clarify the reason I am trying the factory reset is becasue for no reason at all the wifi connection has stopped responding i.e. you can't flick the Wifi switch from off to on.


My wifi connection works fine on all other devices and have tried it in other places you simply can't switch the switch to get the IPad to search for a wifi connection. To my mind the Ipad has simply got mixed up and needs to be reset.

Any further advice would be welcome.

How do I do a Factory reset without internet connection ?

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