macOS Recovery makes it easy to reinstall the Mac operating system, even if you need to erase your startup disk first. All you need is a connection to the internet. If a wireless network is available, you can choose it from the Wi-Fi menu , which is also available in macOS Recovery.
Reinstall from macOS Recovery
1. Start up from macOS Recovery
Basics of the First Aid tab in OS X Mavericks. If you suspect that something’s not quite right with your Mac, the First Aid portion of Disk Utility should be among your first stops. Use First Aid to verify and (if necessary) repair an ailing drive. To use it, click the First Aid button on the left side of the Disk Utility. When used via the mouse, all you need to do is hover over the green resize button in any Mac OS X window. Moom’s panel appears, and you then click the desired action. When used via the keyboard, a hot key displays the Moom bezel, and you can then use the arrow and modifier keys to move and resize the windows. Install Screens Connect, our free utility on your Mac or Windows PC and make it reachable from anywhere in the world. Multiple Display Support For Macs with several attached displays, Screens lets you select an individual one or you can show them all at once.
Drag the crosshair to select the area of the screen to capture. To move the selection, press and hold Space bar while dragging. To cancel taking the screenshot, press the Esc (Escape) key. To take the screenshot, release your mouse or trackpad button. If you see a thumbnail in the corner of your screen, click it to edit the screenshot. Open the Application Chooser by pressing VO-F1-F1 or, if you’re using VoiceOver gestures, double-tap near the left edge of the trackpad. Choose Finder in the Application Chooser. You can also use Mac OS X shortcuts by pressing Command-Tab and then using the arrow keys to navigate to the Finder. If a Finder window was open, you go to that window.
To start up from macOS Recovery, turn on your Mac and immediately press and hold one of the following sets of keys on your keyboard. Release the keys when you see an Apple logo, spinning globe or other startup screen.
Command (⌘)-R
Reinstall the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac (recommended).
Option-⌘-R
Upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.
Shift-Option-⌘-R
Reinstall the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version that's still available.
You may be prompted to enter a password, such as a firmware password or the password of a user who is an administrator of this Mac. Enter the requested password to continue.
When you see the utilities window, you have started up from macOS Recovery.
2. Decide whether to erase (format) your disk
You probably don't need to erase, unless you're selling, trading in or giving away your Mac, or you have an issue that requires you to erase. If you need to erase before installing macOS, select Disk Utility from the Utilities window, then click Continue. Find out more about when and how to erase.
3. Install macOS
When you're ready to reinstall macOS, choose Reinstall macOS from the Utilities window. Then click Continue and follow the on-screen instructions. You will be asked to choose a disk on which to install.
- If the installer asks to unlock your disk, enter the password you use to log in to your Mac.
- If the installer can't see your disk, or it says that it can't install on your computer or volume, you might need to erase your disk first.
- If the installer is for a different version of macOS than you expected, learn about macOS Recovery exceptions.
- If the installer offers you the choice between installing on Macintosh HD or Macintosh HD - Data, choose Macintosh HD.
Please allow the installation to be completed without putting your Mac to sleep or closing its lid. During installation, your Mac may restart and display a progress bar several times, and the screen may be blank for minutes at a time.
If your Mac restarts to a setup assistant, but you're selling, trading in or giving away your Mac, press Command-Q to quit the assistant without completing the setup process. Then click Shut Down. When the new owner starts up the Mac, they can use their own information to complete the setup process.
macOS Recovery exceptions
The version of macOS offered by macOS Recovery may vary in some cases:
- If macOS Sierra 10.12.4 or later has never been installed on this Mac, Option-Command-R installs the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version that's still available. And Shift-Option-Command-R isn't available.
- If you erased your entire disk instead of just the startup volume on that disk, macOS Recovery may offer only the macOS that came with your Mac, or the closest version still available. You can upgrade to a later version later.
- If your Mac has the Apple T2 Security Chip and you never installed a macOS update, Option-Command-R installs the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac.
- If you've just had your Mac logic board replaced during a repair, macOS Recovery may only offer the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac.
![Screen utility mac os high sierra Screen utility mac os high sierra](https://cdn.macpaw.com/uploads/images/630-recovery-mode.png)
If you can't get macOS Recovery to offer the installer you want, you may be able to use one of the other ways to install macOS.
Screen Utility Mac Os 10.10
Other ways to install macOS
- You can also install macOS from the App Store or Software Update preferences. If you can't install macOS Catalina, you might be able to install an earlier macOS, such as macOS Mojave, High Sierra, Sierra, El Capitan or Yosemite.
- Or, create a bootable installer disk, then use that disk to install macOS on your Mac or another Mac.
How to launch and use Grab utility on macOS and Mac OS X?
Many Mac users are already familiar with the Utility folder and the useful tools it contains such as Terminal, Activity Monitor, Disk Utility, Console, Keychain Access, etc. Some of these apps are helpful when seeking solutions to problems you may have encountered.
Among these useful apps is Grab, which is based on capturing a computer screen image. The Mac OS has built-in functions for screen capturing, they are reached through keyboard combinations such as Command, Shift and 3 or 4, however, the Grab app is much more powerful, and includes different image formats, a timer screenshot function, and more. In this article, we will cover all types of screenshots, troubleshooting, and how to set up the Grab app to deliver good quality images.
Table of Contents:
Mac Os Utility Screen
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Capabilities of Grab
As mentioned, the Grab app has higher functionality than Mac's built-in screenshot function - here is a clear view of its potential:
- Is able to capture just a portion of the screen.
- Takes an image grab of a selected window.
- Performs a Timed Screenshot. This function allows you to take a screen grab after 10 seconds.
- Allows you to select a type of pointer (cursor) and also to show or hide it in screenshots. To set pointer settings, open Grab Preferences and select the type of pointer, or disable it.
- Takes a picture of the entire screen, including multiple-monitor screens.
- Saves pictures in various image formats such as JPEG, PNG, and TIFF.
- Owns a small 'tooltip' displaying the exact coordinate of your pointer, which transforms into the amount of pixels selected when selecting an area.
Use of the Grab utility
This app has a simple interface, however, some steps might be confusing. Here, we walk step-by-step though all Grab functions. There are several ways to launch the app. As mentioned above, the app is within the Utilities folder, so we can use Spotlight, launchpad, or finder to start Grab. In finder, go to Applications, choose Utilities, and select Grab. In launchpad, Grab is within Other.
Take a screenshot of selected area in your screen
When the app is launched, click on Capture on Grab's menu at top of your screen, and then choose Selection or simply press Shift, Command and A together on your keyboard. You will notice Grab's information message. Now select your desired area by dragging with your mouse. When you have finished selecting, the picture will appear in a new window where you can save the image in a specified destination folder with a filename you provide.
Take a picture of desired window
Select Capture from Grab's menu, and then choose Window or simply press the keyboard shortcut Shift, Command and W. In the popped-up window, click Choose Window. Left click to select the window required to capture, and then save it.
Capture your entire screen
Select Capture from Grab's menu, choose Screen or simply press the keyboard combination of Command and Z to start capturing the whole screen. An information message will pop-up stating that the image will be taken when you left-click the screen anywhere (outside the message).
Perform a timed screenshot
To launch a timed screenshot function, go to Capture in Grab's menu and choose Timed Screen or use the keyboard shortcut Shift, Command and Z. The activation window will pop up and leave 10 seconds before capturing from the moment you clicked Start Timer. This function will take a picture of the entire screen - it is very useful when you need to take a screenshot of menus or menu options.
Check the details of taken screenshot
To look up information about the screen capture, click Window and choose Inspector, or simply press Command and 1 together. This information is available before image is saved, so you can check the dimensions and file size with the TIFF format, which is default Grab format for screen captures. You can change this format when you are not saving the screenshot.
Image quality
It is often useful to change the resolution of image. The Grab app usually captures images at high-resolution, however, this is restricted to your display resolution. To achieve a better quality of screenshot, ensure your display is at highest available resolution. To change your device display resolution, open the Mac's System Preferences and choose Displays. Check that the display is set to highest number of pixels available.
Change default screenshot format
The default format when saving captures is generally PNG and can be changed easily using terminal and a few simple commands. Mac supports PNG, JPG, TIFF, GIF, and PDF formats, so you can choose any of these. Launch terminal, which is under the Utilities folder or use spotlight.
- To set JPEG format as the default, type the terminal command: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type jpg
- To set TIFF, type: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type tiff
- To set GIF, type: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type gif
- Set PDF, type: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type pdf
- If you wish to return the format to PNG, type: defaults write com.apple.screencapture type png
The changes will not take effect until you restart the Mac. Alternatively, you can use the additional terminal command: killall SystemUIServer. The Mac will then be forced to reboot and the system will use the new settings.
![Mac Mac](https://edovia.com/en/screens-mac/images/features/mac/feature-mac-display-selection@2x.jpeg)
Grab utility stopped working after macOS update
Occassionally, the app might fail to work after a system update. This issue can be due to a corrupted Grab preference file. To see if this is the case on your system, open Finder, choose Go from the Finder's menu at top of your screen, select Go to Folder, and type the following path: ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.grab.plist and press return. Move the selected file to Trash or your Desktop and restart the Mac. Once the computer has completely rebooted, attempt to launch Grab again. If this step helped, delete the old preference file. Otherwise, try reinstalling the Grab app using macOS Recovery. Finally, if none of these solutions fixes the problem, you could reinstall macOS.
Screen Utility Mac Os Recovery Tool
Detailed steps on how to reinstall macOS.
An alternative method to take a screenshot on the Mac is to use built-in screenshot function.