How do I access Disk Utility on Mac startup?
Matthew Barrera
Updated on April 05, 2026
To access the Disk Utility on a modern Mac—regardless of whether it even has an operating system installed—reboot or boot up the Mac and hold Command+R as it boots. It’ll boot into Recovery Mode, and you can click Disk Utility to open it up.
Where is Mac Disk Utility?
To access Disk Utility while logged in, go to the Finder and click the Go menu, select Utilities, and then in the window that appears, double-click the Disk Utility icon.
How do I restore my Mac without a startup disk?
How to use Internet Recovery to reinstall macOS
- Shut down your Mac.
- Hold down Command-Option/Alt-R and press the Power button.
- Hold down those keys until you a spinning globe and the message “Starting Internet Recovery.
- The message will be replaced with a progress bar.
- Wait for the MacOS Utilities screen to appear.
How do I reinstall Mac OS without recovery mode?
If your Mac is missing a Recovery partition, then you may be able to restore it, by resetting your PRAM. To reset the PRAM, restart your Mac while holding down the ‘Command+Option+P+R’ keys until you hear macOS’ distinctive startup chimes for a second time.
How do I reinstall Mac Startup Disk?
Restart your Mac, and press Command + R, while it’s restarting. Select Disk Utility from the macOS Utilities menu. Once Disk Utility has loaded, choose the disk you wish to repair – the default name for your system partition is generally “Macintosh HD”, and choose ‘Repair Disk’.
How do I reinstall my Mac without recovery?
Restart your Mac while holding down the ‘Option+Command+R’ keys. Release these keys as soon as you see the Apple logo. Once your Mac boots, you should see a spinning globe and the message ‘Starting Internet Recovery.
How do I change the startup disk on a Mac?
The Startup Manager lets you choose a different startup disk during boot. So if you have your Mac partitioned to run Windows or a macOS beta, for example, you can select that startup disk instead of the default disk. Start or restart your Mac and immediately press and hold the option key on your keyboard.
How do I unlock the startup disk on a Mac?
The next time you restart your computer, it starts up from the disk selected as your startup disk in System Preferences. On your Mac, choose Apple menu > System Preferences, then click Startup Disk. If the lock at the bottom left is locked , click it to unlock the preference pane.
How do I Make my Mac start up from a CD?
You can make your Mac start up from a CD or DVD, a network volume, a different disk, or another operating system. To do so, you change your startup disk. Important: If you have a Mac with an Apple T2 chip, added security features may need to be set in order to change the startup disk.
How to repair a Mac disk with Disk Utility?
How to repair a Mac disk with Disk Utility. 1 Open Disk Utility. Start up from macOS Recovery, then select Disk Utility from the Utilities window. Click Continue. If you’re not repairing the disk 2 Locate your disk in Disk Utility. 3 Repair volumes, then containers, then disks. See More….