If your Mac runs into a serious issue that standard troubleshooting seemingly fails to fix, the next logical step is to reinstall macOS. However, rather than wiping the internal storage and installing macOS from scratch, you can choose to reinstall the operating system without losing any of your data. Let’s check out how you can do that.

Back Up the Data on Your Mac Regardless

Since it’s possible to run into data corruption issues while reinstalling macOS, we recommend you make a backup of your data first. The best way to do that is to back up your Mac using Time Machine. Of course, this is only possible if the problems with your Mac aren’t stopping you from making a backup.

Time Machine settings on Mac.

Setting up Time Machine is pretty straightforward. Connect an external drive to your Mac that exceeds the capacity of the internet storage, head over to System Preferences > Time Machine, and back up your data to it. Once you’ve done that (or if your Mac fails to load into the desktop area), it’s time to move on.

Reinstall macOS Without Losing Any Data

Your Mac comes with a special recovery environment called macOS Recovery. You can use it to reinstall the operating system without losing any data. Here’s how:

  1. Boot your Mac into macOS Recovery. On Intel-based Macs, that means holding down the Cmd + R keys during startup until you see the Apple logo. If you use an Apple silicon Mac, hold down the Power button while turning it on and select Options > Continue on the Startup Options screen.
  2. Select an administrator account (if your Mac prompts you to) and enter its password to load the macOS Recovery menu.
  3. Select Reinstall macOS [Version Name] > Continue.
    macOS Recovery menu.
  4. Select Continue on the macOS installer and agree to Apple’s software license terms.
  5. Select your Mac’s startup drive—for example, Macintosh HD—and select Continue.
  6. Wait for your Mac to finish reinstalling macOS. That could take an hour or more. Your Mac will reboot multiple times in the meantime.

Avoid Losing Your Data

Reinstalling macOS while keeping your data intact helps resolve most issues without the hassle of setting up everything all over again. But if that doesn’t help, your next option is to go for the nuclear option—erase your Mac and then reinstall the operating system.