We will show you how you can clean install macOS Ventura final version on your Intel or Apple Silicon Mac without a USB installer drive.
You Can Clean Install macOS Ventura on Your Intel or Apple Silicon Mac Using the Internet - No USB Installer Drive Required
For the longest time, we've shown our readers on how to perform a macOS clean install using a USB installer drive. It involves creating a macOS installer media drive, restarting your Mac with the drive plugged in, and taking things further from there.
But, the entire 'create the USB installer drive' part is a huge chore. So, instead of pushing our readers towards that route this year, we are going to keep things extremely simple. How? By showing everyone how you can use the Internet Recovery feature on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs instead - it doesn't require any USB drive at all, and an internet connection is all you need to get everything done.
Before you go ahead, make sure you've backed up all your files and settings to a safe and secure location. You can either use iCloud Drive, create a Time Machine backup, or just use an external drive to save your stuff. It's entirely up to you as long as everything is protected ahead of the clean installation.
Make Sure Your Mac is Supported
The absolutely necessary step that will decide whether you should go forward with macOS Ventura or not. If your Mac is not on the list, then you can't install macOS Ventura.
- iMac 2017 and later
- Mac Pro 2019 and later
- iMac Pro 2017
- Mac mini 2018 and later
- MacBook Air 2018 and later
- MacBook 2017 and later
- MacBook Pro 2017 and later
The above list is really not for you at all if you have an Apple Silicon Mac.
Clean Install macOS Ventura on Apple Silicon Mac
- First and foremost, power down your Mac completely.
- Press and hold the power button until you see the Apple logo, and keep on holding it until boot options show up on display.
- Click on the gear icon labeled Options.
- Click on Disk Utility.
- Select your Mac's internal HDD/SSD from the left-hand side and then click on Erase at the top.
- Leave everything at default and then click on Erase. You might be asked to restart your Mac, please do so.
- Once back to the main Internet Recovery screen, click on Reinstall macOS. Follow the on-screen instructions for installation.
Clean Install macOS Ventura on Intel Mac
- Power down your Mac completely.
- Power up your Mac and immediately press the Command+R key combination on the keyboard until you see boot-up options. Click on the Options icon to go into Internet Recovery.
- Click on Disk Utility.
- Erase your internal HDD/SSD using the default settings.
- Once back at the main Internet Recovery screen, click on Reinstall macOS.
If you have really speedy internet, the whole process shouldn't take that long. Once done, you can set up your Mac as a brand new device and start using it as you normally would, except this time, you will be enjoying macOS Ventura.
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About the author: Uzair has been writing about tech for a little under 10 years. Started off in the Symbian days, migrated to Android, eventually settling on iOS and Mac to make a living. Loves photography, drones, talking about the latest tech, and firmly believes that iPad is the future of computing. Served as Editor-in-Chief with Redmond Pie for five years, author at The Readers Eye and many other freelance gigs. Wccftech is now his current home.
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