MacOS – Why “OS X Utilities” is showing instead of “macOS Utilities” whenever I perform recovery mode

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I have a MacBook Pro (retina, 13”, early 2015) running macOS Catalina 10.15.7 and I want to erase or reformat it.

I’m performing a factory reset and Command + R is not working to show the recovery mode so I used Command + Option + R. Instead of “macOS Utilities,” it shows “OS X Utilities.”

When I clicked the “Disk Utility,” I can’t find the HD disk I’m using.

Can someone please help me on how can I successfully reset my MacBook Pro?

Additional information:

  • My MacBook Pro built-in keyboard is already faulty. The left Shift key always functioning (meaning always on press) so download Karabiner-Elements to disabled my left Shift key.
  • I don’t have any external keyboard for MacBook. Sometimes I used a Windows keyboard when needed. I tried to use a Windows keyboard to press the Command + R to enter the recovery mode but no luck that’s why I tried the Internet Recovery (Command + Option + R) using the built-in MacBook Pro keyboard.

Best Answer

I can guess what's happening, but not how to fix it, short of physically disconnecting the keyboard.

The startup commands are…

  • Cmd ⌘ R
    reinstall the latest macOS that was installed on your Mac, without upgrading to a later version

This first one is in fact loading from your existing recovery partition.

These next two go online for Internet Recovery

  • Opt ⌥ Cmd ⌘ R
    upgrade to the latest macOS that is compatible with your Mac
  • Shift ⇧ Opt ⌥ Cmd ⌘ R
    reinstall the macOS that came with your Mac, or the version nearest to it that is still available.

Pressing Opt ⌥ Cmd ⌘ R for the latest OS is adding your stuck shift key (because Karabiner isn't loaded yet to prevent it), meaning you get Shift ⇧ Opt ⌥ Cmd ⌘ R which is trying to install a version of the OS (presumably 10.10) too old to read your APFS drive.

I can only guess that Shift ⇧ Cmd ⌘ R is not being recognised as anything at all.

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