macOS version – If your macOS version is older than Sierra, then the Recovery options you have may not be the same as those running newer versions.Faulty keyboard – It is possible that your letter keys are not working.Corrupted recovery partition – Your recovery partition may have been corrupted or deleted.īefore we discuss how to access your Recovery mode when Command + R is not working on Macbook, let’s first talk about what this mode is and its functions.Not all Mac users know what the Recovery Mode is and what it is for. Many users don’t even know this feature exists. To put it simply, the Recovery Mode is a dedicated partition on your hard drive housing a recovery image and a copy of your macOS installer.

This partition is completely independent from the other partitions on your disk that even if you wipe your hard drive clean, it would still be there. The recovery partition is helpful in extreme cases where you might need to reinstall a fresh copy of your latest macOS or OS X. Even if you format your drive and start from scratch, this partition remains intact and you can still reinstall your macOS, restore from a Time Machine backup, or repair your disk via Recovery Mode. The Recovery Mode makes troubleshooting a lot easier and faster because all you need to do is press two keys: Command + R.

How to Check if Your Mac’s Recovery Partition is Working But before you proceed with the solutions below, make sure to back up all your important files and optimize your Mac using an app such as Mac repair app. To boot into your Recovery Drive, follow these instructions: The first thing you need to rule out is whether you actually have a recovery partition and if it is working fine.

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