Reboot, force restart or reset your Mac

What each button does, how long it takes and the daily limits.

All three are on your Mac’s page in My Macs.

• Reboot asks macOS to restart. Your files stay. Back in a few minutes.
• Force restart cuts and restores power, for a Mac that doesn’t answer. Your files stay, but unsaved work is lost. It appears only on Macs with remote power control.
• Reset to clean macOS erases everything and rebuilds the Mac with your SSH key in about 20 minutes. Your lease and paid-until date don’t change. Type ERASE to confirm.

Limits per Mac per day: 10 reboots, 3 force restarts, 2 resets.

After a reset the Mac has a new SSH fingerprint, so your computer will warn you once; see SSH troubleshooting.