Overview

When traditional Recovery Mode on a Mac is not sufficient to reinstall the operating system, Apple Configurator 2 can be used to restore the computer at the firmware level.

This is applicable to Apple Silicon and Intel Macs with a T2 chip.
Not sure? Check here: Mac models with the Apple T2 Security Chip

Be sure that Configurator 2 is up to date!

Getting Stuck, When to Use

Example 1

Typically, we boot into recovery mode, erase the hard drive, and reinstall macOS. Per

This message indicates that the Mac is activation locked, and that we should be able to enter the activation lock bypass code from Jamf. This did not work, and a support call to Apple confirmed that these devices were not, in fact, activation locked.

Due to the lack of a usable admin account or boot drive, the only real option left was to restore the computer via the method below.

Example 2

Jonathan: When booted into recovery on an Apple Silicon Mac, I could not erase the built-in SSD in order to reinstall macOS. The error said that the drive could not be unmounted because it was in use by process 0 (kernel). Neither the GUI nor command-line version of Disk Utility could get past these errors in order to format the drive.

Revive + Restore with Configurator

This is a summary. Official documentation is here, depending on your device:

• Revive or restore an Intel-based Mac with Apple Configurator 2
• Revive or restore a Mac with Apple silicon with Apple Configurator 2

1. Make sure you have the latest version of Configurator
2. Connect a USB-C cable to the left-front port of the non-working Intel Mac
   1. Left-rear for Apple Silicon
3. With the laptop off, press Power + left Control + left Option + right Shift for 10 seconds
4. Keep holding the power button but release the others until the laptop appears in Configurator as "DFU"
   
5. Right-click and chose Advanced > Revive
   This step installs the firmware and Recovery partition (I THINK)
6. When the revive step is finished, right-click and chose Restore
   This step installs macOS
   
   1. For both 5 and 6, you may have to install a software update to be able to connect to the laptop
      
7. Note that the non-working laptop screen will be blank this whole time. When the process is complete, and the non-working laptop no longer says "DFU" in Configurator, you can disconnect and power on.