BOOT OPTIONS ON M1 MACS

I am going to attempt to walk through this but it is a bit baroque.
  1. The various Startup key combinations we all knew so well on Intel Macs do not work on Apple Silicon
  2. The only functional startup key is the power button
  3. To access any startup options of functions you have to begin from M1 Mac that has been powered down for at least ten seconds. In other words, you cannot simply reboot.
  4. Simply press the power button and continue to hold it. A note will appear on the screen to continue holding the power button to access the boot options. Then a note will appear that the boot options menu is loading and a progress bar appears. You can now release the power button.
  5. Unless the shut down was originated from System Preferences the options menu will appear. This is the familiar Option boot listing all of the bootable volumes attached to the system plus a Gear icon labeled Options.
  6. To start in Safe Mode Press and hold the shift key and click Continue is Safe Mode
  7. Clicking Options takes you to the Recovery Assistant we are familiar with
  8. Clicking a bootable volume boots you from that volume
  9. If the preceding shut down was triggered by a selection in System Preferences you will be taken directly to the Recovery Assistant and into a specific function. For example setting the Security Policy. NOTE: on Intel Macs the T2 Security policy setting was the same for every bootable volume attached to the system. On M1 Macs when you set the security policy you are prompted to choose which boot volume's security policy you are setting.


SIDENOTE: one thing I have noted in performing multiple re-installs while playing testing, the added speed of the M1 processor reduced the install time by almost ½.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein