How to reset MacBook Air M1 to factory settings for return?

Hi,

To factory reset your m1 Macbook Air, shut down your Mac and press the power button to turn on your MacBook, when you see the Apple logo, press and hold the power button and wait till the options appear, and then click on it and erase your disk in the disk utility, after erasing, reinstall Mac Os big sur and you are done after that.

How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support

I returned mine. I just started recovery and erased the drive. I did not reinstall the OS. Apple does not care because they will reload all before it goes back into the system. They do not care how it is returned within the 14 day period..

Shadow Walker 1: I have a question: My MacBook Air M1 came with High Sierra (just bought it five days ago), and the reason I want to reset to factory settings is because it was a mistake to upgrade to Big Sur 11.1 So, I don't want to return it, I want to go back to square 1. If I follow the steps you suggest, will it automatically reinstall High Sierra?

Good question! I only know it was working like a dream for the first day, and then I downloaded Big Sur 11.1 and I've been having nothing but problems. I just want to go back to the factory settings, start over and NOT download Big Sur 11.1. I want to wait for Big Sur 11.2. So I'm guessing it will reinstall whatever it started with?

Because by default, All the m1 Macbook is shipped with Mac OS 11.0, so if you reinstall it will go back to Mac Os 11.0 and I don't know why in the world your m1 Macbook air is shipped with high sierra

It is a serious concern if your M1 MacBook Air is shipped with High Sierra as Apple will not downgrade the Software version, if u jailbreak your m1 Macbook Air, I will recommend you not to do that cause your warranty is immediately void and it will cause issue on your macbook

Yes, thanks. (1) Photos keeps playing hide and seek. (I do not use iCloud to store, I only use My Photo Stream). It was working beautifully - I would take a picture and it would show up as it also does on my 2013 MacBook Air running on El Capitan (a workhorse!). I've done everything there is to do with my accounts and checking and unchecking the right boxes and it won't work, and then all of a sudden it works with a few photos, and then stops syncing. Once it stops, those photos never sync. (2) Messages syncs sometimes... not others and not some numbers. At first I thought it was just the unknown callers, but no. (3) Even the screen saver is glitchy - I chose an option and all of the other options have disappeared, so I can't even choose a source for photos. I think my Finder has completely lost its mind.. it keeps showing up in different ways .. I can't set a view because it has decided for me.

These issues are showing up one by one; don't know what else I"m going to find...

Oh also - I didn't transfer anything over from my 2013 MacBook; I just decided to start fresh and I haven't uploaded any apps, so I don't think it's 3rd party software causing a problem. Thanks - probably more than you bargained for!

why the hack is your m1 Macbook air ship with high Sierra, your m1 MacBook air should ship with mac os big Sur and you can't downgrade to high sierra

Thanks. I think I should just return it. This many problems do not bode well! Thanks for your advice. Appreciate it.

No problem. May I also ask what is the issue with your m1 Macbook air on Mac os 11.1?