Trying to boot your Mac into recovery mode with a Windows keyboard? Welcome to the Twilight Zone, where the “Option” key doesn’t exist and Command+R is just a sad suggestion. If you’ve been mashing keys and watching nothing happen, don’t worry — you’re not cursed, just cross-platform confused. Luckily, there’s a keyboard-agnostic way to dropkick your Mac into recovery mode using Terminal like a proper tech wizard. Here’s how to do it, no Option key required.
To boot into recovery mode on a Mac having this issue:
Step 1. Open the terminal
Step 2. Copy & paste in terminal:
sudo nvram internet-recovery-mode=RecoveryModeDisk && sudo reboot
Step 3. Press Enter
Step 4. Your Mac will reboot into recovery mode
Once in recovery mode, make any necessary changes. When done, reboot the Mac to exit recovery mode.