Access Terminal via Recovery Mode for Mac Some more advanced Mac troubleshooting and diagnostics techniques require a user to access the Terminal from Mac OS Recovery Mode. We’ll show you how to quickly access the command line while a Mac is booted into Recovery Mode. For some quick background, on a normally booted Mac, the Terminal application is found within the /Applications/Utilities/ folder, and it can be accessed directly through the folder hierarchy or by using Spotlight to search for and launch Terminal app. But Recovery Mode does not have the same applications directory access, nor does it have Spotlight or Launchpad. Nonetheless, accessing Terminal from Recovery boot mode is easy. Accessing the Command Line in Recovery Mode on a Mac Boot into Mac OS Recovery Mode as usual by holding down the Command and R keys during system start Choose the language as usual (if applicable) At the “MacOS Utilities” screen, pull down the “Utilities” menu from the top of the