A guide to creating a bootable USB flash drive for Mac OS X from Mountain Lion to Catalina. Make a bootable USB from Windows via Mac OS X Bootable USB flash drive mac os snow leopard

A bootable flash drive with macOS Catalina comes in handy when you need to install the system from scratch, or update several machines at once. Now I will tell you how to create such a flash drive in macOS itself and in Windows. The instructions are suitable for High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina.

How to create a bootable USB flash drive on macOS

We will need any USB drive from 8 GB and a free utility Disk Creator. A flash drive can also be created using console commands through the terminal, but I don’t see the point in suffering.

Step 1: Download macOS Catalina

If you currently have macOS High Sierra or a later version of macOS installed, you can download macOS Catalina from the Mac App Store, then in the folder Applications macOS will have a new icon Install macOS Catalina.

Once the download is complete, the macOS Catalina installation file will appear in the Applications folder.

Step 2: Launch Disk Creator

If you downloaded the macOS Catalina installer in advance, Disk Creator will automatically find it and display it in the interface. All you have to do is select the flash drive to which you want to deploy the image:

To create a bootable USB flash drive, select a drive. The macOS Catalina installation file will be downloaded automatically

Step 3: Create a boot disk

Click Create Installer and wait while Disk Creator creates a bootable USB flash drive with Catalina. On a fast drive, the process takes 3–4 minutes.

Notification that the creation of a bootable disk with macOS Catalina is complete

Insert the bootable USB flash drive into the Mac and turn it on while holding down the Option key. The computer will start booting into the flash drive. If you are going to install the system on a Hackintosh, you will select the flash drive as a “bootable” drive in the BIOS.

🤦‍♂️If loading from a flash drive does not happen, you should try to recreate it again or try a different drive. I myself have more than once encountered situations when the installer simply did not want to boot with certain patches.

Step 1: Download macOS Mojave

Alas, there is no official way to say macOS from Windows. You will have to download it using your iMac or MacBook. Or find an installer on torrents.

Please note that the installer must be in .dmg format
Step 2: Run TransMac in Administrator Mode

Right-click on the TransMac icon and select the appropriate item in the menu.

Right click on TransMac and run it in administrator mode
Step 3. Format the flash drive

Format Disk for Mac.

Before creating a bootable USB flash drive in Windows, the flash drive itself must be formatted
Step 4. Select the dmg file with the macOS image

Right click on the name of the flash drive;

Restore with Disk Image ;

Specify the path to the macOS installation file;

Wait until the bootable USB drive is created.

Start recovery from disk image
Locate the Mojave installation file you downloaded earlier
Wait until the bootable USB drive is created
How to boot from a flash drive and start installation

Insert the bootable USB flash drive into the Mac and turn it on while holding down the Option key. This will allow you to begin the installation. If you are going to install the system on a Hackintosh, you will select the flash drive as a “bootable” drive in the BIOS.

And definitely. In this article, I told you how not to forget anything and spend a minimum of time reinstalling the system.

On September 20, Apple finally presented the official release of macOS Sierra. Now all Mac owners can evaluate all the innovations of the operating system by downloading the distribution kit from the App Store.

But what if you have not one, but several poppies? Should I wait every time until 4 GB of OS is loaded onto my computer? But what if you don’t want to just upgrade, but install the system “from scratch” and thus not drag around various system garbage with you? Here, creating a bootable flash drive can be very helpful. Do it once and update at least a thousand Macs.

Compatible Mac Models

Keep in mind that you can install macOS Sierra on the following macs:

MacBook Pro and Air - models from 2010.
Mac mini and Mac Pro - also from 2010
MacBook - from 2009
iMac - from 2009.

Preparatory operations

There are two simple and reliable ways to create a bootable USB flash drive. But before we begin to consider them, we will do a number of preparatory actions that are necessary in both cases.

So, we need:
1. USB flash drive (at least 8 GB) Make sure in advance that it does not contain the information you need, since the media will be formatted.
2. Mac distribution. You can download from the link
3. The mac itself

Method No. 1 (standard) using the Terminal

Make sure the downloaded image is in the applications folder

We connect the flash drive
Open Terminal (programs>other. Or through Spotlight, control+spacebar)
Attention! Follow the next steps very carefully!
We write sudo and press space
Now through Finder we go to the folder programs(Applications), then right-click on “install macOS Sierra” and then “show package contents”
Open the folder Resources, find the file createinstallmedia and drag it into the Terminal window
After the lines that appear we write --volume(required two dashes) and press space
Now we transfer the flash drive icon from the desktop to the terminal window
Add - applicationpath and again a space
There's still a little bit left. Drag the “macOS Sierra installation” distribution kit into the Terminal from the program folder and click enter
Enter the password and enter again
If confirmation is required, please write y and enter again
We wait 15-20 minutes and the macOS Sierra bootable flash drive is ready.
"Erasing Disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 30%...100%...
Copying installer files to disk…
Copy complete.
Making disk bootable...
Copying boot files...
Copy complete.
Done."

By the way, you could simply copy and paste this entire block of commands into the Terminal at once, but practice shows that rarely does anyone get by without syntax errors in this case. So it’s better not a couple of minutes longer, but it’s reliable.

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/Untitled –applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app –nointeraction &&say Done

Method number 2. Bootable macOS Sierra USB flash drive using the utility DiskMaker X

Read on topic: — preparing Mac for the transition to macOS Sierra

This method is also very reliable, and also quite simple.

Insert the flash drive
Download the DiskMaker X utility
Launch and press the button macOS Sierra (10.12)
The utility informs you that it has found the installer in the program folder. Click Use this copy
At this stage, DiskMaker warns that all data on the flash drive will be erased. Click An 8 GB USB thumb drive
Select a flash drive from the list and click Choose this disk
Another warning that data from the flash drive will be deleted, click Erase then create the disk

The OS X operating system is one of the most stable operating systems in the world. It is almost impossible for the user to “break” it. However, sometimes situations arise that require reinstalling the system from scratch. The easiest way to do this is to use a special installation flash drive. This instruction will teach you how to properly make such a flash drive at home.

Requirements

Mac computer with operating system 10.7 or higher
Stable Internet connection
Operating system installation image
Flash drive 8 gigabyte
DiskMaker X (download)

We will describe all actions using the latest current OS version as an example: OS X Yosemite (10.10.1). A bootable USB flash drive can only be created on a Mac computer running OS version 10.7 or higher.

Downloading the installation image

Open the application on your computer App Store. In the search field write " Yosemite", and press Enter. Select application " OS X Yosemite", and press " Download" If necessary, enter the login/password for your Apple ID.

Preparing a flash drive

While the image is downloading, prepare a USB flash drive. Open the program on your computer Disk Utility"(located in applications, in the Utilities folder). Connect the flash drive to the computer's USB port. Select it on the left side of the application, and click on the “ Disk partition" Select partition scheme " Section 1", format " Mac OS Extended (Journaled)».

Click the button Options" Select " Guide Section Layout", and press " OK».

After that, click the button Apply" In the confirmation window, click the button Split disk" In a few minutes the flash drive will be ready for use.

Creating an installation flash drive

So, the image is loaded, the flash drive is prepared. Now comes the fun part.

Download and run the program (download link at the beginning of the instructions).

In the program window, click the button Yosemite (10.10).

The program itself will find the previously downloaded system image. You only need to click on the " Use this copy».

DiskMaker will prompt you to select a disk to create the image. Click the button An 8 GB USB thumb drive" In the next window, select your flash drive and click the " Choose this disk" Next, click the “ Erase then create the disk».

Your user rights will need to be verified. Click the button Continue" Then enter your administrator password, and click the " OK».

This step-by-step guide shows you several ways to easily make a bootable Mac OS X Yosemite USB flash drive. Such a drive can be useful if you want to perform a clean installation of Yosemite on your Mac, you need to quickly install the system on several Macs and MacBooks (without downloading on each), and for installation on Intel computers (for those methods where the original distribution is used).

If you don't feel like using a terminal and just want a simple program to make a bootable OS X Yosemite USB flash drive on your Mac, DiskMaker X is a great option for that. You can download the program from the official website http://diskmakerx.com

Just like the previous method, before using the program, download Yosemite from the App Store, and then launch DiskMaker X.

At the first stage, you need to indicate which version of the system you want to write to the flash drive, in our case it is Yosemite.

After this, the program will find the previously downloaded OS X distribution and offer to use it, click “Use this copy” (but you can select another image if you have one).

After this, all you have to do is select the flash drive to write to, agree to delete all data and wait until the files are copied.

Bootable USB flash drive OS X Yosemite in Windows

Perhaps the fastest and most convenient way to burn a bootable USB drive with Yosemite in Windows is to use the TransMac program. It's not free, but it works for 15 days without the need for a purchase. You can download the program from the official website http://www.acutesystems.com/

To create a bootable USB flash drive, you will need an OS X Yosemite image in .dmg format. If available, connect the drive to your computer and run the TransMac program as an administrator.

In the list on the left, right-click on the desired USB drive and select the “Restore with Disk Image” context menu item.

Specify the path to the OS X image file, agree to the warnings that data from the disk will be deleted and wait until all files from the image are copied - the bootable USB flash drive is ready.

I currently have a 16GB flash drive and I want to install two operating systems, MacOS Sierra and OS X El Capitan, on it. On my PC, these versions work stably, quickly, and will continue to develop, so I chose them. You can use the versions you need.

In this article we will look at installing different images that will help achieve the same goal. The size of the flash drive can vary using different methods from 4 to 16 GB.

Creating a bootable flash drive from original App Store images

To create this installation flash drive we will need:

Flash drive at least 16GB;
Sierra and El Capitan installation images from the App Store;
Latest version.

Format and split the flash drive into sections

The first thing we need to do is format the flash drive. Be sure to use the diagram GUID. Now this flash drive has an Apple standard, a hidden EFI partition (aka ESP) was automatically created on it, which we will use for Clover, but we need to create another partition, we are making a flash drive to install two systems.

By the way, if you are going to do what I did in Sierra Disk Utility, then you should take into account that formatting is successful only the second, and sometimes even the third time. In order for formatting and other manipulations to be successful the first time, you should unmount the internal partitions. Near which there is an EJECT icon, if this condition is met, everything will go without a hitch.

Now let's move on to the breakdown into sections. Open the “Partition” tab.

After formatting, we have only one partition; to install two systems, we need to create a second one. To do this, click “+” under the diagram and, highlighting each section, give it a NAME. For clarity, I set the name El Capitan, but it is recommended to use the section name without spaces to avoid recording errors. So in the name El Capitan, you can use El_Capitan instead of a space.

After assigning names, click “Apply”.

And we get the desired two sections.

Writing boot images to flash drive partitions

Recording OS X El Capitan

Move the installation image to the “Programs” folder and open the terminal utility. Then we enter the code, to simplify it you can copy and paste.

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia —volume /Volumes/ El Capitan--applicationpath "/Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app"

It is worth considering that commands must be preceded by two hyphens, very often when copying and pasting into the terminal, two hyphens "—" are replaced by one "-". In this case, an error will be displayed. This glitch is very common on websites, since many engines automatically replace characters.

(instead of El Capitan we write the name of your USB partition)

Press ENTER, enter the password, El Capitan may also ask for confirmation. In this case, press Y and Enter.

DONE, which will mean that the recording was completed successfully. Writing files can take varying amounts of time, it all depends on the speed of the drive and hard drive, and system load, so don’t panic, just wait for it to complete. Forcibly removing a flash drive while writing or reading can lead not only to data loss, but also turn the drive into an interior element; in many cases, the flash drive may not be repairable.

Recording MacOS Sierra

We perform all the same actions as in the previous case. Only the recording code will differ. To record Sierra we use the code
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia —volume /Volumes/ Sierra--applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app --nointeraction

(instead of Sierra we write the name of your USB partition)

We wait for the operation to complete until the message appears in the terminal DONE.

At this stage, the installation (bootable) flash drive is completely ready for installation on Apple computers or using Clover EFI, which is already installed on the hard drive of the Hackintosh.

For a clean installation on a hackintosh PC, you need to install the Clover EFI Bootloader. I will not repeat myself; I have many articles in which this point is described in detail, so follow the link and read: the only point is to select any partition of the Flash drive we created instead of the system disk. Everything else is exactly the same.

Be careful when setting up config.plist to match the two operating systems. If your configuration does not allow you to get by with one file, create two different ones and place them in the Clover folder, and during installation and download, select the one you already require through the bootloader control panel. To understand how this works, I advise you to read the book - this is the most detailed instructions from the bootloader developer.

Creating a bootable flash drive using recovery images

To do this, you need to download official Apple recovery packages for Recovery HD.
Since we are making this flash drive to install two specific systems, we will download packages for them accordingly.

The sizes of these packages do not exceed 500 MB each, I recommend downloading them one by one, before downloading the second package, move the first one to a folder calling it the name of the system for which the package is intended, otherwise I guarantee confusion.)
Now we launch the downloaded packages one by one and select the corresponding partition on our flash drive as the installation location.
I launch RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg from the El Capitan folder and select the El Capitan partition on the flash drive being created.

After the installation is complete, I repeat everything with RecoveryHDUpdate.pkg from the Sierra folder and install it on the corresponding partition of the flash drive.

I'm waiting for the installation to finish.

I run the command in the terminal.

And I check what happened.

And it turned out as planned!
I repeat, in order to repeat this, a 4 GB flash drive is sufficient.
All that remains is to load your hardware using this UEFI flash drive as a boot device, go to the Clover menu and select the required Recovery HD partition, and then everything is exactly the same as on any original Mac.

A bootable flash drive with Recovery HD can also be created from under Windows using the program.

Why Recovery HDs weigh so little

Because this is not a full-fledged system, but a kind of engineering OS for restoring and configuring the main one, which is stored in an image and deployed only when it boots, Windows also has similar images with wim extensions, the same Win PE is a suitable example for comparison.

Having booted into Recovery HD, we will only get access to the disk utility in order to partition our HDD, and of course there is the opportunity to deploy your own or someone else’s image with the system, as well as the ability to use the Time Machine, but that’s not what I suggested, there is official item by clicking on which any person. can install the system from scratch, using the following algorithm instead of the installation image of the Apple server.

Booted into Recovery HD, selected disk utility, partitioned your disk as it should be according to Apple rules and your own needs, closed disk utility, selected restore..., the system will automatically contact Apple servers and ask which partition you want, you will indicate to it the partition you had previously planned in disk utility, the installation has started. The installation time depends only on the speed of the Internet and the load on the Apple servers at the immediate moment; in this way, installing macOS is even twice as fast as the classic one, but there are difficult moments, but they are rare.)

As you can understand, there are several ways to achieve the same goal. I hope now you will always have order with bootable flash drives.

This article was created based on my personal experience and advice from an expert in the hackintosh community.