Dec 26, 2017 RELATED: 8 Mac System Features You Can Access in Recovery Mode. Your Mac’s Recovery Mode is a treasure trove of useful tools, and it’s the easiest way to wipe your computer and start from scratch. Shut down your Mac, turn it on while holding down Command+R. Your Mac will boot into the recovery partition. Mar 12, 2020 Select Install macOS (or Install OS X) from the Utilities window, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions. Learn more For more information about the createinstallmedia command and the arguments that you can use with it, make sure that the macOS installer is in your Applications folder, then enter this path in Terminal. Sep 27, 2017 Apple has released mac OS High Sierra 10.13 to the world yesterday. In this simple and easy to understand tutorial, you will be able to create mac OS High Sierra 10.13 USB Bootable Disk. Mac users can now download and install mac OS High Sierra 10.13 in iMac, Macbook Pro, Mac mini and Macbook 12 inch laptop as well. Sep 25, 2017 Here's a quick guide to create a macOS High Sierra 10.13 Public Beta Installation USB using Clover. Please note, this guide is not universal, and may not work for all systems.
There are various reasons why you would need a macOS installer. Maybe you need it to reinstall macOS to fix a problem in your system or perhaps you’re planning to sell or hand down your old Mac to a new owner. It’s also possible that you’re the recipient of that old Mac. Similarly, there are also various ways to reinstall macOS. Aside from using recovery mode to reinstall macOS, you can also choose to make Mac boot from USB. In this article, we’ll show you how to make bootable USB so you can install macOS or an older version of it in case you can’t or don’t want to reinstall using recovery mode and other methods.
What You’ll Need to Create a Bootable MacOS Installer
There are two primary items you need to create a bootable USB to reinstall macOS. First, is the USB flash drive. You need one with at least 12GB of free storage. Even though the installation file size of High Sierra is 4.8GB, Apple recommends that you have 12GB storage available on your flash drive to allow for a more secure and stable installation. It will be best to use a Flash memory stick, but if you’re using a portable hard drive, we recommend USB 3.0, USB Type C, or Firewire. The next thing you need is the macOS installation files. You can get these from the Mac App Store.
How to Get MacOS Installation Files
Here’s how to get installation files if you are installing macOS High Sierra.
- Launch the Mac App Store on your Mac.
- Locate macOS High Sierra. If you have purchased or downloaded it before, you can look for it in your Purchased tab.
- Click Download. You will get a message warning you that macOS 10.13 is already installed on the computer. Just click Continue.
- Your Mac will now download the installer file. It will be saved in the Applications folder. The downloading process may take some time, and the speed will depend on your Internet connection. The download process might be faster if you connect to the Internet via ethernet.
- If the installer automatically launches after the download has finished, choose Quit right away. You don’t want to commence the installation process because doing so will delete the driver.
- Go to Applications folder, which you can access via Finder.
- If you are creating a bootable installer for an older macOS version, you can also look for its installation files in the Purchased tab.
How to Create a Bootable MacOS Installer
Now, here’s how to create a bootable USB for macOS.
- Connect your USB flash drive to the computer.
- Open Terminal, which can be found in the Utilities folder within the Applications folder. For the purpose of this article, we will assume that the installation files are still in your Applications folder and your USB flash drive’s name is USBBoot. Replace USBBoot accordingly when you do these steps yourself.
- Type or paste the following commands in Terminal if you are installing High Sierra:
sudo /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume –applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app
- Type or paste the following commands in Terminal if you are installing Sierra:
sudo /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume –applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app
- Type or paste the following commands in Terminal if you are installing El Capitan:
sudo /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume –applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app
- Type or paste the following commands in Terminal if you are installing Yosemite:
sudo /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume –applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app
- Type or paste the following commands in Terminal if you are installing Mavericks:
sudo /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia –volume /Volumes/MyVolume –applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app
- Press Return.
- Type in your administrator password when asked. Press Return. Note that Terminal will not show any characters as you type your password.
- Type Y when prompted to confirm that you want to erase the volume. Press Return again. The terminal will now show the progress as the bootable installer is being created.
- The Terminal will tell you when the process is done. Your flash drive will now have the name of the installer you created, for instance, Install macOS High Sierra.
- Quit Terminal and eject the USB flash drive or hard drive.
So, there you have it. Creating a bootable USB macOS installer is quite easy, although downloading the installation files themselves may take time. Once you’ve successfully re-installed macOS, don’t forget to install Tweakbit MacRepair, which can help you take better care of your Mac.
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If you’re running into errors and your system is suspiciously slow, your computer needs some maintenance work. Download Outbyte PC Repair for Windows, Outbyte Antivirus for Windows, or Outbyte MacRepair for macOS to resolve common computer performance issues. Fix computer troubles by downloading the compatible tool for your device.I purchased a used 2018 Mac mini desktop and wanted to put a fresh installation of the latest macOS 10.15 Catalina on it. Below are the steps I took.
Note: The instructions below are the same for macOS 10.13 High Sierra and macOS 10.14 Mojave.
Download macOS Catalina
You will need a Mac to download macOS Catalina. (The Mac mini came with macOS 10.14 Mojave so I used it to download Catalina.)
Go to the Mac App Store, search for “macOS Catalina”, and download it. It will be saved to the “/Applications/Install macOS Catalina” location. If the installer automatically launches, just close it.
Note: If you plan to run the installer first to update your current macOS version to Catalina, you will want to move the “Install macOS Catalina” application out of the “/Applications” directory; otherwise, the installer will delete itself from the “/Applications” directory when the upgrade completes. For example, you can move the “Install macOS Catalina” application to the “~/Downloads” directory and run it from there.
Format USB Flash Drive
Because macOS Catalina is 8.4GB in size, you will need a 16GB USB flash drive. You don’t need to delete the existing content on the drive because we will blow it all away in a subsequent step.
If the USB flash drive is not already formatted as “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)”, format it like so:
Create Usb Installation Media For Mac Os X 10.13os X 10 13
- Plug the USB flash drive into your Mac.
- Launch the “Disk Utility” application.
- On the left-hand pane, select the USB drive (not the partition under it, if any).
- Click on the “Erase” tab (or button at the top).
- Input a name like “Catalina” (this name will be overwritten later).
- Select “Mac OS Extended (Journaled)” for “Format”.
- If available, select “Master Boot Record” for “Scheme”.
- Click the “Erase” button at the bottom. Click the “Erase” button in the warning popup dialog if you get one.
- The format operation may take several minutes to complete. (USB 2.0 and large capacity drives may take longer.) After the format completes, the partition will be mounted under “/Volumes/Catalina” (or whatever name you selected above).
- Close the “Disk Utility” application.
Write macOS Catalina to USB Flash Drive
To create a bootable USB macOS Catalina installer, run the “Terminal” application and this command:
![Installation Installation](/uploads/1/2/6/5/126537562/824173396.jpg)
# The --volume value is the mounted USB flash drive partition; in this case, named /Volumes/Catalina
sudo/Applications/Install macOS Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume/Volumes/Catalina
# You will be prompted for your user's administrative password.
sudo/Applications/Install macOS Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume/Volumes/Catalina
# You will be prompted for your user's administrative password.
Note: If the createinstallmedia command returns a “Failed to start erase of disk due to error (-9999, 0)” error, then your current Mac OS X version does not fully support the createinstallmedia tool. Use a more recent macOS version (at least Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan) or manually create the USB installation drive using instructions from Bootable USB Flash Drive to Install Mac OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
The “createinstallmedia” program will erase the USB flash drive, create a new partition named “Install macOS Catalina”, and copy the installation files to that partition. The output will look like:
Erasing disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 30%... 100%
Copying to disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 30%... 40%... 50%... 60%... 70%... 80%... 90%... 100%
Making disk bootable...
Copying boot files...
Install media now available at '/Volumes/Install macOS Catalina'
Copying to disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 30%... 40%... 50%... 60%... 70%... 80%... 90%... 100%
Making disk bootable...
Copying boot files...
Install media now available at '/Volumes/Install macOS Catalina'
The above process took 20-30 minutes using my Kingston USB 2.0 flash drive.
Boot From USB Flash Drive
Note: Apple’s How to create a bootable installer for macOS page suggest using the “Startup Disk” configuration (under “System Preferences”) to select the USB flash drive as the startup drive. Then on restart, the Mac should boot from the USB flash drive. Unfortunately, the “Startup Disk” did not list my USB flash drive as a startup option, so I was not able to use this method.
To boot a Mac with the USB flash drive:
- Insert the USB flash drive.
- While holding the “option” key down, turn on the Mac to display the Startup Manager.
- You should see one or more icons, one of which should be called “Install macOS Catalina” for the USB flash drive. (The internal hard drive may not be visible if it does not have a valid, bootable partition installed.)
- Note: If you don’t see the USB flash drive’s “Install macOS Catalina”, try removing and re-inserting the USB flash drive while viewing the Startup Manager screen. The USB flash drive should then appear after a few seconds.
- Select the “Install macOS Catalina” (with left/right arrow keys) and hit the “return/enter” key to boot from the USB flash drive.
It may take 5-10 minutes to load the installer from the USB flash drive. Sometimes the progress bar may appear to be frozen or the screen will go black for a minute or two. Be patient.
External Startup Disk Not Allowed
On a newer Mac with the T2 security chip, booting from an external drive may be disallowed by default. Attempting to boot from a USB flash drive will result in a “Security settings do not allow this Mac to use an external startup disk” warning message.
To allow booting from the USB flash drive, do the following:
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- Hold down “Command-R” (hold down both the “Command ⌘” and “R” keys) when you start the Mac to launch macOS Recovery. You can release the keys when you see the Apple logo.
- Tip: An easier alternative is to hold the “Option/Alt” key on boot to launch the Startup Manager. Then just click and release “Command-R” keys to launch macOS Recovery.
- The macOS Recovery screen contains a top-level “macOS Utilities” menu.
- Click on the “Utilities” menu and select “Startup Security Utility”. Input your administrator password when prompted.
- In the Startup Security Utility, under “Allowed Boot Media”, select the “Allow booting from external or removable media” option.
- If the Mac won’t have access to the Internet (either by wire or wirelessly) when installing macOS Catalina, make sure to select either the “Medium Security” or “No Security” option under the “Secure Boot” section. (You can change the option back to the default “Full Security” afterwards.)
- Quit the macOS Utilities to restart the Mac.
- On restart, follow the directions in the previous section to boot from the USB flash drive.
Erase the Internal Hard Drive
When the installer finishes loading, you will see a “macOS Utilities” screen appear. It looks the same as the “macOS Recovery” screen with one difference. In the “macOS Utilities” window, the second option will say “Install macOS” instead of “Reinstall macOS”. In “macOS Recovery”, the “Reinstall macOS” option would just re-install the same version of macOS. The “Install macoS” option will install the macOS Catalina version on the USB flash drive.
Before installing macOS, I wanted a clean slate so I erased the internal hard drive like so:
- Select the “Disk Utility” option and click the “Continue” button on the bottom to launch the “Disk Utility” application.
- On the left-hand pane, select the internal hard drive (not the partition under it, if any).
- Click on the “Erase” button at the top.
- Keep the default “Macintosh HD” name or input a new one.
- Select “APFS” for “Format”.
- Click the “Erase” button at the bottom. The SSD (Solid State Drive) format took less than a minute to complete.
- Close the “Disk Utility” application.
![Create usb install mac os sierra Create usb install mac os sierra](/uploads/1/2/6/5/126537562/697927545.jpg)
Install macOS Catalina
Windows Media For Mac
Warning: If your Mac has a T2 security chip and you left the “Full Security” option configured in the Startup Security Utility, make sure that Internet access (wired or wireless) is available before starting the macOS Catalina installation. You can configure the wireless network by clicking on the wireless icon at the top-right corner of the macOS Utilities screen.
Back at the “macOS Utilities” window, do the following to start the macOS Catalina installation:
- Click on the “Install macOS” option and click the “Continue” button.
- The “macOS Catalina” installer’s splash screen will appear. Click the “Continue” button.
- Click on the “Agree” button to agree to the license. A popup confirmation window will appear; click on the popup’s “Agree” button.
- Select the internal hard drive and click the “Install” button.
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My Mac mini took 20-30 minutes to complete the macOS Catalina installation. I think there were a couple of reboots in-between. And a few times, the screen would go black for a minute or two. Be patient and give the process an hour or more to complete.
If you run into problems installing macOS Catalina, check the “What Does Giving Up Mean?” section (at the bottom) of Install macOS Sierra Using Bootable USB Flash Drive for possible solutions.
Note: macOS Catalina seems to have an issue with my Dell 24in U2410 monitor. During the initial bootup screen, the monitor shows a blank screen with a message, “The current input timing is not supported by the monitor display”. Thankfully, the monitor works correctly after the bootup completes. And later, this warning message no longer appeared on bootup.
Enjoy your fresh installation of macOS 10.15 Catalina.