Macos Create Bootable Usb

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Apple uses its App Store to distribute its software, like new Mac operating systems. It’s convenient, but sometimes it can take a while for a download to finish. And if you have multiple Macs, it’s inefficient to download the new OS to each and every Mac.

That’s why I like to make a bootable external drive for the sole purpose of installing the Mac operating system. When I need to tend to a bunch of Macs, it’s much faster to use a bootable drive instead of going to each Mac, launching the App Store, searching for the operating system, downloading it (after entering my Apple ID), and then running the installer.

Create Bootable Usb For Bios

You can create a bootable USB flash drive with the macOS Sierra installer that’s now available. The installer software will take up nearly 5GB of storage space. Here’s how to create a bootable macOS Sierra installer drive.

Bootable

Aug 14, 2020 Bootable MacOS installer USB drives provide for the ability to clean install macOS Big Sur, update to macOS Big Sur, install macOS Big Sur beta onto multiple Macs without redownloading the installer, as well as the ability to use Disk Utility to partition and erase a machine, perform Time Machine restorations, and more. The simplest way to create a boot USB drive is to download DiskMaker X and use it to create your drive. Generally, the latest version supports only the latest version of macOS; if you want to install something older than macOS High Sierra, check the list of older versions and download one that’s compatible with your chosen operating system.

Download the macOS Sierra installer

Launch the App Store app, then look for macOS Sierra in the store. (Here’s a link.) Click on the Download button, and your Mac will download the installer to your Applications folder. Apple store macbook air 2019. If it automatically launches after download, quit the installer.

If you’ve already upgraded your Mac to Sierra, the installer is removed from the Applications folder. You can download it again if you go to Purchased in the App Store. Look for macOS Sierra in the list of apps that you’ve bought, and click on the Download button. If it automatically launches after download, quit the installer.

Get an external drive

You can use a USB flash drive or a hard drive with room for the installer software. I’ve used different drives with success, including a VisionTek 120GB USB 3.0 Pocket Solid State Drive ($83 on Amazon) and an old 8GB Iomega Micro Mini Hard Drive.

Don’t worry if the drive isn’t formatted for the Mac. The drive will be reformatted automatically as part of the process. Change the name of your drive to Untitled; you need to do this for the steps below.

The quick and easy way

The process detailed below involves the Terminal. If your really don’t want to use Terminal, there are a couple of free apps you can use.

  • Install Disk Creator is a straightforward way to create a boot disk. I was able to make a macOS Sierra external USB boot disk in a few minutes, and the installation worked without a hitch. Also works with older versions of OS X.
  • Diskmaker X is a popular app. It also supports older versions of OS X.

Use the Terminal to create a boot disk

So you have your external drive, and the Sierra beta installer is in place. Now you’re going to use Terminal to create a boot drive. If you’ve never used Terminal before, don’t worry. This is pretty easy.

Here are the steps to create a macOS Sierra beta boot disk. (Apple also has these instructions.)

  1. Connect the external drive to your Mac. (In the Terminal command you will use, I use Untitled to represent your external drive. If your drive is named something else, you need to change Untitled to the name of your drive.)
  2. Launch Terminal (/Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app).
  3. Copy the following:
    sudo /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app
  4. Go back to Terminal and paste the copied code at the prompt.
  5. Terminal will ask for a password. This is your user password. Terminal doesn’t display characters when you type it in. Hit Return.
  6. Terminal will tell you that it will erase your drive. To confirm that you want to continue, type Y and hit Return.
  7. You’ll see that Terminal erases your drive. When that part is done, your Mac may ask you if you want to use the drive for Time Machine. Click Don’t Use.
  8. Terminal will copy the installer file to your drive. This will take a few minutes.
  9. After copying, Terminal is done. You should see Terminal display a “Copy complete” and Done notice. You can quit Terminal and your drive is ready for use.

How to boot from the installer drive

  1. Plug your external drive into your Mac.
  2. Power up (or restart) your Mac. Press down on the Option key while the Mac boots.
  3. After a few moments, your Mac should display the Startup Manager, which will show you the available boot drives. Click on the external drive and hit Return. (You don’t need to select a network to proceed.)
  4. Your Mac will display an OS X Utilites window. If you want to install Sierra and leave the data intact, select Install OS X. If you want to start over and wipe out the data, you need to go into Disk Utility to reformat the internal drive first, and then install macOS Sierra.

It does not matter whether you use macOS or Windows 10. It’s just a matter of time until your device will refuse to start, which could happen for many reasons, including (and not limited to) file corruption, hardware failure, and buggy update. If the unexpected happens with an Apple computer, you can use a macOS bootable USB with the installation media to repair it.

This is one of the main reasons you should consider making a macOS bootable USB when your device is working properly. However, if none of your devices (MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Pro, or Mac Mini) aren’t working when you need them the most, then you can use a PC to rescue your Apple device. You can use a Windows 10, Windows 8.1, or Windows 7 device to quickly create a USB bootable installation media to reinstall macOS Catalina or Big Sur on your Mac.

In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to create a macOS Catalina bootable USB installation on Windows 10, which you can use to reinstall or upgrade the Apple OS.

Requirements

Before proceeding, you’ll need the following:

  • Broken Mac computer running macOS (version 10.12, 11, or later).
  • A trial copy of the TransMac software.
  • One high-quality USB flash drive with 16GB of storage.
  • Copy of macOS (DMG file).

Create macOS bootable USB installation media

To create a bootable USB drive with macOS, use these steps:

  1. Download and install TransMac on the Windows 10 device.

    Quick note: This is a paid software, but it gives you a 15-day trial, which is more than enough time. (If this works for you and you want to support the developer, you can purchase the full version.)

  2. Connect the USB flash drive. (If you have any data on the flash drive, remember to make a backup, as everything on it will be erased.)

  3. Right-click the TransMac app and select the Run as administrator option.

  4. Click the Run button. (If you’re using the trial version, wait 15 seconds.)

  5. Right-click the USB flash drive, select the Format Disk for Mac option from the left navigation pane.

    Quick note: You want to do this before creating the bootable media because there is a good chance that the drive was formatted using a Windows device. If this is the case, the chances are that it’s using an MBR partition, and the USB drive needs a GPT partition to work on a Mac.

  6. Click the Yes button to format the drive on the warning message.

  7. Confirm a name for the drive. For example, “macOS bootable USB.”

  8. Click the OK button.

  9. Click the Yes button.

  10. Click the OK button.

  11. Right-click the USB flash drive and select the Restore with Disk Image option from the left navigation pane.

  12. Click the Yes button to confirm the erase of the USB flash drive data.

  13. Click the browse button on the right.

  14. Select the .dmg file with the macOS installation files.

  15. Click the Open button.

  16. Click the OK button.

  17. Click the Yes button.

Once you complete the steps, you can now insert the USB flash drive on your Mac computer to install, reinstall, or upgrade the operating system to the latest macOS version, which can be Sierra, Catalina, Big Sur, or higher.

Create a GPT partition on USB flash drive

Create Bootable Usb On Mac

If the USB flash drive is not working with TransMac, it could still be a partition problem. In this case, you may need to redo the entire process again. However, this time you should use the following steps to use the Diskpart command-line utility on Windows 10 to create the appropriate GPT partition, and then follow the above instructions.

To create a GPT partition on a removable drive, use these steps:

  1. Open Start.

  2. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as an administrator Office mac download cracked. option.

  3. Type the diskpart command and press Enter.

  4. Enter the list disk command to view all drives connected to your computer and press Enter.

  5. Type the select disk command followed the number assigned for the USB flash drive (for example, select disk 4), and press Enter.

  6. Enter the clean command and press Enter.

  7. Type the convert GPT command and press Enter.

  8. Enter the create partition primary command and press Enter to complete the process.

Macos Create Bootable Usb From Iso

Once you formatted the USB flash drive with a GPT partition, you can use the instructions mentioned above to use TransMac to create a bootable media, but this time skip steps No. 5 through 10 and continue on step 11.

After the process completes, which can take up to an hour, connect the USB flash drive and power on your Mac holding down the Option key, select the USB drive to begin installing macOS.

If you have problems creating the bootable media, you can get a USB flash drive that comes with macOS Sierra, El Capitan, Catalina, etc., on it with the link mentioned below. (I haven’t tried it personally, but it’s worth the try if nothing works.)