To install macOS or OS X from USB, you need to create a bootable install USB drive for Mac operating system. This tutorial will introduce you three ways to create bootable USB drive for macOS High Sierra, macOS Sierra, Mac OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks and more.
These advanced steps are primarily for system administrators and others who are familiar with the command line. You don't need a bootable installer to upgrade macOS or reinstall macOS, but it can be useful when you want to install on multiple computers without downloading the installer each time.
MyVolume
in these commands with the name of your volume.Big Sur:*
Catalina:*
Mojave:*
High Sierra:*
El Capitan:
* If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, include the --applicationpath
argument and installer path, similar to the way this is done in the command for El Capitan.
After typing the command:
Y
to confirm that you want to erase the volume, then press Return. Terminal shows the progress as the volume is erased.Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:
A bootable installer doesn't download macOS from the internet, but it does require an internet connection to get firmware and other information specific to the Mac model.
For information about the createinstallmedia
command and the arguments you can use with it, make sure that the macOS installer is in your Applications folder, then enter the appropriate path in Terminal:
In the following instruction, we show specifically how to make a Mac OS X bootable installation USB from El Capitan.DMG, Yosemite.DMG, Maverick.DMG or any OS X older versions on Windows PC. Plants vs zombies 1.0.40 dmg. Below are the steps needed to create an USB flash drive El Capitan bootable installer. Download the InstallMacOSX.dmg file by clicking on the OS X El Capitan 10.11 link in the Apple document 'How to get old versions of macOS'. These instructions assume this file has been downloaded to your /Downloads folder.
After a few minutes, the system creates a bootable USB drive that has the El Capitan installer. Enter the following path to the terminal. Take the El Capitan iso or dmg installer. Jan 24, 2018 Download Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan.ISO – Download El Capitan.DMG installer – El Capitan Torrent download – Without using Apple Store ID. Make a Bootable El Capitan USB Drive for Mac from Windows PC After a couple days of random Google searches, I finally was able to put together enough information to figure out how to make a bootable USB drive to restore my Mac using a PC. Installing or booting every operating system needs to create bootable USB whether OS X or any other. Of course, we’ve to make an installer drive for installing Mac OS X. It may sound simple or an easy task but make sure that it is much more complicated from installing OS X El Capitan on VMware, Mac or PC because Mac OS switches harder to use than Windows or Linu.
It's very easy to create a bootable ISO image of El Capitan, if you have aworking El Capitan system installed on your machine.
Start with going to AppStore and installing El Capitan, so you'll have anapplication named Install El Capitan
in your Application list. Then, youshould follow the steps below.
There is an installation image file inside /Applications/Install El Capitan.app
, named InstallESD.dmg
. It's not a bootable ISO that can be usedto install the system on a virtual machine, but we'll get there. Mount thisimage to some directory by using the hdiutil
tool:
The -noverify
and -nobrowse
options are there to make mounting operationfaster and to make sure that Finder will not automatically pop up.
Now let's create a placeholder image of our ISO file.
This can take a while.
After an empty ISO file will be created, we need to mount it:
Then, we will use asr
tool to populate the contents of our new drive:
The asr
tool will automatically create a new mountpoint, /Volumes/OS X Base System
. We're going to put some files into this directory.
First of all, remove an invalid link that won't be needed here:
Instead of this link, we need a proper directory, full of package files. We'regoing to copy this directory from the ESD image that we have mounted few stepsearlier.
We're going to copy some additional installer dependencies as well.
After that, we can unmount stuff we don't need anymore:
Last step is to convert our ISO file into the UDTO format.
Done. The ElCapitan3.iso.cdr
can be renamed to ElCapitan.iso
, and can beused in virtualization software like VirtualBox 5.
The method described above was found on forums.MacRumors.com(permalink).Thanks to colt2!
Apple officially released OS X 10.11 El Capitan operating system in September 2015 as an update through Apple App Store. This actualization will update core of your system and preserve your user data.
However, if you want to have a clean installation of El Capitan on your Mac you will need to create a special installation USB drive and in this article we will show you how.
Download El Capitan installer (Install OS X El Capitan.app in Applications folder) available in Mac App Store.
Prepare a flash drive with OS X Disk Utility. Format it with GUID Partition Table and name it as Untitled. The minimal capacity of flash drive must be 8 GB.
The createinstallmedia is a command line tool distributed with OS X installer.
When you have prepared your USB flash drive and El Capitan installer is downloaded from App Store ► open Terminal and type command:
sudo /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app --nointeraction
In our case 'Untitled' is the name of USB flash drive! Replace 'Untilled' by name of your flash drive.
Wait a few minutes and your El Capitan installation USB drive will be prepared.
To install OS X El Capitan ► restart computer ► hold the Option key and select Installation USB drive from the menu.
When your USB flash drive is ready and El Capitan installer downloaded from App Store ► Open Terminal and type the following sequence of commands:
sudo hdiutil attach /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg
sudo asr restore -source /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/Untitled -erase -format HFS+
sudo rm /Volumes/OS X Base System/System/Installation/Packages
sudo cp -a /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/Packages /Volumes/OS X Base System/System/Installation/Packages
sudo cp -a /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/OS X Base System
sudo cp -a /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/OS X Base System
sudo cp -a /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/OS X Base System
hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS X Install ESD
Now wait until your bootable installation flash drive with OS X 10.11 El Capitan is made.
To install OS X El Capitan ► restart computer ► hold the Option key and select Installation USB drive from the menu.
When your USB flash drive is ready and El Capitan installer downloaded from App Store ► Open Terminal and type:
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1 && killall Finder
This command allows you to view hidden files in Finder.
Now Open Finder ► Applications ► Install OS X El Capitan.app ► right click ► Select Show Package Contents option.
Navigate to Contents/SharedSupport ► Mount InstallESD.dmg file
Open OS X Install ESD archive in Finder and mount BaseSystem.dmg archive
Connect USB drive and open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities)
Select the USB drive from the list of disks, select Restore tab and pick Select OS X Base System archive as a source and USB flash drive as the destination. When ready click on Restore button.
After the Restore process is finished, open Finder ► open USB drive (OS X Base System) ► go to the System/Installation folder and select Packages file and delete it.
Open OS X Install ESD volume in Finder, select Packages folder and copy them to System/Installation folderRosetta stone german serial key. on USB drive.
Also copy BaseSystem.chunklist and BaseSystem.dmg files from InstallESD.dmg volume to root of USB flash drive (OS X Base System).
Now your El Capitan installation USB drive is prepared and ready for use.
To install OS X El Capitan ► restart computer ► hold the Option key and select Installation USB drive from the menu.
DiskMaker X tool is Wizard like tool that allows you create OS X installation disk. Download DiskMaker X to your Mac and copy it to Applications folder.
When you have prepared your USB flash drive and El Capitan installer is downloaded from App Store ► open DiskMaker X.
Select version of OS X (in our case El Capitan)
Select copy of OS X installation app
Select USB drive that will be used for USB installation
And wait a few minutes till the the DiskMaker X finish creating process.
To install OS X El Capitan ► restart computer ► hold the Option key and select Installation USB drive from the menu.