Making A Macos Bootable Usb



  1. Making Macos Bootable Usb
  2. Make A Bootable Macos Usb On Linux
  3. Make A Mavericks Bootable Usb

Bootable USB installers offer an easy way to upgrade multiple Macs to macOS Catalina, to perform clean installs of MacOS Catalina, to perform maintenance from a boot disk like formatting disks, modifying disk partitions, and performing restorations, and much more. We’ll walk through how to create a boot USB install drive for MacOS Catalina 10.15. Creating a bootable USB stick is very simple, especially if you’re going to use the USB stick with a generic Windows or Linux PC. We’re going to cover the process in the next few steps. Apple hardware considerations. There are a few additional considerations when booting the USB stick on Apple hardware.

If you’re using a recent MacBook Pro or MacBook Air with Big Sur and a powered USB-C hub or dock, be sure to read our coverage of macOS 11.2.2, which protects those Macs from damage caused by non-compliant USB-C gear. Thinking about starting seeds soon? Josh Centers shows how you can use a smart outlet and simple HomeKit automations to give your garden a head start. Finally, faced with issues surrounding bootable duplicates in Big Sur, Adam Engst re-evaluates his longstanding advice that a bootable backup of your Mac is an essential part of a backup strategy. With Apple making it increasingly difficult to make bootable duplicates, are they still necessary in an era of cloud computing and multiple devices? Notable Mac releases this week include CleanMyMac X 4.8, Fantastical 3.3.5, Little Snitch 5.1.1, Firefox 86, Downcast 2.9.61, and GraphicConverter 11.4.

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Some third-party, non-compliant, powered USB-C hubs and docks are bricking recent MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models. Apple has updated Big Sur to prevent the problem; the question is if Macs running Catalina or Mojave might still be at risk.

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.

Making A Macos Bootable UsbMaking A Macos Bootable Usb

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).
Macos

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.

Bootable

Create a GPT partition on USB flash drive

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.

Making Macos Bootable Usb

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

Making A Macos Bootable Usb
  1. Open Start.

  2. Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as an administrator 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.

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.

Make A Bootable Macos Usb On Linux

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.

Make A Mavericks Bootable Usb

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.)