Bootable USB Stick - macOS X El Capitan 10.11 - Full OS Install, Reinstall, Recovery and Upgrade SANDISK USB FLASH DRIVE 2.0/3.1 - 16GB - 5 years warranty Latest certificate (expires These USBs are NOT produced by Apple.

• It to the InstallMACOSX.pkg. Double-click on that and you will get an installer window. (this does not install El Capitan), follow the prompts and it will create the Install OS X El Capitan.app. In your Applications folder. Now you should be able to use the createinstallmedia command to create. Your bootable USB. Nov 24, 2019 3:55 PM.
• Restore Image from Disk Utility in El Capitan to make bootable USB But if you are creating this bootable USB installer drive for Mountain Lion on OS X Maverics (Ver. 10.9) or below then you need to go to the restore tab on the right pane and just drag and drop the BaseSystem.dmg in source field and USB drive icon to the destination field as.
• These instructions work to create a bootable install disk for all versions of macOS from macOS 11 Big Sur back to OS X El Capitan 10.11. What’s needed to create a bootable install disk A USB flash drive or other secondary volume formatted as Mac OS Extended, with at least 14GB of available storage.

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.

Use 'createinstallmedia' Command in Terminal

The most recommendable way to create a bootable install USB drive for Mac OS is using 'createinstallmedia' Command with Terminal application.

Step 1: Download macOS or OS X

The first thing to do is to download the Mac operating system that you need. To install the latest Mac OS, for example, macOS High Sierra, you can search and download the installer from App Store.

To download the older Mac OS X version, you can go to App Store > Purchases to download the Mac OS X El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks that has been previously downloaded.

However, Apple has decided that macOS Sierra and later will no longer be listed in Mac App Store's Purchased. To download the installer of macOS Sierra, go to Apple Support.

Note: After downloading the Mac OS installer, do not install the OS but quit the installer.

Step 2 Get A USB Drive with Sufficient Storage

You should have a USB drive with at least 8 GB of storage and insert the USB drive into your Mac. If you need to create a bootable USB drive of macOS High Sierra, 16 GB USB flash drive is suggested. In fact, USB drives with larger storage, like 32 GB to 64 GB, tend to show better performance.

IMPORTANT: The contents of the drive will be erased after creating a bootable installer drive. Therefore, make sure there is nothing important on your flash drive before you continue with the following steps.

Step 3 Check the Name of Your Flash Drive

The following command is to create a bootable copy of Mac OS installer on a USB drive named FlashInstaller. If your USB drive has a different name, replace FlashInstaller in the command with the name of your USB drive. If you don't want to modify the command, change the name of your flash drive into FlashInstaller.

Step 4 Create A Bootable USB Drive of macOS/OS X

Launch Terminal enter the following command according to the version of Mac operating system that you are dealing with.

macOS High Sierra Installer

sudo /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/FlashInstaller --applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app --nointeraction

macOS Sierra Installer

sudo /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/FlashInstaller --applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app --nointeraction

OS X El Capitan Installer

sudo /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/FlashInstaller --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app –nointeraction

OS X Yosemite Installer

sudo /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/FlashInstaller --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app –nointeraction

OS X Mavericks Installer

sudo /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/FlashInstaller --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app –nointeraction

Tip: If you didn't download the installer from Mac App Store, you must modify the file path after 'applicationpath'.

After pasting the command on the Terminal, hit Enter key. You'll be asked to enter your Mac's password. Enter the password and hit Enter.

Then you need to check the name and path of your USB drive. If it is correct, press 'y' then hit 'Enter'. The Mac will begin to create a bootable install drive for macOS High Sierra, macOS Sierra, Mac OS X El Capitan/Yosemite/Mavericks. When it is done, Terminal will shows 'Done'.

To install macOS or OS X from the USB flash drive, check how to clean install Mac OS from USB(opens new window).

Make A Bootable Installer for macOS via DiskMaker X or Install Disk Creator

If you think it is too much trouble to use Terminal to make a bootable installer on a USB drive, you can use tools like DiskMaker X, Install Disk Creator. Both the tools can make an install drive for macOS Sierra, OS X El Capitan, OS X Yosemite and more.

DiskMaker X: When you launch the application, it will try to find the downloaded macOS or OS X installers program on your Mac. And you just need to follow its on-screen instructions to create a bootable USB drive by clicking a few buttons.

Install Disk Creator: Once you run the application, select a USB drive, choose a Mac OS installer, and click Create Installer to begin to create an install USB drive.

Disk Utility to Create a Bootable macOS/OS X Installer

Before using createinstallmedia command, people used to use Disk Utility to create a bootable installer drive manually. But the process is much more complicated than the Terminal method. So Apple also suggests you make a bootable install drive via Terminal.

Create Os X El Capitan Bootable Usb From Dmg

Just in case that you don't want to use Terminal, you may follow these steps to build a USB drive for Mac OS X or macOS.

• Mount the Mac OS installer to get .DS_Store, BaseSystem.chunklist, and BaseSystem.dmg. Files from InstallESD.dmg file.
• Use Disk Utility's Restore feature to create a copy of the OS Install ESD image.
• Modify the copy of the OS Install ESD image to make it boot successfully.

Do you have other question about making a bootable USB drive for macOS or Mac OS X? Leave your comment below.

*Quick note from Save Apple Dollars - Older OS X Images can now be downloaded directly from Apple at https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683 please right click on the image link and select “save as”.

By Roman Loyola at www.macworld.com

Senior Editor, Macworld | JUL 3, 2017 1:32 PM PDT

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.

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.

Macworld also has bootable-install-drive instructions for:

Lion (OS X 10.7)

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. If it automatically launches after download, quit the installer.

Keep the installer in the Applications folder.

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

Create Macos El Capitan Bootable Usb Drive

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

Make Bootable Usb From Iso

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.

Full Credit for this article is given to Roman Loyola and www.macworld.com please visit their website for more helpful information about fixing Macs.

Create Macos El Capitan Bootable Usb Using