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.
What you need to create a bootable installer
- A USB flash drive or other secondary volume formatted as Mac OS Extended, with at least 14 GB of available storage
- A downloaded installer for macOS Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra or El Capitan
MacBook – copy a bootable El Capitan installer USB stick to a hard drive partition and install from there bootable-disk external-disk install macbook pro I am salvaging a mid 2013 MacBook Air 11' that was discarded with a broken screen backlight due to beverage spill and missing its SSD. As I've done a thousand times before I created an install-USB by downloading El Capitan from the App Store and compiled it on to the USB-drive by using Apples own terminal command. However, the install-USB is not bootable and does not show up i the 'Startup disk preference panel'.
How to Create Mac OS X El Capitan 10.11.6 USB Installer for PC /LaptopIn this tutorial, I will show you how to create Mac OS X El capitan 10.11.6 bootable US. Official OS X El Capitan Installer from the Mac App Store. Un-archive the zip archive and you will get the app Installer. A bootable ISO or bootable USB can be made from this installer. Instructions on how to do that are on the Internet/Youtube. NOTE: If you get a damaged message when launching, no need to worry. Creating the Install OS X El Capitan.app on a mac that came with a newer OS than El Capitan. Download the InstallMacOSX.dmg from Section 4 of How To Upgrade To El Capitan Double-click to open InstallMacOSX.dmg to Install MacOSX.pkg.
Download macOS
- Download: macOS Big Sur, macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave or macOS High Sierra
These will be downloaded to your Applications folder as an app named Install macOS [version name]. If the installer opens after downloading, quit it without continuing installation. To get the correct installer, download from a Mac that is using macOS Sierra 10.12.5 or later, or El Capitan 10.11.6. Enterprise administrators, please download from Apple, not a locally hosted software-update server. - Download: OS X El Capitan
This will be downloaded as a disk image named InstallMacOSX.dmg. On a Mac that is compatible with El Capitan, open the disk image and run the installer within, named InstallMacOSX.pkg. It will install an app named Install OS X El Capitan into your Applications folder. You will create the bootable installer from this app, not from the disk image or .pkg installer.
Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal
- Connect the USB flash drive or other volume that you're using for the bootable installer.
- Open Terminal, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
- Type or paste one of the following commands in Terminal. These assume that the installer is in your Applications folder and MyVolume is the name of the USB flash drive or other volume you're using. If it has a different name, replace
MyVolumein 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:
- Press Return to enter the command.
- When prompted, type your administrator password and press Return again. Terminal doesn't show any characters as you type your password.
- When prompted, type
Yto confirm that you want to erase the volume, then press Return. Terminal shows the progress as the volume is erased. - After the volume has been erased, you may see an alert stating that Terminal would like to access files on a removable volume. Click OK to allow the copy to proceed.
- When Terminal says that it's been completed, the volume will have the same name as the installer you downloaded, such as Install macOS Big Sur. You can now quit Terminal and eject the volume.
Use the bootable installer
Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:
Apple silicon
- Plug the bootable installer into a Mac that is connected to the internet and compatible with the version of macOS you're installing.
- Turn on your Mac and continue to hold the power button until you see the startup options window, which shows your bootable volumes.
- Select the volume containing the bootable installer, then click Continue.
- When the macOS installer opens, follow the onscreen instructions.
Intel processor
- Plug the bootable installer into a Mac that is connected to the internet and compatible with the version of macOS you're installing.
- Press and hold the Option (Alt) ⌥ key immediately after turning on or restarting your Mac.
- Release the Option key when you see a dark screen showing your bootable volumes.
- Select the volume containing the bootable installer. Then click the up arrow or press Return.
If you can't start up from the bootable installer, make sure the External Boot setting in Startup Security Utility is set to allow booting from external media. - Choose your language, if prompted.
- Select Install macOS (or Install OS X) from the Utilities window, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.
Learn more
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 the macOS installer is in your Applications folder, then enter the appropriate path in Terminal:
If you use pkgutil to expand the InstallMacOSX.pkg it opens to three items, the Distribution file, InstallMacOSX.pkg and Resources. You can alter the Distribution file to ignore the supported platform check, see below.
Creating the Install OS X El Capitan.app on a mac that came with a newer OS than El Capitan.
Download the InstallMacOSX.dmg from Section 4 of How To Upgrade To El Capitan
Double-click to open InstallMacOSX.dmg to Install MacOSX.pkg.
Drag InstallMacOSX.pkg to the Desktop.
Open Terminal, enter the text
Steam achievements manager.
A folder will be created on the Desktop after a while with the contents of the .pkg file.
In there you will see an item called Distribution, Control-click on that and select Open With
- Plug the bootable installer into a Mac that is connected to the internet and compatible with the version of macOS you're installing.
- Turn on your Mac and continue to hold the power button until you see the startup options window, which shows your bootable volumes.
- Select the volume containing the bootable installer, then click Continue.
- When the macOS installer opens, follow the onscreen instructions.
Intel processor
- Plug the bootable installer into a Mac that is connected to the internet and compatible with the version of macOS you're installing.
- Press and hold the Option (Alt) ⌥ key immediately after turning on or restarting your Mac.
- Release the Option key when you see a dark screen showing your bootable volumes.
- Select the volume containing the bootable installer. Then click the up arrow or press Return.
If you can't start up from the bootable installer, make sure the External Boot setting in Startup Security Utility is set to allow booting from external media. - Choose your language, if prompted.
- Select Install macOS (or Install OS X) from the Utilities window, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.
Learn more
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 the macOS installer is in your Applications folder, then enter the appropriate path in Terminal:
If you use pkgutil to expand the InstallMacOSX.pkg it opens to three items, the Distribution file, InstallMacOSX.pkg and Resources. You can alter the Distribution file to ignore the supported platform check, see below.
Creating the Install OS X El Capitan.app on a mac that came with a newer OS than El Capitan.
Download the InstallMacOSX.dmg from Section 4 of How To Upgrade To El Capitan
Double-click to open InstallMacOSX.dmg to Install MacOSX.pkg.
Drag InstallMacOSX.pkg to the Desktop.
Open Terminal, enter the text
Steam achievements manager.
A folder will be created on the Desktop after a while with the contents of the .pkg file.
In there you will see an item called Distribution, Control-click on that and select Open With
go to Other and select Text Edit.
When the file opens scroll down to the section that reads,
function isSupportedPlatform(){ Best keyboard for mac 2018.
type in at the end return true; so it now reads as,
function isSupportedPlatform(){return true;
Now click Save and close the document.
Go back to Terminal and enter the text,
press Return, after several minutes, be patient, (check to see if the prompt has returned to Terminal) a new package will be created on the Desktop.
When created double-click on that and an installation window will open where you will now convert the
new InstallElCapitan.pkg to the Install OS X El Capitan.app which will be placed in your Applications folder.
You can now create a bootable USB using the install app and createinstallmedia,
Create El Capitan Usb Bootable Installer From Catalina
If you have the time I would be grateful if you could give this a trial, it works here on my mac, but I would like confirmation from yourself or any others reading this that the procedure works on macs that came with macOS Sierra or newer pre-installed. Oh and tell me if my description of the procedure is easy to follow and understand.
El Capitan Usb Bootable Installer Software
El Capitan Usb Bootable Installer Software
Jan 15, 2020 12:58 AM
