Create a Bootable Mountain Lion USB Key Installer

MacRumors · Jul 25, 2012

Mountain Lion is the second release of OS X to be delivered via the Mac App Store. Like with Lion, users can create their own bootable USB key installer to use as a recovery disk or to install Mountain Lion on multiple Macs without needing to download the 4GB installer multiple times.

Ars Technica has an excellent walk-through using either the Disk Utility application that is included on every Mac, or the newly updated Lion Diskmaker app that automates the process of creating a bootable install key.

The biggest catch to the whole process is to make a copy of the Mountain Lion installer before actually installing Mountain Lion, otherwise the installer will need to be redownloaded from the Mac App Store.

(Image via Ars Technica/Chris Foresman)

Article Link: Create a Bootable Mountain Lion USB Key Installer

smithrh · Jul 25, 2012

The Lion Diskmaker link... well, the link isn't bad, I don't think, but the server it points to isn't happy...

fullstop102 · Jul 25, 2012

smithrh said:
The Lion Diskmaker link... well, the link isn't bad, I don't think, but the server it points to isn't happy...

Here you go...

http://blog.gete.net/lion-diskmaker-us/

h1r0ll3r · Jul 25, 2012

Yay, I'm about 5 minutes too late since I already installed ML. Oh well.

smithrh · Jul 25, 2012

fullstop102 said:
Here you go...

http://blog.gete.net/lion-diskmaker-us/

Tres bien, merci!

felipecerda · Jul 25, 2012

Hi, sorry for the ignorance but does this method work for doing a clean install of ML and not just upgrading from an existing installation of Lion?

iSee · Jul 25, 2012

I'm feel like ranting...

"Create a Bootable Mountain Lion USB Key Installer"

No! I will not!
I fell for this with Lion and spent X wasted minutes of my life creating a USB key installer of Lion which I never used.

I'm letting is all hang out this time around; no ML USB key installer for me!

h1r0ll3r said:
Yay, I'm about 5 minutes too late since I already installed ML. Oh well.

You got lucky in my opinion.

likemyorbs · Jul 25, 2012

iSee said:
"Create a Bootable Mountain Lion USB Key Installer"

No! I will not!
I fell for this with Lion and spent X wasted minutes of my life creating a USB key installer of Lion which I never used.

I'm letting is all hang out this time around; no ML USB key installer for me!

Yeah that'll show em'!

FearlessFreep · Jul 25, 2012

Unlike most of America I sadly do not have a true high-speed option for internet at my house. Thus I bring my MBP to work and use this method to generate an install package for my iMac at home. It's really the only way to do multiple installs if you don't have a good internet connection.

Reminder: you MUST copy the package before the actual install, but it's easy.

NY Guitarist · Jul 25, 2012

Can you download ML without installing it?

I have a Mac Pro in a temporary office without internet access and would like to install ML on a separate HD to test.

BUT my MBP is running SL and, without getting into the details, needs to stay on SL for now, but it's the only machine with internet access right now.

So I would like to be able to download ML without installing it, and then create a USB installer.

emeraldringer · Jul 25, 2012

NY Guitarist said:
Can you download ML without installing it?

I have a Mac Pro in a temporary office without internet access and would like to install ML on a separate HD to test.

Yes. I downloaded ML and made the ML USB Key installer. I then created a second partition on my Mac (leaving Lion on the first partition so that I can still run FCP7 and CS4.) I'm currently installing ML on the second partition.

Roc P. · Jul 25, 2012

I tried this method and at the very end got this error:

"Could Not Restore - Invalid Argument"

But when I removed the USB Key from my iMac and put it back into the USB slot, the installer was on it.
(I haven't tried to use it though, I had to go to work)

calderone · Jul 25, 2012

Roc P. said:
I tried this method and at the very end got this error:

"Could Not Restore - Invalid Argument"

But when I removed the USB Key from my iMac and put it back into the USB slot, the installer was on it.
(I haven't tried to use it though, I had to go to work)

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/15323342/

Roc P. · Jul 25, 2012

calderone said:
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/15323342/

Yeah like I said, I followed the directions completely.

This is what I did:

1. Source: DMG, Destination: Flash Drive (The brand name and capacity)

I didn't mount the .dmg

calderone · Jul 25, 2012

Roc P. said:
Yeah like I said, I followed the directions completely.

This is what I did:

1. Source: DMG, Destination: Flash Drive (The brand name and capacity)

I didn't mount the .dmg

Actually their guide is incorrect, and does not match number 1.

Restore the DMG not the volume created when you erase, but to the drive itself.

FYI. They have added a note that it works despite the error.

Roc P. · Jul 25, 2012

calderone said:
Actually their guide is incorrect, and does not match number 1.

Restore the DMG not the volume created when you erase, but to the drive itself.

FYI. They have added a note that it works despite the error.

Hmm I'm not sure I follow...

This is the guide I used, it's meant for Lion but I thought it would work:

http://lifehacker.com/5823096/how-to-burn-your-own-lion-install-dvd-or-flash-drive

Maybe my USB Key will still work then despite the error.

calderone · Jul 25, 2012

Roc P. said:
Hmm I'm not sure I follow...

This is the guide I used, it's meant for Lion but I thought it would work:

http://lifehacker.com/5823096/how-to-burn-your-own-lion-install-dvd-or-flash-drive

Maybe my USB Key will still work then despite the error.

Oh sorry, thought you following the Ars guide.

Roc P. · Jul 25, 2012

calderone said:
Oh sorry, thought you following the Ars guide.

No it's my bad, I should have been more specific. I think I will still redownload ML and try it again just in case. Couldn't hurt I suppose.

DaveTheRave · Jul 25, 2012

Interesting thread. After downloading ML but before installation can't you just run time machine and save it in there for future use?

OrangeSVTguy · Jul 25, 2012

Great. I'm glad we can still do this like we did Lion. It's nice keeping a physical copy of the installer on USB.

SoGood · Jul 25, 2012

Apart from this, what's useful to have for ML users is to install a Recovery drive partition on a USB stick. This is a bootable partition (Cmd-R at boot time) that can be used in emergencies.

ATC · Jul 25, 2012

Used the new Lion Diskmaker app/script and it worked like a charm. Super easy too. I was a able to do a full clean install and ML is running like a dream on my 09' iMac.

Variant · Jul 25, 2012

felipecerda said:
Hi, sorry for the ignorance but does this method work for doing a clean install of ML and not just upgrading from an existing installation of Lion?

I have the opposite question. I did this last year with Lion and I believe that the ONLY option was to do a clean install. Can anyone who has used this method tell me what install options are available?

jcpb · Jul 25, 2012

h1r0ll3r said:
Yay, I'm about 5 minutes too late since I already installed ML. Oh well.

Do it like me then, re-download it but this time make the recovery disk instead.

Mal · Jul 25, 2012

Variant said:
I have the opposite question. I did this last year with Lion and I believe that the ONLY option was to do a clean install. Can anyone who has used this method tell me what install options are available?

I used this method (actually a very similar one, but creates the same type of boot disk), and upgraded both my Macs running Lion to Mountain Lion, not clean installs. If you were upgrading from anything but Snow Leopard, however, you would not be able to perform an upgrade, so perhaps that's what you were running into before?

jW

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