How to make a bootable install of Mavericks on Flash USB Drive?

[drewio]

Hello

This method works as well with 13A603 as it did with 13A598. Thanks again!

This method worked for me on 13A598 but not 13A603. I got a Terminal error:

sudo: /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia: command not found.

Lion DiskMaker now has a beta for Mavericks, btw.

 

[windnsea26]

Thanks for sharing this. It worked perfectly!

This is better than osxdaily's method (which should only be used for DP1 anyway, not DP4 or the GM):

To make a bootable USB of the GM, use this method:

Your 8 GB USB drive should be called Untitled and formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The installer should be called Install OS X Mavericks.app and should be in your Applications folder.

Run this in terminal and wait about 20 minutes:

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

You should see something like this:

Erasing Disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 100%...
Copying installer files to disk...
Copy complete.
Making disk bootable...
Copying boot files...
Copy complete.
Done.

You can then boot up from the USB by holding down the option key, then install the GM from the USB.

This is probably going to be the same for the public release.

Note that this will also install a recovery partition (which osxdaily's method doesn't do).

 

[Momo10]

USB drives not bootable, WHY?

This is better than osxdaily's method (which should only be used for DP1 anyway, not DP4 or the GM):

To make a bootable USB of the GM, use this method:

Your 8 GB USB drive should be called Untitled and formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The installer should be called Install OS X Mavericks.app and should be in your Applications folder.

Run this in terminal and wait about 20 minutes:

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

You should see something like this:

Erasing Disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 100%...
Copying installer files to disk...
Copy complete.
Making disk bootable...
Copying boot files...
Copy complete.
Done.

You can then boot up from the USB by holding down the option key, then install the GM from the USB.

This is probably going to be the same for the public release.

Note that this will also install a recovery partition (which osxdaily's method doesn't do).

Hey Guys,
Big thumbs up for this nice forum!

I have followed all steps precisely. However, the USB drive doesn't show up when pressing ALT during booting. Only Macintosh HD and Recovery 10.8.2

I have also done the same and older instructions for Mac OS X Lion. With several USB drives, still the drives don't show up.

I have a Macbook Air mid 2012, 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

OSX Version 10.8.5, Build 12F45

After several tries with different USB drives (old and new ones) yesterday, suddenly one Kingston USB drive works today. However I have to return it to a friend and would like to know why this problem exists?

Thank you for any profound explanation.

Regards,
Mo

 

[windnsea26]

Hey Guys,
Big thumbs up for this nice forum!

I have followed all steps precisely. However, the USB drive doesn't show up when pressing ALT during booting. Only Macintosh HD and Recovery 10.8.2

I have also done the same and older instructions for Mac OS X Lion. With several USB drives, still the drives don't show up.

I have a Macbook Air mid 2012, 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5, 8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

OSX Version 10.8.5, Build 12F45

After several tries with different USB drives (old and new ones) yesterday, suddenly one Kingston USB drive works today. However I have to return it to a friend and would like to know why this problem exists?

Thank you for any profound explanation.

Regards,
Mo

Mo,
I have the same exact setup as you and did not experience any issues. Make sure to follow it exactly. I had my USB drive named something else and that gave me a problem.

 

[Momo10]

USB drives not bootable, WHY?

Mo,
I have the same exact setup as you and did not experience any issues. Make sure to follow it exactly. I had my USB drive named something else and that gave me a problem.

Hi Windnsea,
I just ran through the process again and tried it with one USB drive DataTraveler 111 (16GB) and a Kingston DataTraveler G3 (16GB).

Exactly the same process.

DataTraveler 111 won't show up during the boot process while the DataTraveler G3 (16GB) will do.

So I believe it has something to do with the USB drive I am using.

But this is actually a problem because I tried 4 USB drives so far and only one is working!

If somebody can help on this subject I would very much appreciate.

Thanks and regards,
Mo

 

[windnsea26]

Hi Windnsea,
I just ran through the process again and tried it with one USB drive DataTraveler 111 (16GB) and a Kingston DataTraveler G3 (16GB).

Exactly the same process.

DataTraveler 111 won't show up during the boot process while the DataTraveler G3 (16GB) will do.

So I believe it has something to do with the USB drive I am using.

But this is actually a problem because I tried 4 USB drives so far and only one is working!

If somebody can help on this subject I would very much appreciate.

Thanks and regards,
Mo

Try to open Disk Utility and Delete the partition. Recreate it and name it "Untitled". Make sure it's formatted the way the post mentioned and I think that may help.

 

[NMF]

I'm assuming that this still works fine with the official public release of Mavericks, yes?

 

[EngenZerO]

So far appears to be working so far. I followed these instructions after clicking the download link from apple.com which downloaded the Mavericks installer for me from the App store.

Word of caution be patient at the 0 second mark as they files copy to Macintosh HD. It sat there for a good 10+ minutes on a new mid 13 mba. Right now I am chugging through the rest of the install with 13 minutes left.

 

[MattKrat]

Not Working

My Terminal is shooting back this information

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction
dyld: DYLD_ environment variables being ignored because main executable (/usr/bin/sudo) is setuid or setgid
sudo: /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia: command not found


Help Please

 

[blockburner28]

This is better than osxdaily's method (which should only be used for DP1 anyway, not DP4 or the GM):

To make a bootable USB of the GM, use this method:

Your 8 GB USB drive should be called Untitled and formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The installer should be called Install OS X Mavericks.app and should be in your Applications folder.

Run this in terminal and wait about 20 minutes:

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

You should see something like this:

Erasing Disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 100%...
Copying installer files to disk...
Copy complete.
Making disk bootable...
Copying boot files...
Copy complete.
Done.

You can then boot up from the USB by holding down the option key, then install the GM from the USB.

This is probably going to be the same for the public release.

Note that this will also install a recovery partition (which osxdaily's method doesn't do).

your famous lol http://www.mactrast.com/2013/10/build-bootable-usb-installer-os-x-mavericks/

 

[terzinator]

would this same process work with a SD card?

 

[thehimay]

would this same process work with a SD card?

Certainly will. Mine is being written to a SD card right now…

 

[z06gal]

I just used Lion DiskMaker and it worked beautifully for those interested

 

[thehimay]

My Terminal is shooting back this information

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction
dyld: DYLD_ environment variables being ignored because main executable (/usr/bin/sudo) is setuid or setgid
sudo: /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia: command not found


Help Please

Are you positive that the installer has completely finished downloading? Just running

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia

should at least return the help functions on the command, provided that everything has finished downloading…

 

[csilvertooth]

Hey all, I made an applescript to simplify the command line process. The applescript will completely wipe the device you use for the installer to make sure that it is correctly partitioned so I recommend using an 8GB or larger flash/thumb drive that has nothing of importance on it. Here is a link to my post.

http://musings.silvertooth.us/2013/10/mavericks-bootable-disk-creation-tool/

Cheers and thanks to tywebb13 for the command.

Chris

 

[MaskedCarrot]

I'm still using Snow Leopard.

Will the disk utility mentioned here for making a bootable USB stick work with SL?

Also is this the same as previous versions of OSX where you need download it first and let it upgrade your system and then redownload it a second time just to get the installer file?

 

[gmanWA]

For the public release, you need to do perform the command line operation indicated in this thread before you click 'Continue' after you initially download the installer via App Store. After installation and reboot, the Install OS X Mavericks installer is no longer present in the /Applications folder (nor is it anywhere else I can find).

 

[Minimus]

Flash drive

I will need to second Mo's comments RE: The Data Traveler Flashdrive not being picked up..!

I have the 16GB Datatraveler 100 G3.. Boot drive creates Just fine, however, is NOT detectable by The Holding ALT options while booting..!

is this a problem with the flash drive itself..?

 

[ritmomundo]

Silly question, but will there be any long-term issues if I used a Mavericks bootable USB (as outlined in this thread) to install Mavericks on other machines in my household (to avoid a 5.3 GB download on each system)? The reason I ask is that I used my Apple ID to download the main one, and the computers I'm installing it on use different Apple IDs.

 

[skiffx]

Silly question, but will there be any long-term issues if I used a Mavericks bootable USB (as outlined in this thread) to install Mavericks on other machines in my household (to avoid a 5.3 GB download on each system)? The reason I ask is that I used my Apple ID to download the main one, and the computers I'm installing it on use different Apple IDs.

Mavericks is free so no.

 

[ABC5S]

Hey all, I made an applescript to simplify the command line process. The applescript will completely wipe the device you use for the installer to make sure that it is correctly partitioned so I recommend using an 8GB or larger flash/thumb drive that has nothing of importance on it. Here is a link to my post.

http://musings.silvertooth.us/2013/10/mavericks-bootable-disk-creation-tool/

Cheers and thanks to tywebb13 for the command.

Chris

Just completed this bootable USB drive. It was simple, and did not take as long as DiskMaker for Mavericks. Made two, one using yours and one using DiskMaker just to be sure. I will do a clean install later, but want to thank you for this time you put into this. See that you also helped in 2012 as well.

 

[Yell0w]

your famous lol http://www.mactrast.com/2013/10/build-bootable-usb-installer-os-x-mavericks/

also here too. lifehacker.
found this thread thru that link, thanks.

 

[Negritude]

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

I hate escape slashes more than anything in the world. They make reading commands difficult. I use double quotes to deal with spaces instead:

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

 

[slide023]

Yeah. It's pretty easy to make this.

But yesterday, I found the actual installation a rather tortuous process on my 2010 mbp (with hard drive). It went a lot smoother on my 2011 mba (with a ssd).

But in both cases, it got to "Less than a minute to go" at the end and then it seemed to hang there for ages. It wasn't actually hanging. I waited it out and it did eventually finish. But this is just something to be aware of before you install the GM in case you think it isn't working at the end. Others have commented that they had the same issue. It's not a big problem though. Just don't get impatient.

----------



Why not? Did you wait long enough for the process to finish? It took me 20 min. Is your USB called Untitled? Is it at least 8 GB? Is it formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled)? Is your installer file called Install OS X Mavericks.app and is it in the Applications folder? Did you type the command correctly (might be safer to copy and paste instead - I'm not being rude, but I don't trust my own typing either - I also copy and pasted it when I did it yesterday)?

Ty,

Never any problems here. I had to give you "props" in one thread here. Thanks again bro.

Slide023

 

[tywebb13]

you can change the name or location, just make sure you change the path of the command

Yes. joecool99 is quite right. You can make modifications, but be VERY careful if you do this.

My instructions are quite easy to implement as many have said before. But slight differences can result in failure. For most people, such modifications and complications are not necessary, so following my instructions exactly as I posted before will suffice for most people.

But for those who do have good reason to modify it, this further information on createinstallmedia may be of interest. But only use it if you know EXACTLY what you are doing.

Here is Apple's official instructions on createinstallmedia:

Usage:

createinstallmedia --volume <path to volume to convert> --applicationpath <path to Install OS X Mavericks.app> [--force]

Arguments:

--volume, A path to a volume that can be unmounted and erased to create the install media.

--applicationpath, A path to copy of the OS installer application to create the bootable media from.

--nointeraction, Erase the disk pointed to by volume without prompting for confirmation.

Example: createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app

This tool must be run as root.