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suprxme

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 5, 2018
3
1
Hi and a very pleasant day everyone. I have with me a white unibody 2010 Macbook (a1342). The device has no OSX installed and I would like to do a clean install as I have El Capitan installer on bootable usb thumb drive. The problem I am having is that Its not detecting the usb. Upon Holding the option key (alt) it only comes to a white screen with cursor. When I plug the usb into a later macbook such as; the aluminum macbook pro, the usb installer is detected and ready to clean install mac. Is there a way I can enable usb boot? or are there any third party software that can enable booting from usb?
 
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EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
13,742
11,447
USB boot should work fine on a 2010 MacBook.

However, I find some of the MacBooks are picky with USB drives, when used as boot drives. I ran into this problem with a 2008 MacBook. One USB drive didn't work, but the other did. Both drives work fine as data drives, but one didn't work as a boot drive. Try another USB drive, or else an external hard drive or SSD.
 

suprxme

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 5, 2018
3
1
USB boot should work fine on a 2010 MacBook.

However, I find some of the MacBooks are picky with USB drives, when used as boot drives. I ran into this problem with a 2008 MacBook. One USB drive didn't work, but the other did. Both drives work fine as data drives, but one didn't work as a boot drive. Try another USB drive, or else an external hard drive or SSD.
[doublepost=1520303911][/doublepost]Hi and thank you very much for your response! I have done so with two different usb thumb drives. Both of them have Mac OSX El Capitan. The white 2010 unibody macbook isn't detecting them for some reason I don't know. I really need it to work. Is there any third party software than will enable boot from usb thumb drive?
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
13,742
11,447
[doublepost=1520303911][/doublepost]Hi and thank you very much for your response! I have done so with two different usb thumb drives. Both of them have Mac OSX El Capitan. The white 2010 unibody macbook isn't detecting them for some reason I don't know. I really need it to work. Is there any third party software than will enable boot from usb thumb drive?
There is no software, because booting from USB thumb drives is already supported.

Have you tried Internet Recovery? I believe that model is supported. Hold down Command-Option-R at startup.
 

suprxme

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Mar 5, 2018
3
1
There is no software, because booting from USB thumb drives is already supported.

Have you tried Internet Recovery? I believe that model is supported. Hold down Command-Option-R at startup.
[doublepost=1520304482][/doublepost]Thanks again once more for your response. Holding those down does nothing. It's stuck on a white screen.
 
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