Can't get a bootable external drive for MacOS Monterey

[iMac'd]

After hours of work using a Sandisk Flash drive and a Seagate Ext. SSD and meticulously following guidance from various websites; nothing works; last couple of efforts got a msg. along the lines of "drive not recognized. The closest I got was using the ChromeOS /hybrid from "Neverware" which at Boot resulted in a small white rectangle in the middle of the screen and a more colourful small one at top left. So has anyone ever managed this; the guides don't actually state that its ever been done; I doubt whether I'll ever try such a thing again; I suspect however that it may be as simple as that Monterey requires some new format of the drive; the Ubuntu guide states MSDos-FAT which sounded odd (to a layman).

 

[Shirasaki]

Not sure if you are using an intel mac or not but MSDOS FAT partition part is correct iirc. Even today FAT32 is still being used in UEFI world.

 

[iMac'd]

Not sure if you are using an intel mac or not but MSDOS FAT partition part is correct iirc. Even today FAT32 is still being used in UEFI world.

OK thanks; I was "clutching at straws"; maybe it depends on the heat of fingertips on the keyboard or weather conditions or more likely some Apple practical jokers have installed a "random successful outcome" code.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

The first thing I do is go into Terminal and use the diskutil command to partition and format the drive I want to install macOS onto.

For example, if I use

diskutil list

and see that the drive I want to format is /dev/disk5
I would then use the command

sudo diskutil partitionDisk disk5 GPT jhfs+ [new disk name] 100%

See page 5 of the attached PDF file.

That command will completely erase the drive and format it as jhfs+, and also add the appropriate EFT Boot partition.
When you run the 'Install macOS' app, select your new drive, and all should install properly.

If you are still having problems reset the SMC and PRAM and see if that makes a difference. I have found that if my PRAM gets corrupted it doesn't always recognise all the bootable drives that are attached.

 

[iMac'd]

The first thing I do is go into Terminal and use the diskutil command to partition and format the drive I want to install macOS onto.

For example, if I use

diskutil list

and see that the drive I want to format is /dev/disk5
I would then use the command

sudo diskutil partitionDisk disk5 GPT jhfs+ [new disk name] 100%

See page 5 of the attached PDF file.

That command will completely erase the drive and format it as jhfs+, and also add the appropriate EFT Boot partition.
When you run the 'Install macOS' app, select your new drive, and all should install properly.

If you are still having problems reset the SMC and PRAM and see if that makes a difference. I have found that if my PRAM gets corrupted it doesn't always recognise all the bootable drives that are attached.

Thanks and sorry for the ambiguity in my original post; I'm trying to get an alternative OS on a bootable external drive (without paying for Windows). (I had previously erased Monterey and fairly easily managed to reinstall it from an external SSD). I think I've tried to re-set the PRAM/NvRAM and it didn't work (difficult to remember as so much has transpired). It looks so easy to get a alternative boot drive in various sites but in every case there seems to be some unexpected twist.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Thanks and sorry for the ambiguity in my original post; I'm trying to get an alternative OS on a bootable external drive (without paying for Windows). (I had previously erased Monterey and fairly easily managed to reinstall it from an external SSD). I think I've tried to re-set the PRAM/NvRAM and it didn't work (difficult to remember as so much has transpired). It looks so easy to get a alternative boot drive in various sites but in every case there seems to be some unexpected twist.

Which OS?
Depending on which one you want, there are different ways to install it.

 

[iMac'd]

Any-as long as its not an Apple one; have tried from what appeared to be the most established / credible sites; as stated initially; have never heard of anyone actually accomplishing it If anyone has they probably work in IT and don't engage on this sort of site. (NV RAM was probably re-set; there is no notification but thats OK).

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

You have two choices - Windows or Linux.
If you choose Linux, then Linux Mint Cinnamon is probably your best bet.
There are different instructions depending on which you choose.

Also, are you using an Intel Mac or M1?

I think we need to know what you have tried.

 

[iMac'd]

Its a 2015 iMac; I didn't keep a forensic record of what I tried; Neverware was one and some Ubuntu site; have you created a bootable external drive; I'm not interested in detailed instructions on Websites unless someone has recently (or may ever) confirmed that they work; have spent about 5 hours thus far; will try again with a non Sandisk USB. Windows is probably easiest with "Bootcamp" set up but I don't want to pay $@200+. I mainly wanted to spend 10mins partly just to try Linux and also because MacOS thus far has seemed like a joke system made by some Windows guys on a long WE.

 

[DaveFromCampbelltown]

Yes, I have created a bootable external drive.
I used the instructions in post #4 to format the drive.
I then downloaded the Linux Mint iso from linuxmint.com
I used BalenaEtcher to copy that to a USB Thumb Drive
I then booted from the thumb drive and used that to install Linux Mint to a USB SSD drive.
That drive is then bootable, but you need to set the Mac up to be able to boot from it.
I use rEFInd from rodsbooks.com
Download the binary zip file, expand it and run the refind-install app from the Terminal.
This will set up the boot partition of your mac to be able to boot from the Linux drive.
Hold down the Option key after rebooting to select MacOS.

 

[iMac'd]

OK thanks.

 

[Corkster52]

Yesterday morning I got the bright idea, since I had so many problems running out of space, to compress the drive and the underlying folders. The process said it would take about 6 hours but was complete in under an hour. Anxious to reboot and see just how much more room I had, I did so very quickly and found that my login on the Windows side (Bootcamp) failed several times and found no way to fix it. I did see one site that mentioned doing an alteration of the registry but I can't find a way to access it. Because I can't get into Bootcamp, I can't find a way to see which version is installed. Attached is the error I repeatedly encountered. Thank you in advance for any feedback you can provide!

 

[DeltaMac]

Here's a couple of methods to fix your sign-in error:

Fix User Profile Service Failed the Sign-in Error in Windows 10

How to Fix 'The User Profile Service service failed the sign-in. User Profile cannot be loaded.' Error in Windows 10

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