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Create a Bootable Mountain Lion USB Key Installer

While I've made a USB Key installer for Lion, I'm not sure if I'll bother for Mountain Lion. Once you have downloaded the installer, just move it out of Applications. Then when you run it it won't delete itself! I basically copied the single download two my three other Lion systems' Desktop and upgraded all four from there. I archived a copy to my server system in case I need it again.
 
talmy said:
While I've made a USB Key installer for Lion, I'm not sure if I'll bother for Mountain Lion. Once you have downloaded the installer, just move it out of Applications. Then when you run it it won't delete itself! I basically copied the single download two my three other Lion systems' Desktop and upgraded all four from there. I archived a copy to my server system in case I need it again.
Click to expand...

So all I really have to do is copy the OS X mountain lion download to a usb stick from my applications folder prior to installing ML, and I will be able to copy it back and run it anytime I want to have a clean install?
 
Rapscallion said:
So all I really have to do is copy the OS X mountain lion download to a usb stick from my applications folder prior to installing ML, and I will be able to copy it back and run it anytime I want to have a clean install?
Click to expand...

No, you won't be able to do a clean install. For that, you need to make the USB stick bootable which is a tiny bit more involved (very easy still though, just follow the various methods; my favourite one that I used today flawlessly was using the Lion Diskmaker script posted here and elsewhere). Once you have made a bootable USB drive with ML installation files on it, you can then unmount and erase/format the drive before clean installing ML.
 
FYI, I *had* to mound the "InstallESD.dmg" volume, then drag that (mounted) volume as the "source" to avoid the "Could Not Restore - Invalid Argument" problem. Then, everything went on, just like Lion.
 
so i already installed mountain lion and now i am redownloading so I can create a backup bootable USB with the lion disk maker. my question is by running the lion disk maker does this remove the 4GB+ ML installer file on my computer too or once I make the bootable disk should I just move the ML file to the trash?
 
Don't know about anyone else but when I tried to burn the .dmg in disc utility but said the file was too big. I just right clicked the file and clicked burn to disc. Worked that way for me if you want to put on a DVD.
 
Can this be done with an SD card ??

And does it remove the image from the SD card/USB drive after installation ??

Thank you. :D
 
Lion diskmaker error message

I used the Lion Diskmaker program to make a bootable usb key of both Lion & Mountain Lion on 2 different computers. In both instances I received an error at the end.

Doesn't seem to have affected the keys as they both booted and worked fine.
 

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Lancer said:
Dumb question but can this be done with a new Mac that already has ML, when they start coming out?
Click to expand...

I would like an answer for this as well please.
I have a rMBP with factory Installed Mountain Lion and would like to know how I can go about getting the ML file as well

cheers
 
cooa99 said:
I would like an answer for this as well please.
I have a rMBP with factory Installed Mountain Lion and would like to know how I can go about getting the ML file as well

cheers
Click to expand...

Use the apple recovery disk assistant.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433

It finds the recovery partition on your hard drive (which is already on your Mac if it shipped with 10.7 or later) to create a bootable usb drive.

Good luck!!!
 
minifridge1138 said:
Use the apple recovery disk assistant.
http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433

It finds the recovery partition on your hard drive (which is already on your Mac if it shipped with 10.7 or later) to create a bootable usb drive.
Click to expand...

This isn't the full ML installer image -- it will go to the Internet to download ML when used.

Best bet is to know someone who has purchased ML from the App Store and make an image from that using the widely published techniques. It might not be technically legal, but you have paid for a license and are entitled to a copy.

I just remembered that I read somewhere about being able to stop the Internet install in progress and capture the downloaded image to a USB stick. Can't recall where I read it, though. The process is a bit tricky as you have to intervene just at the point where it is rebooting to do the install.
 
talmy said:
This isn't the full ML installer image -- it will go to the Internet to download ML when used.

Best bet is to know someone who has purchased ML from the App Store and make an image from that using the widely published techniques. It might not be technically legal, but you have paid for a license and are entitled to a copy.

I just remembered that I read somewhere about being able to stop the Internet install in progress and capture the downloaded image to a USB stick. Can't recall where I read it, though. The process is a bit tricky as you have to intervene just at the point where it is rebooting to do the install.
Click to expand...

I read about that trick, too. But I couldn't find the article.

I have also used the version of Lion from the App Store to make my own usb installer (as so many guides tell you how to do). But when I used it on a MBP it still downloaded ML. It's the only time I used it, so I don't know if that's normal (it certainly wasn't expected).
 
minifridge1138 said:
I have also used the version of Lion from the App Store to make my own usb installer (as so many guides tell you how to do). But when I used it on a MBP it still downloaded ML. It's the only time I used it, so I don't know if that's normal (it certainly wasn't expected).
Click to expand...

The Mac App Store will not download Lion on systems running Mountain Lion.
 
You don't have to "catch it" at the right time ... ML downloads and waits for you to start the installation. You can simply copy the installer from your applications folder to your desktop (or somewhere else) and then open the package to remove the actual installation file.

There is a link in the first post of this thread for doing so.
Here is another one of the many published articles for doing so:

http://lifehacker.com/5928780/how-to-burn-os-x-mountain-lion-to-a-dvd-or-usb-flash-drive




-howard
 
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talmy said:
The Mac App Store will not download Lion on systems running Mountain Lion.
Click to expand...

They may have changed something recently ... I just tried it and it did pop up a dialog box telling me I was already running Mountain Lion, and asked if I wanted to download it again. :)

I had tried awhile back, and as you said, it would not directly let me download it again (although I believe there is a trick to holding down one of the modifier keys (option?) which will override any purchased app and allow you to re-download it.


-howard
 
hfg said:
You don't have to "catch it" at the right time ... ML downloads and waits for you to start the installation. You can simply copy the installer from your applications folder to your desktop (or somewhere else) and then open the package to remove the actual installation file.

There is a link in the first post of this thread for doing so.
Here is another one of the many published articles for doing so:

http://lifehacker.com/5928780/how-to-burn-os-x-mountain-lion-to-a-dvd-or-usb-flash-drive

-howard
Click to expand...

This is when making the installation flash drive from ML purchased from the Mac App Store. I was talking about making the installation flash drive from the image downloaded using Internet Recovery. The article about that seems to be elusive and it is a tricky process.
 
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