how do i make a bootable installer from a pkg file.

[waiser]

HI there. I want to clean install on my mac pro 5.1 of el capitan to restore an old backup. and run it on one of my 4 sata drives for legacy apps. i currently am running Mojave on a Nvme drive. When i download the El Capitan it comes as a DMG file and then to a .pkg. not sure how to create a bootable USB drive from this. Any ideas?

Thanks
Jeff.

 

[CoastalOR]

Double-click the .pkg file, then follow the onscreen instructions. This installs the macOS installer (Install 10.11 OS X El Capitan.app that should be a little over 6 GB) into your Applications folder.

Do not launch the "Install 10.11 OS X El Capitan.app". Leave it the Applications folder.

Follow the Apple instructions on how to make a bootable USB installer:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system. These steps are primarily for system administrators and other experienced users who are familiar with entering commands in Terminal.

support.apple.com

 

[waiser]

Double-click the .pkg file, then follow the onscreen instructions. This installs the macOS installer (Install 10.11 OS X El Capitan.app that should be a little over 6 GB) into your Applications folder.

Do not launch the "Install 10.11 OS X El Capitan.app". Leave it the Applications folder.

Follow the Apple instructions on how to make a bootable USB installer:

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

You can use a USB flash drive or other secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install the Mac operating system. These steps are primarily for system administrators and other experienced users who are familiar with entering commands in Terminal.

support.apple.com

perfect. thank you

 

[BakerBoi1902]

When I try this, it comes up with a message saying it is incompatible with my MacBook (M1 Max, 2021). I need it to install on an A1466 stuck in recovery mode and can not reach server. (I have changed the date and time, reset PRAM, SMC). Internet recovery works, it is connecting to the internet, tried different wifi networks. Can not figure out a way to solve this one.

 

[CoastalOR]

When I try this, it comes up with a message saying it is incompatible with my MacBook (M1 Max, 2021). I need it to install on an A1466 stuck in recovery mode and can not reach server. (I have changed the date and time, reset PRAM, SMC). Internet recovery works, it is connecting to the internet, tried different wifi networks. Can not figure out a way to solve this one.

A A1466 is an early 13" 2015 MacBook Air capable of installing 10.10.2 to the latest release of macOS 12 Monterey.

The problem is the pkg will try create a macOS installer app in the Applications folder, IF the macOS installer app is a macOS version that can be installed on your M1 Max, 2021 (it will only support Monterey or newer).

Since you are working with a pkg file, I believe you have a pkg for macOS Sierra or older according to this Apple page;

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

 

[chadnchady]

A A1466 is an early 13" 2015 MacBook Air capable of installing 10.10.2 to the latest release of macOS 12 Monterey.

The problem is the pkg will try create a macOS installer app in the Applications folder, IF the macOS installer app is a macOS version that can be installed on your M1 Max, 2021 (it will only support Monterey or newer).

Since you are working with a pkg file, I believe you have a pkg for macOS Sierra or older according to this Apple page;

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Download and install current or previous versions of the Mac operating system on compatible Mac computers.

support.apple.com

Hi there, I am having a similar issue and confirm that yes you need to be running on a earlier version MacOS to be able to unpack the earlier version .pkg file into a installer in the application folder.

However I am having issues below in terminal while trying to copy the installer in the Applications folder into an external volume:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Last login: Sun Sep 10 19:38:32 on ttys000

Chads-iMac:~ ChadHsieh$ sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/SamsungSSD

Password:

Usage: createinstallmedia --volume <path to volume to convert> --applicationpath <path to Install macOS Sierra.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 macOS Sierra.app"

Chads-iMac:~ ChadHsieh$

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is it because I am trying to copy the installer to a external SSD volume instead of a external USB flash volume that is causing the below error?

 

[bogdanw]

Usage: createinstallmedia --volume <path to volume to convert> --applicationpath <path to Install macOS Sierra.app> [--force]

Apple: "If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, the command should conclude with --applicationpath followed by the appropriate installer path, as shown in the command below for El Capitan." https://support.apple.com/HT201372
So, it should be

sudo /Applications/Install\macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/SamsungSSD --applicationpath /Applications/Install\macOS\ Sierra.app

Is it because I am trying to copy the installer to a external SSD volume instead of a external USB flash volume that is causing the below error?

Just to be clear, you are not copying the installer, you are formatting SamsungSSD to be a bootable installer. You will lose all data from SamsungSSD in this process.

 

[chadnchady]

Apple: "If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, the command should conclude with --applicationpath followed by the appropriate installer path, as shown in the command below for El Capitan." https://support.apple.com/HT201372
So, it should be

sudo /Applications/Install\macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/SamsungSSD --applicationpath /Applications/Install\macOS\ Sierra.app

Just to be clear, you are not copying the installer, you are formatting SamsungSSD to be a bootable installer. You will lose all data from SamsungSSD in this process.

Thanks, I will give it a try later tonight.

Yes I understand the SamsungSSD will be formatted but just confirming a SSD drive works also?

 

[bogdanw]

Yes I understand the SamsungSSD will be formatted but just confirming a SSD drive works also?

Yes, it works.

 

[chadnchady]

Yes, it works.

Thanks the new code fixes my previous issue but still getting the below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chads-iMac:~ ChadHsieh$ sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/SamsungSSD --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sierra.app

/Volumes/SamsungSSD is not a valid volume mount point.

Chads-iMac:~ ChadHsieh$

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The SamsungSSD is plugged in and active, any idea to why it is saying 'is not a valid volume mount point'?

Thanks

 

[bogdanw]

Use
ls /Volumes/
In Terminal to get the name of the volume. If it's Samsung SSD, write it as /Volumes/Samsung\ SSD or "/Volumes/Samsung SSD"
Be sure not to have another drive mounted with a similar name.

 

[chadnchady]

Use
ls /Volumes/
In Terminal to get the name of the volume. If it's Samsung SSD, write it as /Volumes/Samsung\ SSD or "/Volumes/Samsung SSD"
Be sure not to have another drive mounted with a similar name.

Thanks got it working and succesfully copied the installer to the drive.

Connected the drive to the Mac and booted the SSD installer and followed the onscreen instructions to install Sierra on the original HD (OX X Base System).

All seems to run smoothly (the installation countdown completed after about 5 minutes) and the Mac restarted itself.

After the restart I am met with a new error message below "macOS could ont be instlalled on your computer" (see attached). If i click 'restsart' it just brings me to the same error window.

Is it because I need to also format the original HD that has the old inbuilt installer on it?

If so, bit confused on what I need to reformat (see attache second image there seems to be a few other disk images also).

Thanks again. Hopefully I'm nearly there!

 

[bogdanw]

I don’t have experience with Fusion Drives, maybe someone can offer better advice.
I would erase it as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) and try to install again.
Use Disk Utility to erase an Intel-based Mac
https://support.apple.com/HT208496
How to fix a split Fusion Drive
https://support.apple.com/HT207584

 

[chadnchady]

All done!

I rebooted the Mac in recovery and erased the Fusion Drive as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) then reinstalled Sierra again to it from the bootable installer and it all worked from there.

Hopelly this helps anyond else that is trying to do something similar.