28/03/14

Create bootable OS X Maverick USB Flash Drive

David Sadowski

Create bootable OS X Maverick USB Flash Drive

Posted on 23 October 2013 Create bootable OS X Maverick USB Flash Drive from original App Store Mavericks 10.9 package. 1) Erase a minimum 8GB USB pen drive using Disk Utility* and ensure its named Untitled and Mac OS Extended (Journaled) format. 2) Download OS X Mavericks from the Mac App Store. Itll download and save to the Applications folder automatically. Furthermore, after its finished downloading, it may automatically begin the install process. If this happens, just quickly cancel it. 3) Run the below command in Terminal** window:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app -nointeraction
4) Type your current user password. The application will erase your USB pen drive first, then write Mac OS X Mavericks files making it bootable. The result of burning image into USB should be as follows: Password: Erasing Disk: 0% 10% 20%100% Copying installer files to disk Copy complete. Making disk bootable Copying boot files Copy complete.
davss.com/tech/bootable-usb-os-x/ 1/4

28/03/14

Create bootable OS X Maverick USB Flash Drive

Done.

* in order to run Disk Utility press CMD + Space, type Disk Utility and click/select to run. Alternatively go to Applications > Utilities, find and run Disk Utility from there. ** in order to run Terminal press CMD + Space, type Terminal and click/select to run. Alternatively go to Applications > Utilities, find and run Terminal from there. This entry was posted in Apple , Technology by david. Bookmark the permalink [http://davss.com/tech/bootable-usb-os-x/] .

8 THOUGHTS ON CREATE BOOTABLE OS X MAVERICK USB FLASH DRIVE

Max Howell on 23 October 2013 at 2:35 am said:

WordPress has converted the -into which makes the copy and paste fail here.

david on 23 October 2013 at 2:52 am said:

Should be fine now i.e. have tested copying and pasting into Terminal and it started burning my Apple Mac OS X Mavericks 10.9 into USB Flash Drive. Please let me know if you experience any problems. Ta for letting me know. D

Asger on 23 October 2013 at 1:06 pm said:

I am running a danish Mac OS version and folders are named differently. I have tried to replace Applications with Programmer in the command above, but that results in command not found. Do I need to replace anything else, to make this work with my local language version of Mac OS?

davss.com/tech/bootable-usb-os-x/

2/4

28/03/14

Create bootable OS X Maverick USB Flash Drive

david on 23 October 2013 at 1:16 pm said:

I would remove the whole /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia and start typing /Progr hit Tab key to complete then type next part of the path thats equivalent to Install in your language hit tab again and continue doint that until you get to the last createinstallmedia. Same applies for /Volumes/Untitled which may differ in other languages. Tab key basically will autocompelete for you the correct path.

ankit on 23 October 2013 at 3:39 pm said:

What if I want to burn a bootable DVD. How do I make one?

david on 24 October 2013 at 3:40 am said:

Youll need a Dual Layer 8GB DVD in order to burn the image: 1) Search in Spotlight (cmd+space) for Install OS X Mavericks.app. 2) Click on Show All in Finder at the top. 3) Find Install OS X Mavericks package, right click and choose Show Package Contents. 4) Navigate to SharedSupport folder 5) Right click on InstallESD.dmg and select Burn InstallESD.dmg to Disc (this should burn files contents although still need to test it).

Mireille
davss.com/tech/bootable-usb-os-x/ 3/4

28/03/14

Create bootable OS X Maverick USB Flash Drive

on 17 November 2013 at 10:52 pm said:

Many thanks, it worked perfectly. Well, it didnt work at first, but thats because I had not begun by downloading Maverick. So I did, following these instructions: Download OS X Mavericks from the Mac App Store. Itll download and save to the Applications folder automatically. Furthermore, after its finished downloading, it may automatically begin the install process. If this happens, just quickly cancel it. And then, the Terminal command worked perfectly. Thank you again!

david on 17 November 2013 at 11:15 pm said:

Thats a very good point! I should have never assumed people have already downloaded the new OS X. Ive added your paragraph to my text thank you very much.

davss.com/tech/bootable-usb-os-x/

4/4