Create A Bootable El Capitan Usb

Jesus Vigo shows you the easiest possible way to create a bootable USB installer for OS X El Capitan. At this year's WWDC, Apple announced the next iteration of OS X, version 10.11.
On the license page, click Continue and select Agree to continue. Now choose the USB Thumb drive you want to create bootable and click Continue. At this point, select the OS installation ( El Capitan) and click Continue. Now select the bootloader configuration UEFI Boot Mode then click Continue.

Bootable USB Installers for OS X Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan, and Sierra

The OS of the older Mac has been corrupted and cannot boot. Yes I have downloaded El Capitan (InstallMacOSX.dmg) and renamed it to Capitan.app in the Applications folder. On the terminal, the. I read through it though but what I needed was a way to make a bootable El Capitan USB (for use in an older Mac) while on a newer Mac running Catalina.

First, review this introductory article: Create a bootable installer for macOS. Second, see this How To outline for creating a bootable El Capitan installer. Simply replace the Terminal command with the one from the preceding article by copying it into the Terminal window. You will need an 8GB or larger USB flash drive that has been partitioned and formatted for use with OS X.

Drive Partition and Format

Open Disk Utility in the Utilities' folder.
After Disk Utility loads select the drive (out-dented entry with the mfg.'s ID and size) from the side list.
Click on the Erase tab in the Disk Utility toolbar. Name the drive, 'MyVolume'. <---- IMPORTANT!
In the drop down panel set the partition scheme to GUID. Set the Format type to Mac OS Extended (Journaled.)
Click on the Apply button and wait for the Done button to activate. When it does click on it.
Quit Disk Utility.

Create Installer

Open the Terminal in the Utilities' folder. Choose the appropriate command line (in red) depending upon what OS X installer you want. Paste that entire command line from below at the Terminal's prompt:

Command for macOS High Sierra:

sudo /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app

Command for macOS Sierra:

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

Command for El Capitan:

sudo /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app

Command for Yosemite:

sudo /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app

Command for Mavericks:

sudo /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app

Press RETURN. You will be asked for your admin password. It will not echo to the Terminal window. Then press RETURN again. Wait for the return of the Terminal prompt signifying the process has completed. It takes quite some time to finish. Be patient.

Sep 13, 2018 1:16 PM

Introduction

Apple officially released OS X 10.11 El Capitan operating system in September 2015 as an update through Apple App Store. This actualization will update core of your system and preserve your user data.

However, if you want to have a clean installation of El Capitan on your Mac you will need to create a special installation USB drive and in this article we will show you how.

Four ways how to create El Capitan USB installation flash drive:

Preparation - get OS X El Capitan installer and USB flash drive

Download El Capitan installer (Install OS X El Capitan.app in Applications folder) available in Mac App Store.

Prepare a flash drive with OS X Disk Utility. Format it with GUID Partition Table and name it as Untitled. The minimal capacity of flash drive must be 8 GB.

How to create El Capitan installation USB drive with createinstallmedia tool

The createinstallmedia is a command line tool distributed with OS X installer.

When you have prepared your USB flash drive and El Capitan installer is downloaded from App Store ► open Terminal and type command:

sudo /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app --nointeraction

In our case 'Untitled' is the name of USB flash drive! Replace 'Untilled' by name of your flash drive.
Wait a few minutes and your El Capitan installation USB drive will be prepared.

To install OS X El Capitan ► restart computer ► hold the Option key and select Installation USB drive from the menu.

How to create El Capitan USB installation with Terminal commands

When your USB flash drive is ready and El Capitan installer downloaded from App Store ► Open Terminal and type the following sequence of commands:

sudo hdiutil attach /Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg

sudo asr restore -source /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/BaseSystem.dmg -target /Volumes/Untitled -erase -format HFS+

sudo rm /Volumes/OS X Base System/System/Installation/Packages

sudo cp -a /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/Packages /Volumes/OS X Base System/System/Installation/Packages

sudo cp -a /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/OS X Base System

sudo cp -a /Volumes/OS X Install ESD/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/OS X Base System

hdiutil detach /Volumes/OS X Install ESD

Now wait until your bootable installation flash drive with OS X 10.11 El Capitan is made.

To install OS X El Capitan ► restart computer ► hold the Option key and select Installation USB drive from the menu.

How to create El Capitan USB installation with Disk Utility and Finder

When your USB flash drive is ready and El Capitan installer downloaded from App Store ► Open Terminal and type:

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1 && killall Finder

This command allows you to view hidden files in Finder.

Now Open Finder ► Applications ► Install OS X El Capitan.app ► right click ► Select Show Package Contents option.

Navigate to Contents/SharedSupport ► Mount InstallESD.dmg file

Open OS X Install ESD archive in Finder and mount BaseSystem.dmg archive

Connect USB drive and open Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities)

Select the USB drive from the list of disks, select Restore tab and pick Select OS X Base System archive as a source and USB flash drive as the destination. When ready click on Restore button.

After the Restore process is finished, open Finder ► open USB drive (OS X Base System) ► go to the System/Installation folder and select Packages file and delete it.

Bootable Os X El Capitan

Open OS X Install ESD volume in Finder, select Packages folder and copy them to System/Installation folder on USB drive.

Also copy BaseSystem.chunklist and BaseSystem.dmg files from InstallESD.dmg volume to root of USB flash drive (OS X Base System).

Now your El Capitan installation USB drive is prepared and ready for use.

How To Create A Bootable Usb El Capitan

To install OS X El Capitan ► restart computer ► hold the Option key and select Installation USB drive from the menu.

How to create El Capitan USB installation disk with DiskMaker X

DiskMaker X tool is Wizard like tool that allows you create OS X installation disk. Download DiskMaker X to your Mac and copy it to Applications folder.

When you have prepared your USB flash drive and El Capitan installer is downloaded from App Store ► open DiskMaker X.

Select version of OS X (in our case El Capitan)

Select copy of OS X installation app

Select USB drive that will be used for USB installation

And wait a few minutes till the the DiskMaker X finish creating process.

Make A Bootable El Capitan Usb On Windows

To install OS X El Capitan ► restart computer ► hold the Option key and select Installation USB drive from the menu.