In this guide, we will show you the steps to create a bootable USB drive using a macOS Terminal window. While carrying out this task is quite a lengthy and complex process, it does have its fair share of perks.
For example, this USB installer can be used time and again on your Mac as well as other Macs to install macOS, saving time and effort. The built-in recovery features of the installer could be used to troubleshoot and rectify numerous types of issues.
If your Mac’s system doesn’t run along the expected lines and even if it can’t boot, all of them could easily be fixed by using this installer. This method can also be used to perform a clean install of macOS on your PC.
There are many benefits to creating a bootable USB. So, let’s start with the steps to create one using macOS Terminal.
How to Create a Bootable USB using macOS Terminal
The process below will wipe off all the data from the USB drive and your macOS if you are planning to use the bootable USB to install the macOS. Please take a backup of the data beforehand.
Don’t hold AMS or its members responsible in case of a thermonuclear war, your alarm doesn’t wake you up, or anything happens to your device and data by performing the below steps.
1: Extended (Journaled)
First off, connect the USB Drive to your PC.
Then, format your USB Drive to a Mac-supported format, i.e., Mac OS Extended (Journaled). You can use this guide to learn how:
Open the Disk Utility program by clicking on its icon in Launchpad, then.
From the left-hand side of your computer screen, click on [USB] to access the External section. Under this option, select “Erase.”
- Replace “MyVolume” with the name of your USB drive in step one
- Then give it a name. We’ll need this name later, so let’s call it ams.
- Next, select Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format and click Erase.
2: Download macOS Installer
Next, you’ll need to grab the macOS Installer file. To do so, go to the App Store, search for the desired macOS version, and click Get. Once it’s downloaded, [if it starts installing as well, then make sure to stop it right away].
3: Create a Bootable USB using macOS Terminal
- In the third and final step, we will create a bootable USB with macOS Terminal. Follow along
- Open Launchpad, then click on the Others icon.
- Next, type in the following command and replace “Monterey.app” with the name of your OS to install
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
- I renamed my USB drive to ams, and downloaded Ventura OS on it. So the command transformed into
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Ventura.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Droidwin
That’s it. This is how you make a bootable USB using Mac Terminal. You can now boot your Mac to Recovery [Intel: Press and hold the Option key while it’s booting | Silicon: Press and hold the Power button while it’s booting], select this USB and proceed with on-screen instructions to install the OS.
