How to Create a Bootable macOS Installation USB stick


In the category of “tools that can save an ill Mac,” there are few that are more important than a bootable macOS installation USB stick. Whenever I go on a business trip, I make sure I have a couple of these packed in my carry-on luggage. On more than one occasion, this tool has saved the trip from disaster.

Your Mac won’t boot? This tool is the first thing to try. You’ve done something by mistake, and your Mac is now unstable? This tool can fix it. (Yes, this did happen to me when I was on a business trip to Japan. I will spare you the gory details.)

It used to be rather challenging to create such a tool, but then a wonderful utility appeared: DiskMaker X. Developed by a lone programmer, Guillaume Gète, DiskMaker X quickly became (and continues to be) the best utility to create a bootable macOS installation USB stick. All you need is:

Run DiskMaker X on your Mac, point it to the macOS installation app and insert the USB stick. A few minutes later, you’ll have a bootable installation USB stick for that version of macOS.

Along the way, you’ll see progress notifications of “DiskMaker X 8 for macOS Mojave”

When you hear DiskMaker roar (No kidding! There actually is a roar at completion!), you’ll see macOS Mojave downloading.

Run into any problems? Just check the FAQ that Guillaume maintains or send him an email. It’s one of the best-supported shareware apps I have ever encountered.

If you had asked me last week if it was possible to create a bootable macOS installation USB stick on a Windows PC, I would have immediately answered no. However, in a feat of technical wizardry, this has been accomplished.

Mauro Huc details in Pureinfotech how to create a bootable macOS USB stick on a Windows 10 PC. The process is not as seamless as DiskMaker X, but that it’s possible at all is simply amazing.

This must be the week for creating a bootable macOS USB sticks on non-Apple devices, since a question just appeared on Quora asking if this can be done on an Ubuntu Linux PC. No answer to this question yet, so we will have to wait and see if someone knows how to do this.

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