In a previous post I went through the lengthy method of creating a bootable USB Flash drive that could be used to install OS X Mavericks as well as a really simple solution that involves using an application called DiskMaker X.
This post will go through another method that utilizes a single Terminal Command.
#1 – Download OS X Mavericks
First things first, you need to download OS X Mavericks. This is a FREE download from Apple. Here’s link to it: OS X Mavericks
#2 – Prepare your USB Flash Drive
Creating a bootable USB drive for Mavericks requires a USB drive with at least 8GB of available space. If you don’t already have one, they are really cheap. If you need a good Flash drive, here is an affiliate link to a 16 GB flash drive: PNY 16GB Attaché 2 USB 2.0 Flash Drive – Black,Blue (P-FD16GATT2-GE) only $11.99.
Before we can restore Mavericks onto the USB Flash drive, the drive has to be properly formatted.
To format the USB drive open Disk Utility (located in Applications/Utilities). Plug the drive in into your Mac.
- Select the USB Flash drive from the sidebar in Disk Utility.
- Select the “Erase” tab.
- Make sure the Format is set to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
- As for the name, leave it as “Untitled”.
- Finally click the Erase tab.
One important note about Step 5, this will erase everything that is currently on your USB drive.
#3 – Terminal Command
Now that the USB drive is properly formatted we can run the Terminal command that will take care of the rest. Terminal can be found in the Applications/Utilities folder.
Simply copy and paste this into Terminal and press the Enter key on your keyboard:
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app --nointeraction
Since the above command uses the sudo atritubute you will be required to enter your password to start the process.
Once the process starts you will see this in Terminal:
Erasing Disk: 0%… 10%… 20%…100%…
Copying installer files to disk…
Copy complete.
Making disk bootable…
Copying boot files…
Copy complete.
Done.
This process can take a while since it’s coping Gigabytes of data over. Leave it alone and let it do its things.
Congratulations you just created a working Mavericks install USB drive!
Now there are two ways of booting into the USB.
Choose one method:
1. Open System Preferences -> Startup Disk -> Select the USB drive -> Click the “Restart” button.
OR
2. While your Mac is restarting hold down the “alt” key on the keyboard and select the USB drive.
Worked great! Thanks. You can also split it into more than one partition on the drive if you intend to use it as more than a boot drive. That’s the way I did it.
-Drew
November 23, 2013 at 4:42 pmWow! Thank you!!
November 28, 2013 at 5:35 pmDoesn’t work. createinstallmedia is missing from
/Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/
December 1, 2013 at 7:23 amHey there Khürt, that’s strange it’s not working for you. It’s working fine for me, as well as the the people who commented before you. I just tried it again on my USB to make sure, and as I write this, the Mavericks USB is being created.
Did you properly format your USB and leave the name of it as “Untitled”?
There are also 2 other methods listed in the article that you may have better success with. Good luck.
December 1, 2013 at 10:46 amBe sure you’re downloading the install file from the App Store. If you’ve installed it initially, that install file disappears. It should appear under the applications folder as OS X Mavericks install.
-Drew
December 1, 2013 at 11:01 amAre you using all “/’ and not mixing with the opposite “\”? that is the only problem I see in you post.
Regards
January 17, 2014 at 7:57 amThe different slashes are for different functions – one way is part of the path, the other is escaping the spaces in the name.
:-)
March 3, 2014 at 8:45 amIt worked perfectly! Thank you very very much Damien!
December 2, 2013 at 10:10 amGlad to hear it worked for you Adrian, and you are most welcome.
December 2, 2013 at 10:18 amThank you very much! This was the simplest method I’ve seen.
December 4, 2013 at 12:02 amonce i create the bootable drive and install Mavericks will my data b wiped?
December 6, 2013 at 11:23 pmI followed the steps for creating a bootable drive. After copying and pasting the Terminal command (# 3) I got the following:
/Volumes/Untitled is not a valid volume mount point.
Can you help? I am attempting a clean install on a MacBook Pro that has silted up and needs a good spring clean. Already running Mavericks, but want a clean install.
December 8, 2013 at 2:54 amThat error message indicates that the USB stick is not called “Untitled”. Change the Terminal command to support the name of the USB or erase the USB in Disk Utility and leave it as Untitled.
December 9, 2013 at 12:15 amThis method allows me to install Mavericks in my Mac, but it doesn’t format my whole computer which is what I want because of the amount of viruses I’ve got in my laptop. any recommendations please?
December 23, 2013 at 12:57 amHey there Isaias, to reformat, restart your computer and boot into the Mavericks install USB. Before installing it, open Disk Utility from “Utilities” in the menu bar. From there, reformat the drive and once completed, go through the Mavericks setup process.
December 23, 2013 at 1:17 amit works perfectly.
the simplest way to make bootable usb mavericks by this far.
thanks a lot
December 24, 2013 at 2:31 amhi, i have os x mavericks.dmg file from other sources not from apple cause apple servers are not able to download me from server i lost connection between download how can i install .dmg file on my iMac
December 28, 2013 at 7:10 amHi, it doesn’t work for me.
Maybe it’s because my OS X version is dutch and the installer file isn’t calles Install but Installeer etcetera.
I tried multiple times but it keeps saying:
command not found
Any idea?
I’m working on a 2013 MacBook Air with Mavericks already installed but downloaded the installer file again.
December 28, 2013 at 4:47 pmHello Niels. Yes the language does matter. For instance, in English the Applications folders is called “Applications”, in Dutch it’s “Toepassingen”. Entering a command with …Applications… isn’t going to work on a computer that has the Applications folder called Toepassingen. The command will simply… not compute.
Either translate the folder/file/command names to the language used on your computer or use one of the other listed methods (links at the top of the article).
Personal recommendation: It would be much easier in your case to just use the DiskMaker application method: http://appducate.com/2013/11/easy-mavericks-install-usb-drive-diskmaker-x/
December 29, 2013 at 6:27 pmIt works perfect. Thank you thank you, I was going to do a fresh reinstall but it was going to take like 10 ours to be downloaded, since I have the installer I just followed your steps and it worked. I don’t think it would more simple than that.
Thank you sir!
December 30, 2013 at 2:47 pmThanks for the feedback BCruz, glad it worked for you.
December 31, 2013 at 11:14 amThank you for very helpful step by step, but since my Mac doesn’t have password, how do I bypass this requirement ? Thank you.
January 1, 2014 at 3:54 pmI just found down that I need to set a password before working with Terminal.
January 1, 2014 at 3:59 pmthanks, this is better than other multi step solutions out there.
January 3, 2014 at 2:27 pmWorked like a charm :) Thank you
January 4, 2014 at 1:53 pmI’m using an early 2008 Mac Pro. This method creates the USB just fine. The problem I’m having is I can’t get the machine to boot from a USB drive. At boot I tried holding down the option key, holding down the C key (which is the proper key for an Intel mac), setting the startup disk to the “Install OS X Mavericks” choice. The C key shows a ?, then boots like normal. No ? with the startup disk set, but eventually does a normal startup. I unplugged all other USB devices, ethernet, etc. Ideas? Thank you.
January 13, 2014 at 7:19 pmHello Alan, there may be a problem with the USB. You could try formatting it and then going through these steps again to put Mavericks back on the USB.
January 14, 2014 at 11:21 amHi there, I’m not used to using Macs, when copying the command into the terminal, when it requires the password, it doesn’t allow me to type anything in, any reason why? Many Thanks
January 16, 2014 at 9:30 amHey Andy, sorry I should have mentioned that in the article. When you type your password into Terminal you won’t actually see anything happen. Just type your password and press the enter key.
January 16, 2014 at 10:09 amG’day Damien, pardon me if I sound like a dummy about this , but when you casually say in step 1. go to app store and download Mavericks…. the only tab I have in the app store is to click on free upgrade… how do I get it down in the required format for this to work and what format will it be in ?? then, where do I need to copy it to. before I begin step 2….?? I was under the impression when you click on the free upgrade tab it will just install itself and that’s the end of my new Mountain Lion mac experience hello Mavericks….… Would appreciate if you could demystify the mist …. Thanks. I have a iMac btw.
January 17, 2014 at 1:15 amHey there Proggy, you can click the free upgrade button and it will simply download to the Applications folder. If the Mavericks setup automatically opens up and asks to install just go ahead and close it (it won’t just automatically upgrade you).
Once it’s downloaded into your Applications folder you don’t need to change it or move it anywhere.
After you format your USB as described above, the Terminal command basically takes care of the rest.
Hopefully this has demystified the mist. If you have any other questions let me know.
January 17, 2014 at 9:33 amG’day Damien, many thanks for the reply… the mist is clearing somewhat. One last giblet though, after I go ahead and make then verify the USB stick, can I then just click on the Mavericks app in my apps folder to automatically upgrade…?? or would I have to go through the app store process of clicking on the free upgrade tab to engage the automatic installer …?? I really only want to keep the USB around for any emergency down the line and don’t need a clean install…. also, I have carbon copy cloner…. once the upgrade is down and installed would you suggest to make another recovery disk using that backup scheme…??
Thanks.
January 17, 2014 at 5:33 pmOnce you’ve created the USB, if you don’t want to use it to do a fresh install, just open the Mavericks installer from the Applications folder to go through the upgrade process.
I’d say yes to the backup of your Mac after the upgrade to Mavericks. Always want to have a backup.
January 18, 2014 at 1:04 amAwesome – so easy, thank you!
February 2, 2014 at 11:11 pmHi!
I’ve downloaded my copy of Mavericks from a torrent site because I’m having problems downloading it from the App Store. After I had extracted the file and have done the other steps, I ran the code in the tutorial and got the message:
sudo: /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia: command not found
After investigating a little bit, I found that createinstallmedia is not executable that’s why it cannot run. So I typed this in the terminal:
chmod -R u+x “/Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app”
After that, I run the command again and it now proceeds as the tutorial said. I hope this helps people having the same problem.
Note: You can try changing the permission of createinstallmedia only, but when I tried this, I ran into some problems when actually installing it.
February 3, 2014 at 2:12 amHey there Rob, thank you for posting the solution that worked for you. I’m positives others who are having the same issue will find this helpful.
February 5, 2014 at 11:10 amReceived this error
Failed to start erase of disk due to error (-9999, 0)
Not sure what I am doing wrong. Please help
February 12, 2014 at 2:58 pmI followed your instructions after a previous failed attempt on a previous web site (http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/apple-in-the-enterprise/how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-to-install-os-x-mavericks/) that I couldn’t get to work. In their comments someone suggested your page as much simpler. I tried it, it worked perfectly, I have an installed and a rescue flash drive all in one. So much better than repeatedly downloading 5.5Gb of OS from the Apple servers.
Congratulations on a great simple method that really works (for me).
February 13, 2014 at 2:39 amThanks for the comment David, glad to hear it worked well for you.
February 13, 2014 at 1:52 pmHello Damien,
I’m a technician and I made a disk as soon as Mavericks came out for installs on customer computers. I’m curious if there is anything that you know of in the EULA about installing a Mavericks install purchased (although it’s free you register the purchase) attached to my apple ID on more than one device. During the install it asks for the Apple ID at the end of the install, so I want to be sure something attached to my ID isn’t being forced on multiple computers.
February 16, 2014 at 7:45 pmHow do you undo this process?
March 12, 2014 at 9:29 amWhen I have entered my password I get the following error:
sudo: /Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia: command not found
Please can you help me out?
March 13, 2014 at 10:40 am