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.
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.
Hi, 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 amI typed in my login password but it is saying incorrect password but I know my login password because I type it in every time I turn on the computer. Is there another password I am not aware of? I did buy the MBP used off someone if that matters.
July 28, 2014 at 11:02 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 am