Bootable Installer Catalina

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  1. Macos Catalina Bootable Installer
  2. How To Create A Bootable Catalina Installer
  3. Bootable Installer Catalina
  4. Bootable Usb Installer Catalina

These advanced steps are primarily for system administrators and others who are familiar with the command line. You don't need a bootable installer to upgrade macOS or reinstall macOS, but it can be useful when you want to install on multiple computers without downloading the installer each time.

What you need to create a bootable installer

Installer
  • A USB flash drive or other secondary volume formatted as Mac OS Extended, with at least 14GB of available storage
  • A downloaded installer for macOS Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra, or El Capitan

Download macOS

Terminal shows the progress as the bootable installer is created. When Terminal says that it’s done, the drive will have the same name as the installer you downloaded, such as Install macOS Catalina. You can now quit Terminal and eject the drive. If one is already running macOS Catalina, just open Terminal and use the following command to download the latest release of macOS: Or to download a specific version, even older, use e.g.: To create a USB installer, then in Terminal use the createinstallmedia command, e.g.: See How to create a bootable installer for macOS for details. Connect the macOS Catalina install drive to the target Mac. Hold down the OPTION key upon system boot, and continue holding Option until you see the Mac boot menu. Choose the macOS Catalina installer volume to boot from. The MacOS Catalina boot disk will allow you to install MacOS Catalina as an upgrade, and also to perform clean installations. Plug the bootable installer into a Mac that is connected to the internet and compatible with the version of macOS you're installing. Turn on your Mac and continue to hold the power button until you see the startup options window, which shows your bootable volumes. Select the volume containing the bootable installer, then click Continue.

  • Download: macOS Big Sur, macOS Catalina, macOS Mojave, or macOS High Sierra
    These download to your Applications folder as an app named Install macOS [version name]. If the installer opens after downloading, quit it without continuing installation. To get the correct installer, download from a Mac that is using macOS Sierra 10.12.5 or later, or El Capitan 10.11.6. Enterprise administrators, please download from Apple, not a locally hosted software-update server.
  • Download: OS X El Capitan
    This downloads as a disk image named InstallMacOSX.dmg. On a Mac that is compatible with El Capitan, open the disk image and run the installer within, named InstallMacOSX.pkg. It installs an app named Install OS X El Capitan into your Applications folder. You will create the bootable installer from this app, not from the disk image or .pkg installer.

Use the 'createinstallmedia' command in Terminal

  1. Connect the USB flash drive or other volume that you're using for the bootable installer.
  2. Open Terminal, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
  3. Type or paste one of the following commands in Terminal. These assume that the installer is in your Applications folder, and MyVolume is the name of the USB flash drive or other volume you're using. If it has a different name, replace MyVolume in these commands with the name of your volume.

Big Sur:*

Catalina:*

Mojave:*

High Sierra:*

El Capitan:

* If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, include the --applicationpath argument and installer path, similar to the way this is done in the command for El Capitan.


After typing the command:

  1. Press Return to enter the command.
  2. When prompted, type your administrator password and press Return again. Terminal doesn't show any characters as you type your password.
  3. When prompted, type Y to confirm that you want to erase the volume, then press Return. Terminal shows the progress as the volume is erased.
  4. After the volume is erased, you may see an alert that Terminal would like to access files on a removable volume. Click OK to allow the copy to proceed.
  5. When Terminal says that it's done, the volume will have the same name as the installer you downloaded, such as Install macOS Big Sur. You can now quit Terminal and eject the volume.

Use the bootable installer

Determine whether you're using a Mac with Apple silicon, then follow the appropriate steps:

Apple silicon

  1. Plug the bootable installer into a Mac that is connected to the internet and compatible with the version of macOS you're installing.
  2. Turn on your Mac and continue to hold the power button until you see the startup options window, which shows your bootable volumes.
  3. Select the volume containing the bootable installer, then click Continue.
  4. When the macOS installer opens, follow the onscreen instructions.

Intel processor

  1. Plug the bootable installer into a Mac that is connected to the internet and compatible with the version of macOS you're installing.
  2. Press and hold the Option (Alt) ⌥ key immediately after turning on or restarting your Mac.
  3. Release the Option key when you see a dark screen showing your bootable volumes.
  4. Select the volume containing the bootable installer. Then click the up arrow or press Return.
    If you can't start up from the bootable installer, make sure that the External Boot setting in Startup Security Utility is set to allow booting from external media.
  5. Choose your language, if prompted.
  6. Select Install macOS (or Install OS X) from the Utilities window, then click Continue and follow the onscreen instructions.

Learn more

A bootable installer doesn't download macOS from the internet, but it does require an internet connection to get firmware and other information specific to the Mac model.

For information about the createinstallmedia command and the arguments you can use with it, make sure that the macOS installer is in your Applications folder, then enter the appropriate path in Terminal:

In our previous post, we shared an easy method to Create Bootable USB Installer for any macOS on Windows 10. We also shared a method on How to Create a Bootable Disk of MacOS X: 2 Easy Steps using a MAC system. Today, we will dive into a much deeper method on How To Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows!

Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows: Required Files

  1. macOS Catalina DMG file for a clean installation. (Download links have been provided below)
  2. A good internet connection to download the macOS Catalina DMG file. The file is around 8GBs, so you will need a good internet connection. Alternatively, you can use the Internet Download Manager tool that will help you enhance your downloading speed. I have provided the download links below.
  3. A USB Drive (Pen-Drive or External Disk). Your USB device must be of sufficient memory for the installation.
  4. TransMac tool from Acute Systems. This tool is a Windows application that may replicate and manage folders and files around Apple drives and apparatus, such as Mac-formatted hard drives, flash drives, and other memory devices, also, to open and burn disk images and .dmg along with .sparseimage documents.
Catalina

How To Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows: Step by Step

This is a 4 step process, so please make sure you do not skip any part of it and eventually get frustrated with the failure. I have also shared a complete video tutorial on How To Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows: Step by Step, you can find the video at the end of this post.

Step 1: Download the required files to Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows

  • TransMac tool from Acute Systems- This file is password protected and the password is www.techrechard.com. You can extract this file using WinRAR download free and support: WinRAR (win-rar.com).
  • IDM 6.27 Build 2 Registered (32bit + 64bit Patch) [Techrechard.com] – This file is password protected and the password is www.techrechard.com. You can extract this file using WinRAR download free and support: WinRAR (win-rar.com).

Step 2: Install TransMac Tool on your Windows 10

After downloading the TransMac tool from the above links, you can simply proceed with the installation. You will see the following contents:

After the files have downloaded, click SETUP.

And click, Next.

Accept the terms and conditions.

Choose the directory for installation.

Leave the default ticks and click Next.

And you see that within no time the setup is complete.

Step 3: Open TransMac Tool

Once the installation is over, the transmac tool will open itself. And you will see the following message.

Since we are running the trial version of TransMac, you need to wait for 7 seconds and it will open up automatically. After the 7 seconds are over, you can simply click, Run.

Now insert your pendrive, usb drive or any external disk.

And click Tools, followed by Refresh drive list.

Macos Catalina Bootable Installer

Once you click refresh drive list, you will see your USD device attached.

Bootable Installer Catalina

Step 4: Complete the installation

Now, right click your USB and click Restore with Disk Image.

Now, you will be prompted an error that you need to run TransMac using administrator access. So you simply click YES.

How To Create A Bootable Catalina Installer

Now, wait again for 7 seconds.

Now, right click on your USB device and click Restore from Disk Image again. You will be prompted with a warning and you can click Yes.

Now you select the Catalins DMG file and upload it.

Now click OK,

Now you will get your last warning that the USD device will be formatted. You can simply click YES.

The restoration process will begin and it will take around 20-30 minutes, depending upon your USD speed. For me, it took around 17 minutes.

Once complete, you will see.

Now the Restore process is complete, and you can use this USB as macOS Catalina Bootable USB. To check the contents of this USB, you will need a MAC system. If you do not have a spare MAC, no need to worry. I will show you the contents of this USB created.

NOTE: This USB will not work on Windows anymore. If you plug it again on your desktop, it will ask you to format the drive. So do not worry. The contents of this USB will be visible only on a MAC system.

As you can see the contents of the USB device. Now, you can use this as a macOS Catalina Bootable USB.

After this process is complete, you can use this USB to install macOS Catalina on your MAC system using the BIOS mode. You simply need to boot your MAC using this USB device at startup.

Here are some other posts that you might be interested in-

How to change the working of the function keys in Catalina?
How to Install macOS Catalina on VirtualBox on Windows: 8 Step Ultimate Guide
How to Install macOS Catalina on Unsupported Mac: 9 Easy Steps
How To Download Macos Catalina Vmware and Virtualbox Image – Latest Version
How To Download Macos 10.15 Catalina Iso + Dmg + Vmdk
How to Speed Up macOS Catalina? 7 Easy Methods

Bootable Installer Catalina

How To Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows: Conclusion

Bootable Usb Installer Catalina

I hope you have enjoyed this article and have successfully created macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows. If you find any issues, you can leave your comments below. I have also created a complete video tutorial that you use and learn How To Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows below.