Boot from 10.8.2 USB Stick

[phonitron]

Ok, so I've just received my new quad core mac mini and and as I usually do, I like to re-jig things a little which involves me doing a fresh install using the latest 10.8.2 image downloaded from the mac app store.

When I've come to boot from the USB stick, I get the circle with diagonal line through it. I've tested the USB stick on another mac I have and it works flawlessly... I originally guessed it was something to do with this latest machine being a custom build of 10.8.2 (later than the one on the app store), but it was actually running 10.8.1

On the phone to AppleCare as I type this because my Internet speed is painfully slow! I'm not expecting them to be able to help much but would at least like them to be aware of it and have it documented so they can sort it out. Surely I'm not the only one who re-jigs things when getting a new mac?!

Can someone change the title of the post to say "Late 2012 Mac Mini cannot boot from 10.8.2 boot stick" please? Thanks!

 

[mwhities]

Boot off the Recovery drive? I'm sure it came with ML on it, right?

 

[Weaselboy]

I think what you are seeing is the new Mini uses a different build of ML then the current Apple Store version. If you want a new install you will have the go through Internet Recovery to get it. Sam thing happened when the 15' rMBP came out.

 

[phonitron]

Takes bloody ages to download! What a stupid BUG this is. And clearly if it happened with the rMBP they haven't learned their lesson. Similar thing happened with the previous mini too, although the last time I was left without even a recovery partition. I miss having physical media...

 

[Weaselboy]

Takes bloody ages to download!

Yeah... 4.7GB. Best just pop a beer.

 

[phonitron]

And the rest! 20+ hours on my slow connection. So much for my day off work! AppleCare guy is clueless btw...

 

[mdgm]

It's easy enough to grab a copy of InstallESD.dmg when you use Internet Recovery. Do an install e.g. to a USB HDD. When the dmg has finished downloading the Mac will reboot. If you remove the USB disk at the right time the InstallESD.dmg file would still be there and you can copy it for future use.

 

[phonitron]

It's easy enough to grab a copy of InstallESD.dmg when you use Internet Recovery. Do an install e.g. to a USB HDD. When the dmg has finished downloading the Mac will reboot. If you remove the USB disk at the right time the InstallESD.dmg file would still be there and you can copy it for future use.

I've only ever used the technique using the app store download. Any chance you can enlighten me please? I'm very interested to hear how I could do this. Cheers in advance.

Found it:
http://www.macworld.com/article/1165337/create_a_bootable_lion_install_drive_for_newer_macs.html

Cheers MDGM!!! Never would have thought of doing this if you'd not mentioned it!