Can't create Bootable Install Image

[wpfiii]

I just updated to Big Sur 11.5 and I am trying to create a bootable image on a USB drive.

I'm using the terminal command

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/NO\ NAME/

Password:
Ready to start.
To continue we need to erase the volume at /Volumes/NO NAME/.
If you wish to continue type (Y) then press return: Y
Erasing disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 30%... 100%
Copying to disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 30%... 40%... 50%... 60%... 70%... 80%... 90%... 100%
Making disk bootable...
Install media now available at "/Volumes/Install macOS Big Sur"

What I don't see is the "Copying Boot Files" between making disk bootable and Install Media now...

and... when try to boot to the drive the macbook won't recognize the drive as bootable. The icon is the standard USB icon, not the Big Sur installable image.

If I try to boot from it, I get the grey screen with the zero and slash

I've done this dozens of times and have never had a problem with it.

I've used 2 different USB drives and tried this on two different Mac's ( One running 11.5 and the other running 11.5.1 ) and neither one worked.

Not sure what I'm doing wrong?

 

[george_i]

You can't use the Catalina disk on an existing big Sur installation.

 

[wpfiii]

Thank you george.

I'm sorry for the confusion, the screenshot I used was off the Apple Support pages to demonstrate that on a successful image install, there is an extra line indicating that the boot files were copied.

I am using strictly Big Sur Install images.

 

[Freeangel1]

Would be nice if someone created a bootable Big Sur 11.5.1 image and uploaded it to be shared since this seems to be the last update for Big Sur.

And I am not going out and buying a new Apple Silicon Mac until they are clearly the better option.

Probably won't buy until 2023 when 2nm chips come out. I wanna see if SMALLER still means FASTER and more Powerful. NOT just more Power efficient.

 

[seclusion]

Yes, ccc and super duper are currently not able to make a bootable back up of big sur 11.5.1! Ccc is saying possibly that u are only able to make a backup of your data, apps n settings, then reinstall the OS, then migrate your stuff over the new install… 😵‍💫
Usually I’m trying the new os betas now, but without a proper backup, Im waiting.

 

[george_i]

Hi, wpfiii

Do you have a M1 machine ?.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Do you have a M1 machine ?.

That's a good question.

Also, have you tried downloading and creating an installer via the MDS application?

 

[wpfiii]

Hi, wpfiii

Do you have a M1 machine ?.

Hi George,

All the machines I tried this on were Intel based machines. I have a Late 2014 Mac Mini, and a mid-2015 Mac Book Pro. I do have an M1 Air in the house, I could try it off that machine, but haven't yet. I'll try that this weekend to be complete.

I have successfully built today a Catalina Install on the above machines, and it works 100% on both USBs and I'm installing that on an 2013 Macbook Pro. I'll then do an inplace upgrade to Big Sur.

and BrianBaughn - No I have not tried MDS application. I'll look at that this weekend and see if that is something I can try. Thank you.

Thank you all....

Bill

 

[wpfiii]

Yes, ccc and super duper are currently not able to make a bootable back up of big sur 11.5.1! Ccc is saying possibly that u are only able to make a backup of your data, apps n settings, then reinstall the OS, then migrate your stuff over the new install… 😵‍💫
Usually I’m trying the new os betas now, but without a proper backup, Im waiting.

Hi seclusion - FYI - I tried this on intel machines under both Big Sur 11.5 and 11.5.1 and neither one copied to boot files and created an usable image.

 

[seclusion]

Sii, amigo, as of 11.5.1 a bootable clone is not possible.
your only option is to backup your data (both ccc and superduper can do this). That does everything but the OS files.
reinstall your OS and migrate your data back. I’m not certain if u can have this as a back drive. Most important is to have your data, apps and settings backed up.

 

[wpfiii]

Hi Seclusion,

Thank you again for your reply. So maybe it's my inexperience, but if I start for a wiped hard drive ( say new fresh installed hard drive ) how do you get Big Sur onto it if you can't make a bootable image?

Unless you must go to recovery with the USB imaged to Big Sur - But it's just not bootable?

I may give that a try.

Also, I found out that part of the problem is that the machine I'm trying to boot this Big Sur install on is a Late-2012 Mac Book Pro, which isn't supported by Big Sur. That's probably the majority of my problem.

So I put Catalina on that machine.

I have another one that's a MacBook Air that I will try to wipe and add Big Sur to. I'll update the group what I found and I will be making the Image off the M1 chip to see how that works.

Bill

 

[george_i]

@wpfiii,

1. It is not a good idea to wipe the M1 Air. You may run into problems.

2. On an M1 Mac, the Install Drive is accessible only from the options screen. It is not bootable and you may use it only for "Reinstall macOS", from the relevant interface.

 

[wpfiii]

Hi George,

Yup, I just figured it out.

The Big Sur Install image, I couldn't use it from the recovery screen, because... it's not bootable.

and it's not bootable apparently by design.

So you are supposed to installs now from the Options screen... where you can select the install image.

My problem was, that it wasn't showing Big Sur as an Image of the Installable, it was just showing it as a USB drive symbol. Which led me to believe it was because it wasn't bootable...

Well... the real reason why wasn't that the image was bad... in fact it was fine

The problem was user error... I didn't check to see if the Machine I was installing on was supported by Big Sur... and guess what... it's not. It's a Mid-2012 macbook pro... and it's not supported.

and if you select the Big Sur... it just leaves you at that grey screen with the zero with the slash through it.

So Catalina is as far as I can take that one.

I then used the image on a 2014 MacBook Air... and it worked perfectly.

So... lesson learned... check the hardware compatibility first....

Newbie mistake.... sorry for the confusion. Thank you all for the help!

P.S. - yeah... not doing a fresh install on the M1, it's literally just out of the wrapper and came with Big Sur on it. I won't be wiping that one for a few years ;-)

Bill

 

[HDFan]

Yes, ccc and super duper are currently not able to make a bootable back up of big sur 11.5.1!

as of 11.5.1 a bootable clone is not possible.

Since CCC makes bootable clones for 11.5 (I have severaL) are you saying that this is disabled in 11.5.1? Don't see anything about this on the CCC website.

 

[wpfiii]

HI HDFan,

Just wanted to clarify my statement. The Apple provided createinstallmedia will no longer create a bootable image starting with 11.5.

I'm not familiar with CCC. I do not know its capabilities.

Thanks...
Bill

 

[400]

I hit an issue with big sur a few days ago. Shifting up from Catalina and just doing what I had done in the past without checking I managed to mess up my new M1 iMac OS and the attempt at bootable (not) freshly formatted hard drive. Had to get support and told what I did should not have happened (that is it was incorrect what I did but the point and click allowed me to do it, shouldn't have let me get that far)
Got sent a link by Apple to make a bootable copy but had to be command line but it matches yours up the top?

Create a bootable installer for macOS – Apple Support (UK)

Use an external drive or secondary volume as a startup disk from which to install macOS.

support.apple.com

Meaning info is recent.

 

[wpfiii]

Hi 400,

Yes those are the same instructions I was checking. The only note, is that the Big Sur createimagemedia only works from the options screen. You can't boot to it from recovery.

That's fine as far as I needed.

My initial problem was that when I tried to use the same image created for Big Sur on an older mac that didn't support Big Sur, it wouldn't install the OS and didn't give any kind of reasonable error message. It just gave the gray screen with zero and a slash through it.

It worked fine on machines that were supported.

Bill

 

[400]

Yeah, appreciate what you wrote but seems a big security change on with what you can do with this version even with supported hardware. (I should have looked around various threads first)
Loath to try to use this method now incase I run into the same issues I hit earlier. It has led to me needing to re download my photos library and it is eye watering slow.