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Yosemite bootable USB installer

T

tywebb13

macrumors 68040
Original poster
Apr 21, 2012
3,129
1,842
Here is how to make a bootable usb of the yosemite installer after you download the full installer app from the mac app store.

Format an 8 GB USB drive which should be called Untitled and formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The installer should be called Install OS X Yosemite.app and should be in your Applications folder.

Run this in terminal and wait about 20 minutes:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction

You can boot up from it by selecting it from the startup manager you get when starting your computer and holding down the option key.
 
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Hmmm is it correct for me to say people should be warned not to have any other files titled "Untitled" because they will be deleted?
 
I wouldn't worry about files as such. But maybe for drives and partitions, I would say yes. That would be wise.
 
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johnnnw said:
Hmmm is it correct for me to say people should be warned not to have any other files titled "Untitled" because they will be deleted?
Click to expand...

Had issues a while back with this and finally realized it was the "Untitled" thingy that I had to change :mad:
 
You can install Yosemite directly to a SDXC card and choose that as the startup disk as an easy way to dual boot without partitioning or carrying an external usb drive with you. However, the card will get quite warm after a while and performance will take a bit of a hit.
 
ryanmcv said:
Just download the beta (http://diskmakerx.com). Scroll to the bottom of the page. The beta seems to work just fine with the final Yosemite build.
Click to expand...

had an error pop up saying that the disk couldn't be finished, after a large portion of files were copied when using the current version available.

viizi said:
will the terminal method create a recovery partition?
Click to expand...

the recovery partition will probably be made during the installation of the os
 
roland.g said:
You can install Yosemite directly to a SDXC card and choose that as the startup disk as an easy way to dual boot without partitioning or carrying an external usb drive with you. However, the card will get quite warm after a while and performance will take a bit of a hit.
Click to expand...

That may be so. But this thread is for a bootable usb installer, not for running the whole system on a usb.

Anyway, for external drives, for this, you'd be better off with an extenal HD or external SSD rather than a usb or sd card.
 
definitive said:
had an error pop up saying that the disk couldn't be finished, after a large portion of files were copied when using the current version available.

the recovery partition will probably be made during the installation of the os
Click to expand...

Diskmaker worked fine for me (made from mavericks)

Yes it makes a recovery partition (just did clean install using diskmaker)
 
tywebb13 said:
Here is how to make a bootable usb of the yosemite installer after you download the full installer app from the mac app store.

Format an 8 GB USB drive which should be called Untitled and formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The installer should be called Install OS X Yosemite.app and should be in your Applications folder.

Run this in terminal and wait about 20 minutes:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction

You can boot up from it by selecting it from the startup manager you get when starting your computer and holding down the option key.
Click to expand...

Could we maybe change the USB name to something else as to not have our "Untitled" files deleted?
 
Yeah. But my experience with people who change things with this is that they stuff it up.

You might not though. So if you call it something, you can then run this:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/something --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction
 
I can confirm that both the terminal and liondiskmaker methods do not create a recovery partition.
 
A recovery partition will be created by the usb made this way, if you use it to installl yosemite. But the installer may also create core storage logical volumes which prevents the recovery partition from showing up in the startup manager.

If the yosemite installation creates a core storage logical volume you can revert it to get partitions back to normal by running these 2 commands in terminal.

diskutil cs list

and then

diskutil coreStorage revert lvUUID

where lvUUID is the last lvUUID reported by the previous Terminal command.

Then restart for everything to get back to normal after you have run these commands in Terminal.

The recovery partition will then show up in the startup manager.
 
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So I could update our laptop as well without downloading twice
and just in case (touch wood/hasn't been needed before...) wanting
Boot-ability I did something for Mavericks and not recalling procedure exactly have found what sounds like it in Apple Community
https://discussions.apple.com/message/21202933#21202933
and I've prepped a thumb drive accordingly - just wondered if there is any new method of doing this or do i go boldly into where i've never gone before; terminal?
i have downloaded Yosemite now, just not launched ... Thanks in advance ...
Steven
 
tywebb13 said:
Yeah. But my experience with people who change things with this is that they stuff it up.

You might not though. So if you call it something, you can then run this:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/something --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction
Click to expand...

NVM I decided to just rename all my "Untitled" documents, and/or put them in folders. I have a lot of "untitled folders" but hopefully those wont be affected.

Thank you though.
 
Regbial said:
NVM I decided to just rename all my "Untitled" documents, and/or put them in folders. I have a lot of "untitled folders" but hopefully those wont be affected.

Thank you though.
Click to expand...

I don't think it is a problem for documents and folders. It's drives and partitions named Untitled (other than the one you want to put the installer onto) which could cause a problem.
 
tywebb13 said:
A recovery partition will be created by the usb made this way, and installing yosemite from the usb will create a recovery partition. But the installer may also create core storage logical volumes which prevents the recovery partition from showing up in the startup manager.

If the yosemite installation creates a core storage logical volume you can revert it to get partitions back to normal by running these 2 commands in terminal.

diskutil cs list

and then

diskutil coreStorage revert lvUUID

where lvUUID is the last lvUUID reported by the previous Terminal command.

Then restart for everything to get back to normal after you have run these commands in Terminal.

The recovery partition will then show up in the startup manager.
Click to expand...

Is there an error / bug creating install media with terminal command?
I know it's creating the partion - first 3-5min of the install, but as others, it's not visible after install completes with Option key at start.

I would want a method that creates this partion properly (as is 10.9). Avoiding any extra terminal commands as you suggest.
 
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