macOS Sequoia is now available for free download from the Mac App Store and System Preferences. With the help of this guide, we will explain how to easily and quickly create a bootable USB stick for macOS 15, which is useful if you experience problems with your Mac.
Nowadays, updates are offered entirely through software. That’s fine, but there is a downside. If your Mac suddenly experiences problems, you have no physical way to reinstall macOS. Of course, you can always reinstall your Mac via a clean install or Internet Recovery, but you will need a good internet connection. That’s why it’s useful to create a bootable USB stick with which you can reinstall macOS Sequoia.
What do you need? A USB stick or external hard drive/SSD of at least 16 GB and a Mac with OS X 10.6.8 or later.
Download macOS installer file
To create a bootable USB stick, you will of course need the macOS installation. In some cases, you can download it again from the Mac App Store, but that does not always work. That is why it is best to use Terminal.
- Open Terminal via Apps ▸ Utilities
- Copy the command below (command⌘ + C)
- Paste the command into an empty window (command⌘ + V)
- Press enter to execute the command
$softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer
After executing the command, the text ‘Scanning for installer’ will appear and the installer will start downloading. The percentage displayed indicates the progress of the download. When the macOS installation file has completely downloaded, ‘Install finished successfully’ will appear. You can find the file in the ‘Applications’ folder in Finder.
Download macOS using Mist
Can’t download the macOS installer? You can also try the Mac application MIST use. This app allows you to easily download and use previous versions of macOS for e.g. bootable USB stick. Click here for more information about MIST and how to use it. Eric, thanks for the tip!
Create Manual Sequoia Installation USB Stick
Connect the USB stick to your Mac, open Finder and click in the navigation column with a secondary click (right mouse button) on the USB stick. Choose ‘Show info’, you will now see the full name of the USB stick at the top, you need this.
- Now copy the command below (command⌘ + C)
- Paste the command into a text document (command⌘ + V)
Now edit the command, making sure that in place of ‘appletips‘, type the exact same name as the name of your USB stick (spaces are not supported). Would you rather not change the command? Then you can also give the USB stick the name ‘appletips’. You do this by formatting the stick using these steps.
- Then open Terminal via Applications ▸ Utilities
- Copy the modified command (command⌘ + C)
- Paste the command into an empty window (command⌘ + V)
- Press enter to execute the command
The command:
$sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sequoia.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/appletips && echo Sequoia stick aangemaakt; say Sequoia stick aangemaakt
Terminal will then ask for your password before actually executing the command. Enter it, it is normal that no letters or asterisks are shown when entering the password. Then you have to confirm the deletion with Y + enter.
Creating a bootable USB stick with macOS will take quite some time (15 to 30 minutes, depending on how fast your USB stick can write). You will be able to see the progress in terminal. It is not recommended to close Terminal during this process, Terminal must remain active during the entire process. For more information, read here on Apple’s website.
What about a Fusion Drive?
Do you have a Mac with an official Fusion Drive? Then it’s best to perform a clean install. A Mac with a Fusion Drive has a unique version of Disk Utility (more info) that controls Fusion Drive’s settings itself. It may then reinstall macOS Big Sur (or earlier), then you can update to macOS Sequoia via the Mac App Store.
Boot and install from an installation USB stick
Once the process is complete, you can close Terminal and the bootable USB drive with macOS Sequoia will have been created. In the Finder, you will see the USB drive as ‘Install macOS Sequoia’. If something goes wrong with your Mac in the future and you want to reinstall it using the bootable USB drive, here’s how to do it:
- Turn off your Mac
- Insert the USB stick with macOS into your Mac
- Turn on your Mac and hold the option⌥– key pressed
- Then choose the bootable USB stick (if you are using a USB stick it will have an orange icon)
- Start the clean install procedure
Please note: A wired keyboard and mouse are required on an iMac, Mac Mini or Mac Pro! Therefore, connect your wireless mouse, trackpad or keyboard with the (charging) cable.
Do you have a Mac with an Apple Silicon processor, such as the M1 chip? Then you need to activate the startup disk in a different way than the steps above. Turn off your Mac and then hold the power button. Keep holding the button until the ‘Loading startup options’ screen appears. Then choose the bootable USB stick and then click ‘Continue’.
A bootable USB drive is easy to create and useful when needed. Before the Mac App Store came along with a CD drive to reinstall OS X. If your Mac stops working properly, in most cases you will also lose access to the Mac App Store. That’s why it’s a good idea to create a USB drive to quickly perform a clean install.
Unable to boot from external drive
Does booting from an external drive not work? This is due to the security of macOS 12 or later. You can adjust this using the steps below. Please note! This can only On a Mac with an Intel processor, Apple Silicon Macs cannot boot from an external drive for the time being.
- Turn on your Mac and hold command⌘ + R pressed when you see the Apple logo. Your Mac will boot into macOS Recovery.
- When prompted to select a user for which you know the password, select that user, then click ‘Next’ and enter the administrator password.
- When the macOS Utilities window appears, from the menu bar, choose Utilities ▸ Startup Security Utility.
- When prompted to verify your identity, click Enter macOS Password, choose an administrator account, and enter its password.
- Then enable the option ‘Allow booting from external media’
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