Making The Bootable El Capitan USB Drive. We’re all here for one thing, so lets dive right in at the deep-end and get started with the process. We first of all need the OS X El Capitan installer that we alluded to as part of the “Pre-Requisites” above. Launch the Mac App Store and search for El Capitan. Nov 18, 2016 4:20 AM in response to Midori2 In response to Midori2. Not sure what's happening. Open your Applications folder. Right click on your Install OS X El Capitan.app file, choose Show Package Contents and expand the folders for Contents, Resources and see if the createinstallmedia file is in Resources. Make El Capitan Usb Installer; Create a bootable USB drive for macOS X versions including El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Sierra, High Sierra, and Mojave. Sep 30, 2015 An 8GB or larger USB Flash Drive like these, this will be formatted and turn into the OS X El Capitan bootable installer; The OS X El Capitan installer application must be on. Bootable USB Stick - macOS X El Capitan 10.11 - Full OS Install, Reinstall, Recovery and Upgrade SANDISK USB FLASH DRIVE 2.0/3.1 - 16GB - 5 years warranty Latest certificate (expires These USBs are NOT produced by Apple. Installing or upgrading your software from an USB is a quick process and can take 10-15 minutes to complete.
I'm a bit confused by your post on what you are trying to do here. Are you trying to boot into Recovery Mode to install macOS to an external USB drive or are you trying to boot from a macOS USB installer to install macOS to the internal drive?
As has been the case for the last few releases of OS X, the easiest method to make a USB install drive is with the free program, Diskmaker X. It’s been updated today to support El Capitan.
Here are the instructions for creating a bootable macOS USB installer:
Make sure to carefully read the section regarding macOS 10.11 as there are extra steps required to extract the real installer from the downloaded .dmg archive to the Applications folder. After running the .pkg file from the mounted .dmg file you can then proceed to use the command line to create the bootable macOS USB installer itself.
Macs are very picky about the drives used for booting a Mac plus the quality of many USB sticks is extremely poor so try using another USB stick especially a different brand.
When erasing the drive make sure to select the whole physical drive within Disk Utility and erase the physical drive as GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled). The physical drive should be the top most item which is usually identified by the make & model of the drive itself.
Aug 21, 2021 12:52 PM
It does not matter whether you use macOS or Windows 10. It’s just a matter of time until your device will refuse to start, which could happen for many reasons, including (and not limited to) file corruption, hardware failure, and buggy update. If the unexpected happens with an Apple computer, you can use a macOS bootable USB with the installation media to repair it.
This is one of the main reasons you should consider making a macOS bootable USB when your device is working properly. However, if none of your devices (MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Pro, or Mac Mini) aren’t working when you need them the most, then you can use a PC to rescue your Apple device. You can use a Windows 10, Windows 8.1, or Windows 7 device to quickly create a USB bootable installation media to reinstall macOS Catalina or Big Sur on your Mac.
Download: OS X El Capitan This will be downloaded 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 will install an app named Install OS X El Capitan into your Applications folder. If you have problems creating the bootable media, you can get a USB flash drive that comes with macOS Sierra, El Capitan, Catalina, etc., on it with the link mentioned below. (I haven’t tried it personally, but it’s worth the try if nothing works.).
In this guide, you’ll learn the steps to create a macOS Catalina bootable USB installation on Windows 10, which you can use to reinstall or upgrade the Apple OS.
Requirements
How To Make Usb Bootable El Capitan
Before proceeding, you’ll need the following:
- Broken Mac computer running macOS (version 10.12, 11, or later).
- A trial copy of the TransMac software.
- One high-quality USB flash drive with 16GB of storage.
- Copy of macOS (DMG file).
Create macOS bootable USB installation media
To create a bootable USB drive with macOS, use these steps:
Download and install TransMac on the Windows 10 device.
Quick note: This is a paid software, but it gives you a 15-day trial, which is more than enough time. (If this works for you and you want to support the developer, you can purchase the full version.)Connect the USB flash drive. (If you have any data on the flash drive, remember to make a backup, as everything on it will be erased.)
Right-click the TransMac app and select the Run as administrator option.
Click the Run button. (If you’re using the trial version, wait 15 seconds.)
Right-click the USB flash drive, select the Format Disk for Mac option from the left navigation pane.
Quick note: You want to do this before creating the bootable media because there is a good chance that the drive was formatted using a Windows device. If this is the case, the chances are that it’s using an MBR partition, and the USB drive needs a GPT partition to work on a Mac.Click the Yes button to format the drive on the warning message.
Confirm a name for the drive. For example, “macOS bootable USB.”
Click the OK button.
Click the Yes button.
Click the OK button.
Right-click the USB flash drive and select the Restore with Disk Image option from the left navigation pane.
Click the Yes button to confirm the erase of the USB flash drive data.
Click the browse button on the right.
Select the .dmg file with the macOS installation files.
Click the Open button.
Click the OK button.
Click the Yes button.
Once you complete the steps, you can now insert the USB flash drive on your Mac computer to install, reinstall, or upgrade the operating system to the latest macOS version, which can be Sierra, Catalina, Big Sur, or higher.
Create a GPT partition on USB flash drive
If the USB flash drive is not working with TransMac, it could still be a partition problem. In this case, you may need to redo the entire process again. However, this time you should use the following steps to use the Diskpart command-line utility on Windows 10 to create the appropriate GPT partition, and then follow the above instructions.
To create a GPT partition on a removable drive, use these steps:
Bootable Usb El Capitan Disk Utility
El Capitan Boot Disk
Open Start.
Search for Command Prompt, right-click the top result, and select the Run as an administrator option.
Type the
diskpartcommand and press Enter.Enter the
list diskcommand to view all drives connected to your computer and press Enter.Type the
select diskcommand followed the number assigned for the USB flash drive (for example,select disk 4), and press Enter.Enter the
cleancommand and press Enter.Type the
convert GPTcommand and press Enter.Enter the
create partition primarycommand and press Enter to complete the process.
Once you formatted the USB flash drive with a GPT partition, you can use the instructions mentioned above to use TransMac to create a bootable media, but this time skip steps No. 5 through 10 and continue on step 11.
Transmac Bootable Usb El Capitan
After the process completes, which can take up to an hour, connect the USB flash drive and power on your Mac holding down the Option key, select the USB drive to begin installing macOS.
Make Usb Bootable El Capitan
If you have problems creating the bootable media, you can get a USB flash drive that comes with macOS Sierra, El Capitan, Catalina, etc., on it with the link mentioned below. (I haven’t tried it personally, but it’s worth the try if nothing works.)