Apple Mac OSX 10.15 Catalina - How to Create a Bootable USB Flash Drive - GUIDE!

As usual, Apple no longer supply a bootable USB Flash Drive with latest OS X releases - including the new OS X Catalina.
Using this tutorial you will be able to create your very own bootable USB Flash Drive using Apple's newest operating system, in a couple of easy steps!
DJI Quadcopters and Camera Gear:
• DJI Osmo Pocket/Action...
Non-GoPro Action Camera Reviews:
• Other POV Action Camer...
Action Camera Accessory reviews!
• 3rd Party Accessories ...
Camera Gimbal Systems:
• Smartphone / Camera Gi...
Traxxas RC Upgrade Projects!
• Traxxas Slash 4X4 Upgr...
GoPro Reviews, Tips & Tricks!
• GoPro Hero - Camera & ...
Smartphones/Tablets & Apple Stuff:
• Apple / Android / Smar...
Drives/Storage - NAS and DAS systems:
• Internal/External Driv...

[@iftibashir]

[UPDATE] : If you would rather use a graphical interface rather then text based commands, check out UUByte DMG Editor - bit.ly/3DSwYKO - which can be run on both Windows or MAC platforms, and is capable of creating bootable OSX drives, quick and easy!

[@libertyuniversitystudent5981]

This is an older video but still a sanity saver. Thank you very much for posting this easy to follow video.

[@iftibashir]

Glad its still useful!

[@kimberleyalexander108]

I agree. Easiest video I found to follow.

[@hypersaint_a2569]

This is by far the Best tutorial for creating a OSX bootable USB using terminal. Much better than copying the text from a tutorial and running into problems not finding the files. I learnt something about Terminal in the process and am confident to do this myself with other OSs in the future. THANK YOU!

[@iftibashir]

You're welcome - glad it helped!

[@user-ro8xw8pb3m]

wow right! I learned a little bit about how terminal worked too. awesome!

[@user-ro8xw8pb3m]

Holy moly!!! I tried following Apple's support page on this and was SO lost. I was ready to give up. Your tutorial was so quick and fantastic. Wow. Just wow thank you!!!

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped! Hopefully it was worth a sub?!! ;o)

[@MrSpex3000]

Thank you man, I couldn’t get a more clear and precise explanation and this saved me a lot of time!

[@whawper]

This freaking saved my other MacBook, thank you!

[@iftibashir]

You're welcome!!

[@curthahn4063]

Great, straightforward, concise! And it works! Thanks!

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped!

[@CyberHak]

Best tutorial I found on this. Concise, intelligible and accurate. Thanks

[@iftibashir]

You’re welcome!

[@FayezBundiOfficial]

Hi sir, I hope you will see this and respond. Thanks for the great tutorial. I am trying to create a bootable Catalina USB for my hackintosh. I am using my MacBook to download the Catalina Installer. Unfortunately it fails as my Mac is currently on Monterey. Please let me know; do I need to be on a version lower than Catalina in order to be able to download the Install Catalina file? Can I download an iso file instead?

[@duanmcinnes]

Man, this is my go to everytime I format a mac. Cheers again and again and.....

[@hrz582]

Great work, Clean, Fast and Worked perfectly, I really appreciate that.

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped!

[@ericderosaphotographyvideo398]

Best, step, by step, RIGHT on the $ tutorial I've seen!

[@TheVMAKER]

yesssss

[@ambahobrien6498]

You deserve a beer - No mucking around easy to understand instructions. Have bookmarked this video and subscribed to your channel THANKS

[@iftibashir]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Bloodyang1]

Thank you so much. This was very clear with no frills or whistles.

[@djkrazay7791]

that's the easiest bootable key I have ever made.. thanks so much!

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped!

[@johntsang4884]

I bought ram 16gb & Samsung 870evo 2TB. I did put in my MacBook almost 1 month ago now. Not working I’m so tried with it. Finally I did make it because your help me thank you 🙏 again 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@danearnold2467]

While in terminal, erases the disk completely then begins process of copying to disk until it gets to 90% then gets an error “ error domain=nscocoaerrordomain code=512 “ I’m wanting to upgrade my mid 2012 MacBook Pro with Samsung EVO 860 1tb ssd & 16gb RAM .. trying to create bootable thumb drive to install OS after upgrading my MacBook.

[@morganaiken313]

THANK YOU FOR SHOWING ME THE DRAG AND DROP FEATURE!!! I am a student and I wish I knew this when I created a new distribution of Linux. This will literally save me HOURS

[@KrishanSharma-hk3zv]

You my Friend are a legend! It's taken me over 5 hours of searching online thought lots of videos and apple website to find the a solution. much appreciated and very clear video. Thank you a lot :-)

[@iftibashir]

You're very welcome!

[@osmosisss]

Super helpful, straight to the point! Thank you!

[@iftibashir]

You're welcome!

[@GENSMENGER]

Worked Perfectly for "Install macOS Big Sur". Thank you!

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped! Big Sur version here : kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYPFn4dshb1mgLc

[@johntsang4884]

Thank you so much. It’s works. I made it. 😀😀😀😀😀🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 god bless you sir

[@iftibashir]

You're welcome!

[@ArcadeLightGrid]

Thank you for this tutorial. Its the best one I've seen

[@DamianSwarlik]

thank you man :) simple as possible

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped

[@user-bu4ey3tw9i]

Thanks and helpful👍👍

[@iftibashir]

You're welcome!

[@MuhammadRafikBakhtshiren]

So easy to follow. Thanks!!!

[@iftibashir]

Glad it was helpful!

[@riccardogavanelli1076]

Life saver thank you very much!!

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped!

[@rl473]

Good info, very detailed thank you very much.

[@iftibashir]

Glad it was helpful!

[@sparkysparkyboomman3066]

What about the “format internal disk” part >__>

[@anthonyhodson]

Thanks so much! Nice and to the point, did the task and even after using Mac for over 12 years, I learned some things about finder. Great Job! I had a problem where I downloaded the mac OS image, but it said I cound't use it, but it had been copied to Applications so could be picked up there as instructed.

[@gimis1]

Thumbs up Mate. Great tutorial

[@iftibashir]

Thank you 👍

[@traveler582]

at 2:57 you say go to Utilities; Startup Security Utility, but I don't get that, I only get Firmware Password utility, Network utility or Terminal.....I ask all this since after pressing Option while starting the usb inserted doesn't show up, help!

[@danielchandler8534]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!! A great, easy to follow guide for reinstalling Catalina. Saved me tons of time!

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped!

[@golfgolf0002]

Great work ! Clear, simple and reliable. Thank you.

[@samwd5039]

I tried this but here is what i get, *Install macOS **Catalina.app** does not appear to be a valid OS* installer application. i downloaded the files from appstore. i am using el capitan

[@DerGolf2000]

Thanks for the precise explanation. The usd drive is "creating" right now. I hope this will get my IMAC with the new SSD up and running again!

[@omadblackstar2151]

You are the best ❤❤❤

[@iftibashir]

Thank you!

[@Ranjithnkranju]

This is really helps Thank you..!

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped!

[@chistybasha]

Excellent! Good job.

[@cipher2]

many thanks!

[@simongrealy2713]

Thanks!

[@iftibashir]

You’re welcome! Glad the video helped!

[@faizkadirismail3970]

Great and thanks for this survival kit for mac. Really appreciate it. easy and understandable.

[@patmasithela1116]

Great explanation that was easy to follow. I have managed to create the Bootable USB Flash Drive but am now stuck when I try and get to start holding "Option" Key or even trying with "Command + R", my backstop simply goes to showing the globe and asking me to choose network. Please help on how to proceed given this problem. The reason I created the Bootable drive was to avoid having to install from the internet.

[@ceejaemckay4097]

When you hold down option key press the power button ones and it will show you the disks option

[@realtime4me]

Thank you so much. You save me the stress. Good work and perfectly explained without any error.

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped!

[@edgelord8644]

Fantastically concise tutorial .

[@erc350z71]

This worked perfectly. Used this so I could see a owc aura pro N ssd drive on MacBook Air. 2013. Allowed me to see new ssd format it and restore from time machine. Thank you!

[@kymwallis1157]

Great tutorial! Thanks for the easy and concise information!

[@deepaktiwari5734]

Please make a video ... how to make bootable usb of Kali Linux on Mac

[@joaoffranca]

Great explanation. The best one and most updated that I found. It worked perfectly! Thank you!

[@youwouldbetterfuckme]

Excellent vid. Thanks mate!

[@AlejandroMaagno]

awesome! thanks this worked like a charm!

[@iftibashir]

Glad it helped!

[@qinjiecui]

Thanks. It is very useful for me now

[@juancarlosescobar3716]

The most easy way.. thxs

[@SSDART]

Is there anyway to create a bootable USB of Catalina, if Catalina is already installed ?

[@paulkaiser523]

the directions in the video are perfect for this task PROVIDED you do not continue with an install after the download is complete! the video expressly says that -- but i missed it. another item to watch for: after building the humongous sudo instruction, be sure to type Y and then press return (not lower case y).

[@isaylmaz4263]

thx bro.

[@manuelbeltranmeza]

Excelente aportacion gracias por compartir. saludos desde México.

[@darkside9129]

Very nice and clear explanation. Why anyone would give you a thumbs down is beyond me. F;:kwits I expect.

[@iftibashir]

Thank you!

[@yumuvii826]

very well done thanks

[@jalalbadushah5077]

Nice and easy way

[@jamessteury6928]

Almost finished with the process, but ran into a problem. After terminal erased the disk , it says the erased disk did not mount. Could that be a disk problem?? So I do have an off brand disk..

[@iftibashir]

Yes most likely a disk issue - seems like the command tried to run successfully.

[@jamessteury6928]

@@iftibashir that was the issue indeed. I actually found another name brand disk and that worked perfectly! Thank you! That’s a very informative video u created. I love it!

[@tetamint]

Thxu man

[@i8allthepies2]

Did not work on 64gb for me swapped for 16gb no problems

[@Chawachee]

Holy moly. Downloaded 8 GB in under a minute? It takes me just under 2 hours for that much. Any update file for games I have to download over night.

[@cyoney]

Taylor Wachacha That baffled me too :(

[@cristhianaceituno9722]

Great video

[@rjkral]

System update 2? What's that? And going to App Store wants to INSTALL catalina. How do I prevent it from installing? It gives me no option to download only install. I'm on Mojave but need a catalina flash drive to install to another machine.

[@TheLifeOfAuthorDalisha]

it isn't puilling up in the app store

[@syedarmaghanhassan4652]

didn't work! Then noticed, we have to put a space after volume" " and then after this space a "/"

[@gotcoke795]

I was able to format the usb but now everytime I try to do the option+power on combo and select install Catalina it goes to a prohibit screen then shuts my MacBook off.. does anyone know a fix to this. Using a mid 2012 MacBook Pro for reference.. also tired same process with Mojave in case Catalina wasn’t compatible and got the same thing

[@Bigdevpro]

Thank a lot men ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏🙏

[@STHLM8]

Youre awesome! Very pedagogical, simple to understand. Thank you! I think I wanna have your child! :)

[@jorgeomarcosmerivera4871]

Having a hard time doing this, the double dash before volume solved an error “volume could not be found” thanks.

[@morganaiken313]

Sorry, I know this is late, add a space after --volumes

[@pierodicarlodallabona]

Thanks

[@sekaiology]

I need to make a bootable snow leopard usb from Catalina, older techniques don't seem to work anymore like restoring an iso to the usb... Help....

[@YuktiBelwal]

If this works i will come back to give you shout out

[@Chipbayles]

Will a 4gb flash drive work? Currently everything is closed in my area and I wanna play my game. The “copying disk” is stuck at 10% I didn’t know if this was because of the small flash drive.

[@krovvidikrishnaswamy115]

Sir I used sosume to install Mac os Catalina on my xubuntu os . But iphone and any usb is not showing in mac os, it is showing in xubuntu but not showing in qemu mac os ,what to do?

[@staytunedwithkazi153]

Sir, when it shows your mac it up to date. and I can't find any installer icon in my application!!! so what should i do now?

[@kailashgyawali]

I cannot see my external drive after holding option key. It only shows the main drive and my mac is mid 2012 which doesn't have T2 chip as well. How do I clean install Catalina. Please help I am struck from last 3 days.

[@dela_muzic6343]

thank you for the video, can the usb be removed once the procedure is finished and put into another Mac?

[@iftibashir]

Yes you can use it to build any Mac (as long as it supports Catalina of course).

[@brandonlee920]

I’m having trouble getting the OS to fully copy to my flash drive. Would a blank disk suffice like a startup disk for copying the information onto? Any help would be appreciated, it got to 90% copied and the error said the copy of the installer app I used failed

[@blakualin4990]

I get an error after the erasing process starts, it does not furthert than 10% completion..

[@airbender7529]

I am still confused about os file , when I get the Mac osx copy it is not labeled same as this video. It shows .dmg and it said install Mac osx. Also I notice some files in some other video show .app and not dmg so that part Is not clear to me

[@PontiacSunfire04]

Mine keeps saying "Arguments--volume, A path to a volume that can be unmounted and erased to create the install media. --applicationpath, A path to copy of the OS installer application to create the bootable media from. --nointeraction, Erase the disk pointed to by volume without prompting for confirmation."

[@drckargaming]

after you've typed everything in the terminal in this video, make a space after the USB drive path and type "--applicationpath [path to the install media in the applications folder goes here]" then press enter.

[@michaelthorner]

Hi there. I followed your instructions, yet after entering my password, I received this message: /Applications/Install macOS Catalina.app does not appear to be a valid OS installer application. Michaels-MBP:~ michael$ Any idea why? I downloaded Catalina from the App Store.

[@giocharelli1110]

same , did you happen to find the solution?

[@michaelthorner]

​ @giocharelli1110 hi. I ended up going to the Apple Store, and they were great. Hopefully you have one in your region. Some flash drives are not equipped to handle this. Mine wouldn't work, and we tried a few. Bring an empty external drive if you can, as they might partition and use that instead to create a suitable installer. Good luck.

[@filemakerx]

good

[@MultiWooten]

Thanks for the tutorial, but i need to download Catalina on a macbook wich is already running catalina. How can i do it?

[@perpetualwinner]

Worked perfectly, I really appreciate the help!

[@golftownpro999]

I got something about how it can't use that volume because it's not formated for the partition?

[@stevenandrew6829]

I can not get my mac to download the Catalina dmg file instead it says "The requested version of macOS is not available."

[@xboxbml]

In Terminal at % type softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.15.1

[@xboxbml]

I think they just fixed it.. I've been having the same issue since 10.15 came out.. I just tried it again and it worked.. There's 2 ways you can do it. You can do the App Store download(which I think is now working) or In Terminal at % type softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.15.1 Or, for that matter, you can change that to 10.14.6 or 10.13.6 at least..back to High Sierra.

[@stevenandrew6829]

@@xboxbml yeah it works now TY

[@aidiiy_9729]

i having prblm in terminal part after enter mac password and it say: "/Applications/Install macOS Catalina.app does not appear to be a valid OS installer application." can someone help me pls.

[@eggyolkchips]

Hello i also hv the same problem, did u happen to found the solution?

[@MrFaizalChannel]

good good

[@gskillet4219]

Copying to disk: 0%... it’s been stuck like this, could anyone give me a solution? Thank you

[@ManishKumarJainmanishkumarjain]

Unable to download Big Sur from App Store. It keeps failing. There is no link to download it from beta.apple.com either. I had downloaded a copy of Catalina Beta version, i followed your process of commands for the terminal, connected the flash drive via USB port on MacBook Air; it said, file corrupted. I setup the bootable again, same error pops up. Guess, i need to download the OS from somewhere, and try the whole thing again, please guide.

[@ironnerd2511]

Would it be possible to make an ssd drive to boot via a thunderbolt port using a regular PC? (Hackintosh)

[@eyebidder]

Catalina won't download from Mojave if your Mac is not in APFS format! I tried to convert my HD to APFS but it will not do it; it's a new HD, I've tried 4 times, restored from a Time Machine back up but it ends up NOT in APFS format even after choosing that format and renaming the disk! Help!

[@viva7642]

At startup menu only shows Macintosh HD. :( BUT when I unplug my time machine 5TB Seagate External Drive and boot-up again, the usb flash drive finally shows up. =D What's up with that Doc? Btw, nice vid.

[@deejaydemo2984]

Used a 32gb usb, but was taking so long to instal osx, is 16gb recommend ? Thx in advance !

[@deejaydemo2984]

Yes it is, just watched video again thank you awesome video 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@ariz-arvinaureus7662]

If your macbook running mac os catalina can i do this ?

[@nkemngongmodex3272]

When I enter my password nothing shows up??

[@iftibashir]

Thats normal - just enter the password and hit return.

[@yeah1ampicklerick720]

i already have macos catalina installed but when i go to app store it says update not found?

[@xboxbml]

I think they just fixed it.. I've been having the same issue since 10.15 came out.. I just tried it again and it worked.. There's 2 ways you can do it. You can do the App Store download(which I think is now working) or In Terminal at % type softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 10.15.1 Or, for that matter, you can change that to 10.14.6 or 10.13.6 at least..back to High Sierra. Enjoy!

[@yeah1ampicklerick720]

@@xboxbml thanks bruh