Right-click the USB drive in the left pane and select . This ensures the drive uses the GPT partition scheme required by Apple hardware. Restore the DMG Image:
In the left-hand column of TransMac, locate your USB drive. Right-click it and select .
Once formatted, right-click the USB drive again and choose .
Click in the top-left corner and select Show All Devices . create mac os x bootable usb installer from dmg
If you are trying to install older legacy versions like or Mountain Lion (10.8) , the createinstallmedia command does not exist. You must use Disk Utility to manually restore the DMG file to the USB.
If your Mac is dead and you only have access to a Windows PC, you can use a third-party tool named to burn the Mac DMG file onto a USB drive.
Terminal command. On Windows, you typically need third-party tools like TransMac. Super User Option 1: Using a Mac (Recommended) Right-click the USB drive in the left pane and select
Write the image to the USB (use sudo; this is destructive):
Ensure the "Install macOS [Name].app" is in your /Applications folder.
Option Key (Intel) or Power Button (Apple Silicon). If you're interested, I can also provide: Right-click it and select
The most reliable way to create a bootable installer is using the Apple-provided createinstallmedia command in the Terminal. Open (found in /Applications/Utilities/ ).
Click the ... button to browse your PC, select your , and click OK .
| Error | Cause | Solution | |-------|-------|----------| | | USB too small or corrupted | Use 16GB+ USB; reformat GUID partition map | | "Operation not permitted" | Terminal missing Full Disk Access | Go to System Settings → Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access → add Terminal | | "createinstallmedia: command not found" | Wrong path to .app | Verify Install macOS.app is in /Applications | | DMG won’t mount | Damaged DMG | Re-download DMG; verify checksum | | Bootable USB not recognized | Wrong partition scheme | Use Disk Utility → Erase USB with GUID Partition Map + Mac OS Extended (Journaled) |
Keep holding until you see the startup manager screen displaying your available boot drives.