Creating a Bootable Installer for MacOS

[krs]

Based on the last set of comments I'm wondering if people missed what I said in post #31.
Downloading the FULL installer, not actually proceeding with the installation after download and making a bootable USB flash drive works fine in all recent versions of OS X including Mojave EXCEPT for High Sierra.
But even for High Sierra, some people were able to download the full installers, but many apparently not, they just get the 22MB download initially.
Why I don't know yet, but Apple sure didn't do that just for the fun of it - especially since the OS after HS downloads the full installer again.

 

[krs]

This is great, thanks. But a question, sorry for my ignorance. Im trying to find the HS Patch website and all I find are references to the dosdude1 site. Is there an official Apple HS Patch site? I'd rather go there.

The dosdude1 site is the HS patch website - he created that - nothing to do with Apple.
The HS patch allows HS to be installed on some older Macs which are not officially supported by Apple to run HS.

But for our purposed you do NOT want to install the patch at all - you just go to the "tools" dropdown on that site to download the full installer for HS which you don't get directly from Apple.
As I mentioned, the USB flash drive made using the HS download via that patch site seems to work fine, but for an actual install I'm going to go the long route simply because I don't know why Apple had to set up that two stage installation for HS.

 

[pm-r]

In the meanwhile, I still need to somehow create a HS installer disk on a flash drive and all I'm able to download is the 22mb file.

From your specs, it seems you are already running 10.13.6 so you must have updated at some point, and I would think the full HS download/installer should be available in your Apple Store under the "Purchased" option tab is it not???

Then you should be able to just download it from there and use it however you want.

Or has Apple killed off that option as well lately???

Or am I just misunderstanding something again?





- Patrick
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[Slydude]

This App Store link lead to what I beleive is the full installer. The info says it weighs inn at just under 5 GB so thats probably the full installer.

BTW I used the dosdude Mojave Patcher recently to download Mojave. If the High Sierra Patcher behaves the same way it seems to download an unpatched versionn of the installer. The patches are applied later. Based on this article, I think the High Sierra patch behaves the same way.

 

[pm-r]

Or has Apple killed off that option as well lately???

It seems like I owe Apple another black mark and it seems that they did remove Sierra and MacOS High Sierra from the users App Store, and not just for Mojave users as they are'nt there any longer for me either and I'm mainly still running Mavericks 10.9.5.

Apple's made it impossible to download old versions of MacOS in Mojavehttps://www.macworld.co.uk/news/mac-software/impossible-download-old-macos-3684588/

I sure don't understand Apple's "logic" if one can call it that.

Thankfully I grabbed them when they were available and storred them away.






- Patrick
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[pm-r]

This App Store link lead to what I beleive is the full installer. The info says it weighs inn at just under 5 GB so thats probably the full installer.

Good find Sly, and it seems close, yet it says it's 4.80 GB yet my stashed copy of HS says 5.23 GB, modified: July 15, 2018.

PS: That page says "Installed" and no other option if I wanted or needed to download it again, at least without Trashing my existing installer copy I guess and trying again.





- Patrick
======

 

[krs]

This App Store link lead to what I beleive is the full installer. The info says it weighs inn at just under 5 GB so thats probably the full installer.

Yeah, the Apple site says 4.8 GB but when you do the download you still only get the small portion, the 22.7 MB for me.
I had already tried that.

The full installer from the HS patch site is actually 5.78 GB and I confirmed that this actually works to create a botable USB Flash drive.

Believe me, I have spent a few hours researching this on the net and trying the various options suggested - none of them worked for me using a late 2012 Mini running El Capitan.
My "educated guess" is also that people trying this may get different results depending on the Mac and OS they are running.

 

[Mark F]

Ok, I had trashed the 22mb files I downloaded and when I just went back to the App Store and hit the download button it appears to download but nothing actually happens. Luckily I haven't emptied my Trash yet so I can bring it back if needed.
Also, just as an aside, under the Purchased tab neither Sierra or High Sierra are there. Only Mavericks and El Capitain that were downloaded in 2013 (for my prior iMac) and 2015 respectively. I'm glad I don't do this stuff for a living

 

[krs]

It seems like I owe Apple another black mark and it seems that they did remove Sierra and MacOS High Sierra from the users App Store, and not just for Mojave users as they are'nt there any longer for me either and I'm mainly still running Mavericks 10.9.5.

Apple's made it impossible to download old versions of MacOS in Mojavehttps://www.macworld.co.uk/news/mac-software/impossible-download-old-macos-3684588/

I sure don't understand Apple's "logic" if one can call it that.

Thankfully I grabbed them when they were available and storred them away.

Patrick,

Are you actually running Mojave?
I thought you were running older versions of the macOS so installers should still be available for you for download.

And besides that - I keep wondering if all this relates to Apple moving to APFS.

 

[usagora]

Good find Sly, and it seems close, yet it says it's 4.80 GB yet my stashed copy of HS says 5.23 GB, modified: July 15, 2018.

PS: That page says "Installed" and no other option if I wanted or needed to download it again, at least without Trashing my existing installer copy I guess and trying again.





- Patrick
======

As a Mojave user, I was able to download the full High Sierra installer from the App store today using the link in the following article:

How to Download macOS High Sierra From macOS Mojave
https://www.tekrevue.com/tip/download-high-sierra-mojave/

 

[krs]

Now I'm wondering why the full HS installer ends up being quite different sizes for different people.

The size I ended up with using the HS patch website is 5.78 GB
Jonathan, I think yours is more like 5.2GB
Apple actually shows the size as 4.8GB on their website.
Strange, is it not? These are obviously not the same files.

BTW - when I try the link Jonathan posted I still end up on the same page I did before, but that is with a Mac running El Capitan, so I didn't really expect to get to a proper HS download page. Just wanted to see where it took me.

 

[usagora]

Jonathan, I think yours is more like 5.2GB.

Yep, 5.22 GB.

 

[ferrarr]

Last month, when I installed Yosemite, on my original HDD in my mini, I looked in the macOS App Store, and it showed Mojave, but not Sierra or High Sierra, listed in my Purchased page. However, yesterday, when I looked in my Applications folder, Install macOS Mojave was not there, and the only thing I did, was create a bootable USB drive, using Apple's instructions, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372. Did that erase the installer now?

I also have all installers from Yosemite and up, in my Applications folder, so I"m not worried about losing them.

 

[pm-r]

Patrick,

Are you actually running Mojave?
I thought you were running older versions of the macOS so installers should still be available for you for download.

And besides that - I keep wondering if all this relates to Apple moving to APFS.

Nope, no Mojave and my mid-2011 iMac doesn't qualify.

I'm running Mavericks and the last Mac OSX in my App store listed purchases is El Capitan which is shown as Installed which it isn't, but was downloaded and saved in a separate Root folder.

No later versions are shown or are directly available hence my remark of another black mark for Apple.





- Patrick
======

 

[ferrarr]

Nope, no Mojave and my mid-2011 iMac doesn't qualify.

I'm running Mavericks and the last Mac OSX in my App store listed purchases is El Capitan which is shown as Installed which it isn't, but was downloaded and saved in a separate Root folder.

No later versions are shown or are directly available hence my remark of another black mark for Apple.





- Patrick
======

Just as an FYI, the App Store, will look at all connected drives for installed, or copies of the Mac OS X/OS X installers. I have also noticed the macOS versions don't show up on the Purchased page in the macOS App Store.

 

[krs]

Just as an FYI, the App Store, will look at all connected drives for installed, or copies of the Mac OS X/OS X installers.

I was wondering about that - somehow for me what the app store shows doesn't make sense.

If I log into the app store from my Mini running El Capitan, it shows:
El Capitan .... install option
Yosemite ..... install option
Mountain Lion .... install option

The Mac Mini originally came with Mountain Lion installed. Upgraded to El Capitan, never ran Yosemite on any Macs in my family.
I have copies of all installers now from Mountain Lion to Mojave, not sure why I see the three installers available at my app store.
However, I do get bugged every day or so to install Mojave on the Mini.

 

[MacInWin]

Apple changed the way they distribute the OS with Mojave. There is now a new pane in System Preferences for "Software Update." You CAN download the installer, but it doesn't show in Purchased any more. When I look at Purchased for me, none of the previous versions are there. Fortunately, I do have all of the installers on an external drive that is blocked from Spotlight, which is what the App Store looks at for when it looks for what you have in the system.

 

[Rod]

Mark F, interesting for me is that no matter what I search for including "Sierra" in the title I get "No Results" from the App Store.
You say, "Apple first directs that the installer be downloaded from the App Store which I have done," was that from your Purchases page or elsewhere because as I expected I cant find it anywhere? This happens for a while after a new macOS is released but I think that time is passed.
What the heck is going on with Apple? I mean macOS 10.12 should be available if not 10.13 or is it because I'm running Mojave and Apple's resistance to downgrading your OS? I've downloaded earlier macOS installers for other devices on this device in the past and when I search the items auto complete in the search bar but just a "No Results" notification on the screen.

 

[ferrarr]

Try this, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202, if you want to upgrade to Sierra. Or maybe this if you need the installer, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201475?

 

[pm-r]

Try this, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208202, if you want to upgrade to Sierra. Or maybe this if you need the installer, https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201475?

Thanks Bob, and rather interesting — who would have expected to find the macOS installers downloads in an itunes apple directory??? ie:
https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/macos-sierra/id1127487414?mt=12

At least this is what I am provided with.

Must be someone at Apple still stuck in their "Think Different" era maybe???

EDIT:

I just noticed this as well at that site, so it looks like Mojove users are sh*t out of luck downloading it, note my bolded comment:

How to upgrade to macOS Sierra
Download macOS Sierra
For the strongest security and latest features, find out whether you can upgrade to macOS Mojave, the latest version of the Mac operating system.

If you still need macOS Sierra, use this App Store link: Get macOS Sierra. To download it, your Mac must be using macOS High Sierra or earlier.

It would seem any Mojove user who wants to go backwards and can will sure have their work cut out to do so and it seems that Apple sure won't be helping them out!!







- Patrick
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