Signing off Note: If you have a Mac with T2 Security Chip (that is, Macs introduced in 2018 or later), first follow this guide to allow booting from external media. After you create the bootable USB drive, the process to install it is simple. Bootable macOS installer is useful if you want to completely erase your Mac and reinstall the operating system, or if you have more than one Macs and you don’t want to spend time (and bandwidth) downloading the macOS update. Making a bootable macOS Catalina installer isn’t too complicated. In today’s guide, we will be helping the mac users to create a bootable macOS Catalina USB drive, which they can install on their Mac devices. MacOS Catalina 10.15.6 beta 3 is the sixteenth and the latest OS released by Apple in June 2020. Method 1: Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows 10 via DMG Editor There are more than one solutions to create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows 10 and we will go with easy one first. DMG Editor, a popular app developed by UUByte, is a multi-functional and cross-platform image burning tool that works on Windows, Linux and macOS.
- How To Create A Bootable Usb For Macos Catalina
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- How To Make A Bootable Usb For Macos Catalina
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Creating a bootable USB installer for the latest macOS Catalina helps in many ways. One of the reasons why you may want to do it is because it lets you do a fully clean installation of the update on your Mac. The other areas where you can use a macOS bootable installer is when you have multiple Macs and you wish to install the same update on all of them.
By having a single USB installer, you won’t have to download the update on each of your Macs. The same USB drive can be used to upgrade all of your Macs to the latest version available on the drive.
How To Create A Bootable Usb For Macos Catalina
All it requires you to have is a USB drive with at least 8GB of memory space available on it. You can then either use an application or a few commands in the Terminal app on your Mac to turn your drive into a macOS installer. We show you how to do both below.
Download The macOS Catalina Update On Your Mac
The first thing you’ll want to do is download the entire update on your Mac. You’ll then put this downloaded file as an installer on your USB drive.
- Launch the Mac App Store and search for and click on macOS Catalina.
- Click on Download on the following screen to download the update.
- Sit back, relax, and wait for the update to finish downloading on your Mac.
It’s quite a large update and will probably take an hour or so to fully download on your machine. The download time also depends on how fast your Internet speed is.
Make sure not to proceed with the installer that opens after the update is downloaded.
Create a macOS Catalina USB Installer Using Disk Creator
One of the easiest ways to create a bootable installer for any macOS update, including Catalina, is to use the Disk Creator app. It’s a simple program that allows you to load your update and then create an installer based on that update.
It has a graphical user interface so you don’t need to play around with any commands. Also, keep in mind the app will erase all the existing data stored on the USB drive. Make sure you’ve backed up your important files before you do the procedure.
- Head over to the Disk Creator website and download the package to your Mac. Extract files from the downloaded archive and launch the main application file.
- There are only a handful of options on the main app interface. The first thing you’ll want to configure is the destination for the installer. Click on the dropdown at the top and select your USB drive.
- Next up, click on the Choose a macOS installer button to choose the macOS Catalina update you’ve downloaded to your Mac.
- Once you’ve given the app both your USB drive and your Catalina file, click on the Create Installer button at the bottom of the app to begin the process.
- Wait for a few minutes for the USB installer to be created. When it’s done, you’ll see a success message on your screen.
Your USB installer to install macOS Catalina is now ready. Plug it into any of your Macs that need an upgrade to this version of the macOS.
Use Terminal To Make A macOS USB Installer
If you’re the kind of user who doesn’t trust third-party apps, especially when installing entire operating systems, you don’t necessarily have to use Disk Creator to create the installer.
You can use the Terminal app on your Mac to create the USB installer and that too with just a few commands. Again, all that you’re going to need is an 8GB or larger USB drive and the macOS Catalina update file.
- Open the Terminal app on your Mac, type in sudo, press Space, but don’t hit Enter just yet.
- Launch a Finder window, open the Applications folder, find the macOS Catalina update, right-click on the file, and select the option that says Show Package Contents.
- Open the Contents folder followed by Resources. Find the file named createinstallmedia and drag and drop it onto your Terminal window. It’ll fill-in the update path.
- In the Terminal window, press Space, type in –volume, press Space, and drag and drop your USB device from the Finder onto the Terminal window. It’ll enter in the full path of your USB drive.
- Hit Enter and since it’s a sudo command, you’ll be asked to enter your password. Enter the password and proceed.
- Press the y key on your keyboard and hit Enter to erase the drive and put your Catalina installer on it.
It’ll start erasing your USB drive to then turn it into a bootable installer. Allow it a good amount of time to finish. Just keep an eye on your Terminal window and you’ll know when it finishes creating the installer.
How To Use The macOS Catalina USB Installer
Once a USB installer is created and you’ve got as much excitement to install the update as we do, you’ll just need to follow a few steps so your Mac boots from your installer.
There are two ways you can use your newly created installer.
Use System Preferences To Boot From USB Installer
The first method is to change a startup option so your Mac boots from the USB installer instead of your current boot disk.
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- Click on the Apple logo and select System Preferences.
- Select Startup Disk, choose your USB drive, and hit Restart.
Your Mac will reboot and it’ll boot-up from your Catalina installer letting you perform a full clean installation of the operating system.
Boot Directly From The USB Installer
This method doesn’t require you to change any startup settings to use the installer.
- Power off your Mac.
- Turn your Mac on and hold down the Option key.
- Select your USB installer from the list and proceed with installation.
You’ll then follow the standard macOS installation steps to upgrade your Macs to this newer version of the operating system.
In our previous post, we shared an easy method to Create Bootable USB Installer for any macOS on Windows 10. We also shared a method on How to Create a Bootable Disk of MacOS X: 2 Easy Steps using a MAC system. Today, we will dive into a much deeper method on How To Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows!
Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows: Required Files
- macOS Catalina DMG file for a clean installation. (Download links have been provided below)
- A good internet connection to download the macOS Catalina DMG file. The file is around 8GBs, so you will need a good internet connection. Alternatively, you can use the Internet Download Manager tool that will help you enhance your downloading speed. I have provided the download links below.
- A USB Drive (Pen-Drive or External Disk). Your USB device must be of sufficient memory for the installation.
- TransMac tool from Acute Systems. This tool is a Windows application that may replicate and manage folders and files around Apple drives and apparatus, such as Mac-formatted hard drives, flash drives, and other memory devices, also, to open and burn disk images and .dmg along with .sparseimage documents.
How To Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows: Step by Step
This is a 4 step process, so please make sure you do not skip any part of it and eventually get frustrated with the failure. I have also shared a complete video tutorial on How To Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows: Step by Step, you can find the video at the end of this post.
Step 1: Download the required files to Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows
- TransMac tool from Acute Systems- This file is password protected and the password is www.techrechard.com. You can extract this file using WinRAR download free and support: WinRAR (win-rar.com).
- IDM 6.27 Build 2 Registered (32bit + 64bit Patch) [Techrechard.com] – This file is password protected and the password is www.techrechard.com. You can extract this file using WinRAR download free and support: WinRAR (win-rar.com).
Step 2: Install TransMac Tool on your Windows 10
After downloading the TransMac tool from the above links, you can simply proceed with the installation. You will see the following contents:
After the files have downloaded, click SETUP.
And click, Next.
Accept the terms and conditions.
Choose the directory for installation.
Leave the default ticks and click Next.
And you see that within no time the setup is complete.
Step 3: Open TransMac Tool
Once the installation is over, the transmac tool will open itself. And you will see the following message.
Since we are running the trial version of TransMac, you need to wait for 7 seconds and it will open up automatically. After the 7 seconds are over, you can simply click, Run.
Now insert your pendrive, usb drive or any external disk.
And click Tools, followed by Refresh drive list.
Once you click refresh drive list, you will see your USD device attached.
Step 4: Complete the installation
Now, right click your USB and click Restore with Disk Image.
Now, you will be prompted an error that you need to run TransMac using administrator access. So you simply click YES.
Now, wait again for 7 seconds.
Now, right click on your USB device and click Restore from Disk Image again. You will be prompted with a warning and you can click Yes.
Now you select the Catalins DMG file and upload it.
Now click OK,
Now you will get your last warning that the USD device will be formatted. You can simply click YES.
The restoration process will begin and it will take around 20-30 minutes, depending upon your USD speed. For me, it took around 17 minutes.
Once complete, you will see.
Now the Restore process is complete, and you can use this USB as macOS Catalina Bootable USB. To check the contents of this USB, you will need a MAC system. If you do not have a spare MAC, no need to worry. I will show you the contents of this USB created.
NOTE: This USB will not work on Windows anymore. If you plug it again on your desktop, it will ask you to format the drive. So do not worry. The contents of this USB will be visible only on a MAC system.
As you can see the contents of the USB device. Now, you can use this as a macOS Catalina Bootable USB.
After this process is complete, you can use this USB to install macOS Catalina on your MAC system using the BIOS mode. You simply need to boot your MAC using this USB device at startup.
Here are some other posts that you might be interested in-
How to change the working of the function keys in Catalina?
How to Install macOS Catalina on VirtualBox on Windows: 8 Step Ultimate Guide
How to Install macOS Catalina on Unsupported Mac: 9 Easy Steps
How To Download Macos Catalina Vmware and Virtualbox Image – Latest Version
How To Download Macos 10.15 Catalina Iso + Dmg + Vmdk
How to Speed Up macOS Catalina? 7 Easy Methods
How To Make A Bootable Usb For Macos Catalina
How To Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows: Conclusion
Bootable Pendrive Macos Catalina Mac
I hope you have enjoyed this article and have successfully created macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows. If you find any issues, you can leave your comments below. I have also created a complete video tutorial that you use and learn How To Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB on Windows below.