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Installing OS X 10.9 Mavericks: Our complete guide

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How to make a bootable Mavericks install drive

Dan Frakes @danfrakes Oct 22, 2013 3:45 PM

[Editor's note: This article is part of our series of articles on installing and upgrading to Mavericks (http://www.macworld.com/article/2056543/installingmavericks-our-complete-guide.html).] Like Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8) and Lion (OS X 10.7), Mavericks (OS X 10.9) doesnt ship on a discits available only as an installer app downloadable from the Mac App Store, and that installer doesnt require a bootable installation disc. But there are a good number of reasons you might want a bootable Mavericks installer on an external hard drive or a thumb drive (USB stick). For example, if you want to install Mavericks (http://www.macworld.com/article/2055518/installing-mavericks-what-you-needto-know.html) on multiple Macs, using a bootable install drive can be more convenient than downloading or copying the entire installer to each computer.

Also, if your Mac is experiencing problems, a bootable install drive makes a handy emergency disk. (The OS X Recovery (http://www.macworld.com/article/161088/2011/07/hands_on_lion_recovery_mode.html) feature, known as Lion Recovery prior to Mountain Lions release, is a big help here, but not all Macs have itand if your Macs drive is itself having trouble, recovery mode may not even be available. Also, if you need to reinstall Mavericks, recovery mode requires you to download the entire 5.3GB installer again.) Finally, if you need to install Mavericks over Leopard (http://www.macworld.com/article/2056564/how-to-install-mavericks-overleopard.html)assuming you have the license to do soa bootable install drive makes that process easier. Thankfully, its not too di!cult to create a bootable install drive from the Mavericks installer that you download from the Mac App Store. I show you how, below. You may have noticed that I didnt mention making a bootable install DVD. Though you can do it, I dont recommend it. More and more Macs ship without a built-in optical drive; booting and installing from a DVD is very slow; and 8GB ash drives can be found for $10 or less. All this means that theres just little reason to opt for a DVD anymore. In addition, you can easily update a USB stick or external hard drive each time an update to Mac OS X is released, as explained below; with a DVD, you have to toss the disc in the trash and start over, which is both a hassle and bad for the environment. Note: As explained in our main Mavericks-installation article (http://www.macworld.com/article/2055518/installing-mavericks-what-you-needto-know.html), if you leave the Mavericks installer in its default location in the Applications folder when you install OS X 10.9, the installer will be deleted automatically after the installation nishes. So if you plan to use that installer on other Macs, orin this caseto create a bootable drive, be sure to copy the installer to another drive, or at least move it out of the Applications folder, before you install. If you don't, you'll have to redownload the installer from the Mac App Store before you can create a bootable install drive.

Get the latest version of the Mavericks installer

Before you make a bootable install drive, you should make sure you have the latest version of the Mavericks installer. What? You didnt even realize that there are di"erent versions of the installer? It turns out that when you download an OS X installer from the Mac App Store, that copy of the installer contains whatever version of OS X was available at the time of download. For example, if you downloaded OS X 10.9 the day Mavericks was released, you downloaded the 10.9.0 installer. A bootable install drive you create from that installer will install OS X 10.9.0. However, unlike with the CD- and DVD-based Mac OS X installers of old, which can never be updated once theyre created, Apple regularly updates the OS X installers it makes available for download from the Mac App Store. For example,

when the inevitable 10.9.1 update is released, a few days later the Mac App Store will begin providing an updated Mavericks installer that installs 10.9.1 right o" the bat. Using the latest installer is convenient, because it means that if you ever need to reinstall Mavericks, you wont have to install 10.9.0 and then immediately install the latest big update. Obviously, then, you want to create your bootable install drive using the latest version of the Mavericks installer. However, unlike with other Mac App Storepurchased software, the Mac App Store does not update the copy of the Mavericks installer app sitting on your hard drive. If youve got an older version of the installer and you want the latest version, you must delete your current copy of the installer and then redownload the Mavericks installer from the Mac App Store. (If the Mac App Store wont let you redownload the installer, quit the Mac App Store app, relaunch it, and then Option+click the Purchases tab in the toolbar; that should show the Download button next to Mavericks in the Purchases list.) Similarly, any bootable Mavericks install drive you create will not be updated to the latest installer version automatically. If you create an install drive and later download an updated version of the Mavericks installer, updating your install drive requires you to erase it and repeat the procedure below.

The Mac App Store displays details about the current version of the Mavericks installer.

How do you know if you have the newest version of the Mavericks installer? A le inside the installer indicates which version of OS X it will install, but getting to that le and viewing it is messy. The easiest approach is to look at the Information box on the Mavericks page (https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/os-xmavericks/id675248567?mt=12) on the Mac App Storespecically, check the date next to Updated (or Released, as the case may be immediately after the initial release). Then locate your downloaded copy of the Mavericks installer in the Finder, choose File -> Get Info, and look at the date next to Modied. If the Mac App Store date is newer than the Modied date on your copy of the installer, you need to redownload the installer to get the latest version. (The version listed in the Mac App Stores Information box is the version of OS X youll get if you download the latest installer.)

A note on installer compatibility

The initial Mac App Store version of Mavericks will boot only those Macs released prior to Maverickss debut. Macs released after Maverickss debut will ship with a newer version of OS X 10.9 preinstalled. This means that if you make a bootable install drive right when Mavericks is released, and then later buy a new Mac, your install drive wont boot that Mac (though it will boot any older Macs you own).

However, as explained above, Apple regularly updates the OS X installer on the Mac App Store so that it installs the latest version of OS X 10.9. If you create a new bootable installer using the rst major update to Mavericks after your Mac was released, that drive should be able to boot all your Macs. Theres a catch here, however: Recent Macs are designed to let you reinstall the OS using Internet Recovery (http://www.macworld.com/article/1161088/hands_on_lion_recovery_mode.html). So if you buy a new Mac post-Mavericks, and you havent purchased Mavericks for another Mac, you cant download the Mavericks installer from the Mac App Store. For Lion, I explained how to create a bootable install drive for newer Macs (http://www.macworld.com/article/1165337/create_a_bootable_lion_install_drive_for_newer_macs.html). That procedure also worked for Mountain Lion. Once Apple starts shipping Macs with a Mavericks version of Internet Recovery (http://www.macworld.com/article/1161088/hands_on_lion_recovery_mode.html), I'll publish details on performing the same task for Mavericks.

Create the Mavericks install drive

There are three ways you can create a bootable OS X install drive: using a new feature built into Mavericks for creating an install drive; using Disk Utility; or using the third-party utility DiskMaker X (http://liondiskmaker.com), which, despite its name, also works under Mavericks. (For OS X 10.7 and 10.8, you also had the option of using the third-party utility Carbon Copy Cloner (http://www.bombich.com). However, because of changes in Mavericks, the developer of Carbon Copy Cloner has removed this feature. Ill update this article if Carbon Copy Cloner becomes an option again.) Using the new Mavericks feature for creating a bootable drive is the easiest method, and its the one I recommend that most people try rst. DiskMaker X is the next-easiest method, but the Mavericks-compatible version 3 was just released, so I havent yet tested it as thoroughly as I have the other methods here. The Disk Utility method is very reliable, though changes to the OS X installer in Mavericks make the procedure a bit messier than it was under Mountain Lion (http://www.macworld.com/article/1167857/how_to_make_a_bootable_mountain_lion_install_drive.html) and Lion (http://www.macworld.com/article/1161069/make_a_bootable_lion_installer.html). Whichever method you use, you need a drive (a hard drive, solid-state drive [SSD], thumb drive, or USB stick) thats big enough to hold the installer and all its dataI recommend at least an 8GB ash drive, though anything larger than roughly 5.5GB should work. That drive must also be formatted with a GUID Partition Table. Follow this tutorial (http://www.macworld.com/article/2055589/how-to-format-astartup-drive-for-a-mac.html) to properly format the drive. Using Maverickss new bootable-drive-creation feature: Hidden inside the Mavericks installer is a Unix program called createinstallmedia (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5856) provided by Apple to create a bootable

Mavericks installer. If youre comfortable using Terminal, its a relatively simple tool to use. The program assumes your account has administrator privileges. Note: This method does not work in Snow Leopard. It works only in Lion, Mountain Lion, or Mavericks. If you need to create a bootable Mavericks install drive on a Mac running Snow Leopard, you'll need to use one of the other two methods, below. 1. Download the Mavericks installer from the Mac App Store and make sure its in your main Applications folder. (Yes, that means that if you followed my advice (http://www.macworld.com/article/2055518/installing-maverickswhat-you-need-to-know.html) to move the installer out of your Applications folder, youll have to move it back, at least temporarily. The Terminal command Im using here assumes the installer is in its default location.) 2. Connect to your Mac a properly formatted 8GB (or larger) drive. Rename the drive to Untitled. (It's not technically necessary to rename the drive, but the Terminal command I'm using here assumes the drive is named Untitled.) 3. Select the text of this Terminal command and copy it:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitle

4. Launch Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities). 5. Paste the copied command into Terminal and press Return. Warning: This step will erase the destination drive or partition, so make sure it doesnt contain any valuable data. 6. Enter your admin-level account password when prompted. 7. The Terminal window displays the progress of the process, in a very Terminal sort of way, by displaying a textual representation of a progress bar: Erasing Disk: 0%... 10%...20%... and so on. It then tells you its copying the installer les, making the disk bootable, and copying boot les. Wait until you see the text Copy Complete. Done. (see the screenshot below), which could take as long as 20 minutes, depending on how fast your Mac can copy data to your destination drive. You now have a bootable Mavericks-install drive. If youre curious about createinstallmedia, type the following command in Terminal and press Return:
/Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia

This command shows you the (brief) instructions for using createinstallmedia more generically. (Thanks to a developer-whom-I-cant-name on Apples Developer Forums for pointing out createinstallmedia a few months ago.)

(http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/mavericks-bootable-installer-

new-method-100065791-orig.png)
Using the createinstallmedia command in Terminal

Using Disk Utility: Youll nd Disk Utility in /Applications/Utilities. Here are the steps for using it to create your installer drive, which are a bit more involved with Mavericks than they were with Mountain Lion and Lion: 1. Once youve downloaded Mavericks, nd the installer on your Mac. Its called Install Right-click (or Control+click) the Mavericks installer to view its contents. OS X Mavericks.app and it should have been downloaded to your main Applications folder (/Applications). 2. Right-click (or Control+click) the installer, and choose Show Package Contents from the resulting contextual menu. 3. In the folder that appears, open Contents, then open Shared Support; youll see a disk image le called InstallESD.dmg. 4. Double-click InstallESD.dmg in the Finder to mount its volume. That volume will appear in the Finder as OS X Install ESD. 5. The le you want to get to is actually another disk image inside OS X Install ESD called BaseSystem.dmg. Unfortunately, BaseSystem.dmg is invisible, and because this is a read-only volume, you cant make BaseSystem.dmg visible. Instead, youll mount it using Terminal, which makes it visible in Disk Utility. Open the Terminal app (in /Application/Utilities), and then type open /Volumes/OS\ X\ Install\ ESD/BaseSystem.dmg and press Return. 6. Launch Disk Utility (in /Applications/Utilities). You'll see both InstallESD.dmg (with its mounted volume, OS X Install ESD, below it) and BaseSystem.dmg (with its mounted volume, OS X Base System, below it) in the volumes list on the left. 7. Select BaseSystem.dmg (not OS X Base System) in Disk Utilitys sidebar, and then click the Restore button in the main part of the window. 8. Drag the BaseSystem.dmg icon into the Source eld on the right (if it isnt already there). 9. Connect to your Mac the properly formatted hard drive or ash drive you want to use for your bootable Mavericks installer. 10. In Disk Utility, nd this destination drive in the left sidebar. You may see a couple partitions under the drive: one named EFI and another with the name

11.

12. 13.

14.

15.

16. 17.

you see for the drive in the Finder. Drag the latterthe one with the drive nameinto the Destination eld on the right. (If the destination drive has additional partitions, just drag the partition you want to use as your bootable installer volume.) Warning: This step will erase the destination drive or partition, so make sure it doesnt contain any valuable data. Click Restore, and then click Erase in the dialog box that appears; if prompted, enter an admin-level username and password. Wait for the restore procedure to nish, which should take just a few minutes. In Disk Utility, select BaseSystem.dmg on the left (not OS X Base System) and click the Eject button in the toolbar. This action unmounts the disk image named OS X Base System. (If you dont do this, you have two mounted volumes named OS X Base Systemthe mounted disk image and your destination drivewhich makes the next step more confusing.) Open the destination drivethe one youre using for your bootable install drive, which has been renamed OS X Base System. Inside that drive, open the System folder, and then open the Installation folder. Youll see an alias called Packages. Delete that alias. Open the mounted OS X Install ESD volume, and youll see only a folder called Packages. Drag that folder into the Installation folder on your destination drive. (You're basically replacing the deleted Packages alias with this Packages folder.) The folder is about 4.8GB in size, so the copy will take a bit of time, especially if youre copying to a slow thumb drive. Eject the OS X Install ESD volume. If you like, you can rename your bootable installer drive from OS X Base System to something more descriptive, such as OS X Mavericks Installer.

(Note that there is a way to perform this procedure that doesn't require Terminal. However, it adds other steps, and it requires making all invisible les visible in the Finder. Because seeing all the Finders normally invisible detritus can be a bit disconcerting, Ive opted for using Terminal in Step 5.)

(http://images.techhive.com/images/article/2013/10/bootable-mavericks-diskutility-100065731-orig.png)
You can use Disk Utility's Restore screen to create a bootable installer drive.

Using DiskMaker X: DiskMaker X (http://liondiskmaker.com) (previously called Lion DiskMaker) is a nifty utility that makes it easy to create a bootable OS X install drive, and version 3 supports the Mavericks installer. Note: DiskMaker X 3, which o!ers compatibility with the Mavericks installer, was just released. Ive tested this new version briey, but it hasnt worked perfectly for me. Specically, I experienced an issue where the utility alerted me that it couldnt properly name the drive it was creating; however, the installer drive appeared to function properly. If DiskMaker X doesn't work for you, you can use either of the other two methods, above. 1. Connect to your Mac a properly formatted 8GB (or larger) drive. 2. Make sure the Mavericks installer, called Install OS X Mavericks.app, is in your main Applications folder (/Applications). If you followed my advice (http://www.macworld.com/article/2055518/installing-mavericks-what-youneed-to-know.html) to move the installer out of your Applications folder, youll have to move it back, at least temporarily. 3. Launch DiskMaker X. 4. Click OK on the warning screen that appears. 5. In the Welcome screen, click Mavericks (10.9). 6. Youll see a dialog box alerting you that DiskMaker X found a copy of the installer in /Applications, and asking if you wish to use this copy. If you have multiple OS X installers (say, Mavericks and Mountain Lion), make sure the DiskMaker X message indicates that it has found the Mavericks installer. If so, click Use This Copy. If not, click Use Another Copy and manually locate the Install OS X Mavericks app. 7. The next dialog box asks which kind of disk youll be using as your bootable install drive. If you have an 8GB thumb drive, click that button; otherwise, click Another Kind Of Disk. 8. The next dialog box presents a list of available drives. Select the one you want to use and click Choose This Disk. 9. You see a warning that proceeding will erase both the selected volume and any other partition on the same disk. In other words, the drive youve chosen will be erased, so make sure it doesnt contain any valuable data. Click Erase Then Create The Disk. 10. The next dialog box lets you know that youll be asked to provide an administrator username and password to build the install drive. Click Continue; when prompted a few seconds later, enter that username and password. 11. As I mentioned in my review of an earlier version of DiskMaker X (http://www.macworld.com/article/1166702/lion_diskmaker_makes_it_easier_to_create_a_bootable_lion_installer.html) (then called Lion DiskMaker), there will be times in the process when it appears as if nothings happening, so be patient. Once the process is complete, DiskMaker X will display a conrmation dialog box. Unlike with the Disk Utility approach, DiskMaker X helpfully names the bootable installer volume Install OS X Mavericks.

DiskMaker X can automate the process of making a bootable Mavericks installer drive.

Booting from the installer drive

Whichever of the two processes you've used, you can now boot any Maverickscompatible Mac from the resulting drive: Just connect the drive to your Mac and either (if your Mac is already booted into OS X) choose the install drive in the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences or (if your Mac is currently shut down) hold down the Option key at startup and choose the install drive when OS Xs Startup Manager appears. When your Mac is booted from your installer drive, you can, of course, install the OS, but you can also use any of the Mavericks installers special recovery and restore features (http://www.macworld.com/article/1167870/hands_on_with_mountain_lions_os_x_recovery_and_internet_recovery.html) depending on how you made your installer drive, when you boot from that drive, you may even see the same OS X Utilities screen you get when you boot into OS X Recovery (recovery mode). However, unlike with recovery mode, your bootable installer includes the entire installer. Updated 10/22/2013, 6:30p.m., to add the method for using OS Xs createinstallmedia command to create a bootable installer drive. Updated 10:45p.m. to indicate how long the createinstallmedia command can take. Updated 10/23/2013, 4:30p.m., to add note about createinstallmedia and Snow Leopard. Updated 10/24/2013 to reect name change of Lion DiskMaker to DiskMaker X.
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