I want to create a bootable usb drive to recover other MacBook pro, but can't seem to change my partition from MBR because the button is greyed in Disk Utility.
Going insane with this :)
Its a San Disk Cruzer Dial. Is it the USB drive.
Any help would be appreciated.
From Disk Utility>View>Show All Devices
You have to initialize the parent drive not the child.
You can do the same from a bootable installer, w̵h̵i̵c̵h̵ ̵w̵i̵l̵l̵ ̵a̵u̵t̵o̵m̵a̵t̵i̵c̵a̵l̵l̵y̵ ̵f̵o̵r̵m̵a̵t̵ ̵a̵s̵ ̵G̵U̵I̵D̵
How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support
From Disk Utility>View>Show All Devices
You have to initialize the parent drive not the child.
You can do the same from a bootable installer, w̵h̵i̵c̵h̵ ̵w̵i̵l̵l̵ ̵a̵u̵t̵o̵m̵a̵t̵i̵c̵a̵l̵l̵y̵ ̵f̵o̵r̵m̵a̵t̵ ̵a̵s̵ ̵G̵U̵I̵D̵
How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support
Success!
I learned a lot. I was thinking in a Windows way to assume that on a Mac, I could format my USB drive to boot and then add the install files and be just fine and therefore my original question.
I have spent about 20 hours on this and BEFORE I posted here, I tried all of your suggestions (because I ran across them in various posts). But I thought maybe I missed something, so I did it all again today, actually trying to download more than the "stub" installer file no less than 5 times, clearing the software catalog at the command line, along with deleting the install files and emptying the trash each time - to no avail. You can imagine the irritation (the dogs hid in bedroom at one point)!
And then, I actually read this entire post and the solution for me came in the last answer:
https://apple.stackexchange.com/questions/299731/macos-high-sierra-media-installer . :
"It is indeed SharedSupport folder missing that causes this. In order to fix it, you should launch the small 'stub' installer, it will download all needed files to your home (/Users/username). You will need to cancel the installation after downloading ends of course.
Then if you just move those files to 'stub' installer folder, like this for example: sudo mv /Users/username/macOS\ Install\ Data Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/SharedSupport and run createinstallmedia again, it will do what we want it to do."
Please note that after the download ends, you only have 24 seconds to cancel it!
In my case, the mac OS Install folder (with the "all needed files") was here as "Macintosh HD > macOS Install Data" and I had no SharedSupport directory (as a sub-dir of Contents in my High Sierra installer package,) so I had to create it and manually copy the files there.
Then I ran this at the command line: sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/sierra(sierra is the name of my USB drive). And it worked!!
Thanks again for your participation here and willingness to respond.
Thanks I tried that before, but I tried it again just now,
this -> sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/sierra(my usb name)
got me this -> /Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app does not appear to be a valid OS installer application.
Then I found this and tried
it -> sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/sierra --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app
result was the same as above in bold. bummer.
Then I read this -> https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8102035 . so I will try another download from iTunes (if the install is there) and report back.
Thanks!
rrrrr
Verify you are not trying to use the very small stub installer some ~19 MB in size.
The full installer is 5-6 GB in size.
The stub is more of a place holder. If this is what you have delete the stub and empty the trash.
From Application/Utilities/Terminal.app run this command, copy and paste:
sudo softwareupdate --clear-catalog
Now open the App Store and attempt the download again — you should get the full file.
If the full installer launches itself automatically after the download is complete, simply quit it like an other app.
There it will sit quietly in your Applications folder.
Thanks - I did the clearupdate thing.
I'll try to download it again in a bit and let you know how it goes -thanks again. I've had enough of this for today.
If you name your drive exactly "MyVolume" before you start, and follow this procedure, you can cut and paste the commands from that article and the drive will be erased and properly formatted and Blessed to be bootable (once you grant permission) in the process:
How to create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support
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Partition button is greyed in Disk Utility for MBR formatted USB drive
