How to Select a Source and Destination in Disk Utility in Mac OS Monterey

I'm trying to create a bootable USB drive for Yosemite, and--just to cut to where I'm having trouble--the tutorial that I'm following says that I need to select the BaseSystem.dmg file as a source, and set the destination to be the USB drive. Here's the link to it, and it's at the 7:15 mark that I got confused: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQ3BMAk5jlU But in Disk Utility for me, I only see the "Restore from" option and no option to select the source and destination. I tried selecting "Restore" under the tab for the USB drive, and then OS X Base System for the "Restore from" option. When I tried that Disk Utility said that the operation failed and gave me an error called OSStatus error 1. I apologize if what I'm writing is confusing, I haven't regularly used Mac OS in years and I'm trying to help someone fix her old iMac that isn't booting into Mac OS because she tried updating to Ventura; I guess the update soft-bricked her computer, and I want to try to boot into a recovery drive and install Yosemite since that was the last version that was on her iMac before updating. But I'm having trouble following the tutorial past the 7:15 mark because he's doing it in Yosemite, and I'm trying to make the recovery drive on the MacBook of the person I'm helping, which is running Monterey. Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Posted on Jul 8, 2023 6:42 PM

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John Galt

Level 10

157,894 points

Posted on Jul 8, 2023 7:41 PM

Forget Google YouTube. I did not (and will not) watch the "tutorial" but judging from your brief description its instructions are completely wrong.

Follow Apple's instructions, here: Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support.

Be advised you must create the installer USB with a Mac that can actually run the macOS version you intend to install on her Mac: "Download from a Mac that is compatible with the macOS you're downloading." In other words if your Mac is limited to Monterey and cannot be updated to any later macOS version, then you need to download the Monterey installer.

If the macOS upgrade did not work on her iMac and it has been rendered unbootable by that failed upgrade attempt, then the right thing to do is reinstall macOS according to How to reinstall macOS - Apple Support, followed by restoring its content from a Time Machine backup created prior to the upgrade attempt. As long as her iMac has a viable and reasonably fast Internet connection, creating a "bootable USB installer" unnecessarily complicates that recovery effort and conveys no benefit. I realize this does not answer the question you asked but it may save you time and aggravation.

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How to Select a Source and Destination in Disk Utility in Mac OS Monterey

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