Why can't I just simply burn an installer DVD?

Question

Why can't I just simply burn an installer DVD?

My older iMac needed some cleaning recently, i decided that I'll just make a fresh reinstall since it will do the job. Unfortunately the online installer did not work, and now I am here with my hand in the toilet since Apple decided it is a bad thing for me to create a simple DVD with bootable installer on it... This is just more than dissapointing, seems like a lame way to make me go and spend some money at a repair shop... That's the story:

First I rebooted to recovery menu as a man do, then ran the reinstaller, which failed in the last second obviously. It claims it was unable to mount the dmg it has just downloaded from itunes.com or whatever that adress was i don't really remember. The image is there on the hard disk just the installer is not able to mount it... wow... One small step for a man, huge leap for the installer - I thought it's just gonna work like it used to.

Second I obviously visited Apple.com to see what's the routine when Apple fails and yes, there is a solution. To bad it requires me to be a magician or a software developer, **** I'm just an enduser - let's see... It's written on the website an installer from Appstore is to be downloaded for free. First of all it is impossible to just type MACOSX in the Appstore and find it. WHY??? Man need to go thru numerous websites to find a direct link, how lame that is?

Third it doesn't even come as a bootable image but just as an app to install on the system WHICH I JUST HAVE ERASED WITH THE DISKUTIL!!! How am I supposed to transfer it from my macbook to the iMac??? There's no way to tell the installer on the macbook that it has to install it on another device. Obviously there is a way to create a bootable usb stick, which unfortunately also failed for me like four times now, I mean normally I am really calm and all but for lords sake I spent an entire day now on trying to do something as simple as a hard disk cleaning!!! Why does Apple do that to me?

Why can't I just simply download an iso or wahtever other imagefile with a bootable installer that is just so riddiculous I can't even comprehend. I got a feeling like you want to go down Apple just like you did back in the nineties. That is just so lame. I don't even remember to be so annoyed with windows back in the days, that is just so way beyond.

iMac, macOS 10.12

Posted on Sep 26, 2024 1:51 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Kurt Lang

Level 9

62,190 points

Sep 26, 2024 2:02 PM in response to Macintosh SE FDHD

Now that you've got that out of your system. If you want some actual help, we need some actual, useful information.

What exact model Mac do you have?
What version of the Mac OS are you trying to install?

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Answer 2

Sep 27, 2024 10:50 AM in response to Macintosh SE FDHD

Intel iMacs prior to 2010 (2011?) shipped with a set of two grey-labeled DVDs (maybe a single DVD?) that would be used to wipe and reinstall the Mac OS X and apps that were loaded on the machine. Those DVDs should have stayed with the computer to the grave. Without them it's easy to run into the problems you have experienced trying to do what you've done, especially since the older OS versions are no longer supported or easily found and downloaded.

If you enjoy using these old, vintage Macs and expect to find yourself in this position again, you might seek out a set of these OS Install DVDs. They are very specific to each particular Mac model/year, so finding the right ones for your Mac may be challenging. For example, the discs for a 2009 MacBook won't work for a 2009 iMac. But they are still out there on eBay and other second hand markets.

Just sayin'.

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Answer 3

HWTech

Level 9

60,752 points

Sep 27, 2024 11:21 AM in response to Macintosh SE FDHD

Macintosh SE FDHD wrote:

After hours of research and locating resources I did manage to download Sierra.dmg with Install.pkg on it. I installed it nicely on my good old MacBook like instructed and then fail again. Instructions on how to create install disk for Sierra is just missing on the homepage. Again why?

Because Apple broke the 10.12 Sierra installer when it comes to creating a bootable macOS USB installer and never bothered to fix it. In fact, for a long time Apple just removed the link from their article containing links & instructions for older macOS installers. This is especially odd since the actual fix to the problem only involves correcting a single character mistake as outlined in the following post by Eau Rouge (note the date of the post):

I am trying to create a bootable Sierra o… - Apple Community

The Apple of today is not the same as years ago. Apple has indeed lost a lot of themselves in those years and it is sad to see. Before making any major changes or decisions, it is best to research & plan including having a backup plan if things don't go they way you had hoped.

I'm providing links to two Apple articles with instructions for downloading various macOS installers and another for creating a bootable macOS USB installer.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

Create a bootable installer for macOS - Apple Support

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Answer 4

Sep 27, 2024 1:50 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Yes thats true. I just got a little bit too upset with how things went, something as easy as reformat took me entire day to complete. However I learned something so maybe since I’m unable to delete the post anyway - I’ll share my experience with you guys - so whoever whenever needs that will be able to find answers.

So the explanation behind my overexcitement first of all - I normally work on a stable system, plus I deal mostly with classic Macs from before Intel - that’s why I expected things to either crash totally or go smooth as Apple did back then. Unfortunately that’s not how things work with Intel Macs and so I been like „whaaaat the heck is it windows with an Apple on it?!?” yeah well that’s how it feels.

My goal is to build a retro (some call it low-end which to me is an insult) setup for some old videos postproduction/editing. Winter is coming so I thought this would be nice to get them old clips sorted as they take up disk space. I’ve got some old worthless intel Imacs laying around so they combined with something quick only for recompression could give a nice oldschool editing atmosphere and fun. Since most people update to the newest system so this was an issue, I needed something as downgraded as possible and to achieve it I needed to rewind them disks… I thought this will be easy - it wasn’t.

I started with a Sierra IMac from 2009 which I wanted to turn back to Leopard… The internet says NO.

No official Leopard available from Apple unless I’m a developer. Who does develop 10.5 in 2024? C’mon Apple…

The oldest I could officially get in possession of is El Capitan but since there was a recovery partition on hdd anyway, and it’s only one build older so I thought yeah well okay so I’ll just let it be Sierra then since it won’t make a big change to the environment anyway.

I started the recovery but no option for fresh install made me think „there’s someone’s system on it, let’s clean that off since I don’t want to deal with someone’s else’s problems - I want my own ones”… I formatted the system partition and ran installer.

This was a disaster. Installer did manage to download core.pkg or whatever from home, however by the time when it was supposed to do something with it - it froze. Everything halted. Maybe I was just impatient but maybe it was something wrong with the installer - I can’t say now. I got a lot frustrated so I tried to look for another way of installing. Normally when I deal with windows so it’s a simple „work or I’ll kill you” routine since windows devices are just like microwave ovens or vacuum cleaners - they have no soul - just robots. The best way for a stubborn hardware is just a CD/DVD install media or a LIVE system on that… Not here. Apple wants to kill plastic discs because they obsolete so I must use usb drive. Alright. Sure can do. Just to underline it took also hours to conclude „ah they just don’t want me to use DVD”, why can’t they just write that in the description? That’s annoying too. Why not being just honest about the intentions?

After hours of research and locating resources I did manage to download Sierra.dmg with Install.pkg on it. I installed it nicely on my good old MacBook like instructed and then fail again. Instructions on how to create install disk for Sierra is just missing on the homepage. Again why?

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Answer 5

g_wolfman

Level 4

2,134 points

Sep 27, 2024 2:53 PM in response to Macintosh SE FDHD

HWTech's link to the page for downloading installer images is the right way to go. Lion is the oldest version still available anywhere from Apple.

I've seen Snow Leopard installers available on the Internet archive...but not sure I would trust them. Don't think I've seen Leopard in forever anywhere...except on my own backup server. But Leopard/Snow Leopard are unusable these days anyway because of CA certificates expiring and other things. Lion and Mountain Lion (and you might as well go to Mountain Lion if you are going to Lion) is still partially fixable if you toss Safari for Chromium Legacy and do a couple of other things.

I assume for retro gaming and the like, some Internet access will be necessary...

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Answer 6

Sep 26, 2024 2:45 PM in response to Kurt Lang

I mean nevermind the question, there has been a problem with the installer. I downloaded earlier build and poof everything works like a charm. Still really annoying to be forced to use terminal as an enduser, I always choose Mac because of its simplicity. It has been Sierra that made me go ballistic, now since I chose an earlier elcapitan I have been able to create bootable usb disk.

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Answer 7

John Galt

Level 10

146,684 points

Sep 28, 2024 7:12 PM in response to D.I. Johnson

D.I. Johnson wrote:

Intel iMacs prior to 2010 (2011?) shipped with a set of two grey-labeled DVDs (maybe a single DVD?) that would be used to wipe and reinstall the Mac OS X and apps that were loaded on the machine.

Macs that shipped August 2011 (the "late 2011" models) were the first without installation media. Everything prior to that needs those discs, full stop. There were two: one for OS X and one for the bundled apps including Apple Hardware Test.

+1 to everything you and everyone else wrote.

Aside to the OP: Apple effectively abandoned the ability to reinstall a Mac's originally installed OS on certain older a couple years ago; an ignoble first in the history of Apple. In August 2011, word came down from on high that henceforth there shall be no more optical disks, and all Apple Stores were directed to purge them from existence and probably from memory.

Without those discs, you were left to unattractive and tedious workarounds. Fortunately it appears that you found them. Good work on your part keeping these "retro" machines active.

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Answer 8

Sep 26, 2024 2:47 PM in response to Kurt Lang

However thank you for your input, I just had some other plans than to waste a day on multiple unsuccessful reinstallation of macOS…

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Answer 9

Kurt Lang

Level 9

62,190 points

Sep 26, 2024 3:19 PM in response to Macintosh SE FDHD

It happens on any computer system. Most times for experienced users, things are easy, or don't take long. Other times, an issue takes up an entire day (or more).

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