Create A Bootable OS X Yosemite DVD/USB Drive

Here is the link with the instructions:

Creating a bootable OS X installer in OS X Mavericks

Don't pay attention to the title, works for Yosemite (from OS X: About Recovery Disk Assistant down below link).

Well, as a word of advise if an Apple method exists (like a single command line), we can't encourage to people to rely on third party apps.

Good luck!

If you prefer to make a bootable dvd, you can do it this way:

After downloading the full Yosemite installer app from the Mac App Store, run these 14 commands in Terminal to create a Yosemite.iso file and then burn it to a dual layer DVD with Disk Utility. You may then boot up from it by holding the option key down and then install Yosemite.

hdiutil attach /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_app

hdiutil convert /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg -format UDSP -o /tmp/Yosemite

hdiutil resize -size 8g /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage

hdiutil attach /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build

rm /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/Packages

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/Packages /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/install_build

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/install_build

hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_app

hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_build

hdiutil resize -size `hdiutil resize -limits /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage | tail -n 1 | awk '{ print $1 }'`b /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage

hdiutil convert /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage -format UDTO -o /tmp/Yosemite

rm /tmp/Yosemite.sparseimage

mv /tmp/Yosemite.cdr ~/Desktop/Yosemite.iso

I've used http://diskmakerx.com/ a few times, works very well.

this method worked the best thanks, i was able to create an ISO image🙂

Hi there folks,

thank you for sharing this with us. If you're interested in an YOSEMITE install DVD that will also create a recovery HD (will not be created with the method described here) have a look at my post at MacRumors:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20901162#post20901162

Regards, Mike Lite

some people adds these two lines to the commands to copy the installer dependencies after removing the "Packages" links, are these needed? Mavericks doesn't have these..

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/install_build/BaseSystem.chunklist

cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/install_build/BaseSystem.dmg

Would I be able to use these exact command line instructions to create a bootable USB drive? I have a blank 16GB stick. Do I need to provide the path to the Yosemite installer (currently residing in my Applications folder)?

Thanks,

Mark

Excellent work. Thanks for the solution, tywebb13! I took your commands and altered them for a script that one can simply place INSIDE the root folder of the Install OS X Yosemite.app folder and run from that context to generate an ISO on the desktop. I have further confirmed that this DVD ISO will work to install OSX 10.10 on valid VMware ESXi installations with version 5.5 of the hypervisor running. You must configure the guest in EFI boot mode with OSX 10.7 or above in order to successfully load the installer (this is what tells ESX to "prove" to the virtual guest that you are running on Apple hardware; otherwise you will get a "not permitted" symbol during the boot sequence). You must also use the Disk Utility upon launching the installer to format your target disk before the installer will pick it up as a valid resource. No special command-line hacks were needed to make this work. The formatting process with the BaseSystem image makes this all possible. Here's a consolidated script you can use in one go:

#!/bin/bash

hdiutil attach ./Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_app
hdiutil convert /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg -format UDSP -o ./Yosemite
hdiutil resize -size 8g ./Yosemite.sparseimage
hdiutil attach ./Yosemite.sparseimage -noverify -nobrowse -mountpoint /Volumes/install_build
rm /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/Packages
cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/Packages /Volumes/install_build/System/Installation/
cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.chunklist /Volumes/install_build
cp -rp /Volumes/install_app/BaseSystem.dmg /Volumes/install_build
hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_app
hdiutil detach /Volumes/install_build
hdiutil resize -size `hdiutil resize -limits ./Yosemite.sparseimage | tail -n 1 | awk '{ print $1 }'`b ./Yosemite.sparseimage
hdiutil convert ./Yosemite.sparseimage -format UDTO -o ./Yosemite
rm ./Yosemite.sparseimage
mv ./Yosemite.cdr ~/Desktop/Yosemite.iso

Provided that you have the installer in the standard Applications folder, place this script INSIDE the .app folder, like so:

nano /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/makebootableiso.sh

And then cd to that directory and run it:

cd /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/
chmod +x makebootableiso.sh
./makebootableiso.sh

For ESXi, simply configure your VM Guest as "OSX 10.7 64-bit" and use EFI boot mode. Upload the ISO to your data store so that you don't belabor the installation process with network-attached access. Attach the ISO image you created to the virtual DVD drive and it should load with the Apple logo and a progress bar. Once you get to the installer, open Disk Utility from the menu system and format your target disk, then proceed as usual with the installation of OS X.

Enjoy.

There is a very simple on line command to create the full Yosemite

installer on a USB stick. The command line function is hidden

inside the Yosemite installer itself.

First, obviously the USB stick needs to be formatted to a single GUID

partition with OS X extended, journaled filesystem. You will also need to

download the installer app from the Mac App store.

Then execute the following command:

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Untitled --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ Yosemite.app --nointeraction

/Volumes/Untitled is the path to the USB stick. Replace "Untitled" with the volume

name you gave the USB stick.

The sudo command will request a password and you must have adminisrator

privileges to create.

Depending on how fast the USB stick is, it can take a while to complete.

This will not only create an installer for OS X but will also have Disk Utility

on it as well.

I used this to create a USB stick installer to do a full clean install on a 2009

iMac that I was going to repurpose. All worked well.

This is the best way i've found, I just copied and pasted the commands into a text file, saved it as a .sh, then ran the .sh script via terminal. All I had to do then was sit back and let it do it's work. It's currently burning to a dual layer dvd

ETA: Actually in response to woodmeister50

This works really well for a re-install. But is there a way to tweak it to create a totally clean install, removing previous user(s)?

Pellepennan wrote:

ETA: Actually in response to woodmeister50

This works really well for a re-install. But is there a way to tweak it to create a totally clean install, removing previous user(s)?

The OS X installers do not alter the install destination short of replacing the OS. You have to erase the disk prior to installing using Disk Utility.

I created the ISO image and was able to boot from it, but when it tries to load the OS, the loading bar stops halfway and gets stuck for hours. Today I'm going to let it go and see if it will finish, but I am doubtful. Has anyone else ran into this problem?