Cannot use createinstallmedia in High Sierra to create Mojave bootable media

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Level 1

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Cannot use createinstallmedia in High Sierra to create Mojave bootable media

Hello everyone,

I updated my Macbook Pro from 10.11.6 to 10.13.6 a few months ago, and I want to create a Mojave 10.14.1 USB Installer.

I named the USB drive Install macOS Mojave 10.14.1

It's a 16GB USB Drive formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled), and I've created installers in the past on my machine using Terminal with no issues.

I ran the following command and got this error:

So I went to the link specified, and removed the --applicationpath argument like it said to do in order to create the media installer for newer macOS releases.

I went back into terminal and ran the new command, and now this is what I'm seeing.

Anyone else running into this issue? I'm wondering if by skipping the Sierra update and going straight to High Sierra that something went missing and is causing me to have these errors.

Please Help!

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MacBook Pro, macOS High Sierra (10.13.6), Updated Laptop from 10.11.6 to this

Posted on Nov 12, 2018 11:03 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Barney-15E

Level 10

116,446 points

Nov 12, 2018 12:48 PM in response to stztech

When you download the OS Installer while running a previous version of the OS, it only downloads a "stub" application that installs by downloading content from the internet. Once you have installed Mojave, you can download the full installer which will allow creation of a bootable installer. Catch-22.

I've heard there is a way to trick it into downloading the full 6GB installer, but I don't know how.

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Answer 2

stztech Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 13, 2018 7:59 AM in response to stztech

Update: Barney-1SE is correct. By downloading Mojave from a older OS, it only give you the "stub" application, being 22.8MB in size.

Once you install Mojave on your device, the "stub" application gets deleted, and you are then able to go back to the App Store to redownload Mojave. Once you download it in Mojave, you get the full version, being 6.01GB in size.

Thank you for your help!

Shortly after I got your response, I stumbled on two articles from OSX Daily that helps with explaining how to get the full download of the installer from an older OS. I haven't done this yet, but for those who ran into the same problem I was having, this may be useful.

How to Download a Full Size MacOS Mojave Installer

The steps I did to get the full Mojave installer is located below after updating my computer to Mojave. From there, I was able to run my command on my Mojave Macbook Pro and the bootable media was created successfully.

How to Re-Download MacOS Mojave Installer (from MacOS Mojave)

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Answer 3

stztech Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 12, 2018 12:35 PM in response to stztech

Update: I installed a fresh copy of High Sierra 10.13.6 on another Macbook Pro (13 In., Mid 2012) I had available to me. Tried doing the same steps, and the same error message still happens, even after a fresh installation.

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Answer 4

stztech Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 12, 2018 1:27 PM in response to Barney-15E

That's good to know! I'll go ahead and update my spare Macbook Pro to Mojave and give that a try. I want to make sure that's the case and there's nothing else that underlying with my devices that's causing this issue. I'll share my findings. Thank you so much!

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