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How to Create a macOS Sonoma Installation USB

pisomojado said:
These instructions don't match what I'm experiencing. I inserted the USB drive and opened Disk Utility. The Partition tab is greyed out. If I click on the Erase tab I can format as MacOS Extended (Journaled) or two other options. It also asks for a Scheme, but there is NO "GUID Partition Table". There is Guid Partition Map. Since I don't know what these things mean, multiple discrepancies in the instructions cause anxiety.

Also there's no indication of whether there is a minimum or maximum size recommended for the USB.
Click to expand...
I assume you are working to create an installer so you can resolve the issue you describe on this concurrent thread.

pisomojado said:
My backup isn't showing up in the picker. I tried running Disk Utility First aid, and got the error, "The partition map needs to be repaired because there's a problem with the EFI system partition's file system. : (-69766)"
Click to expand...

If you've never populated the backup drive with a macOS bootloader, it won't appear to the BIOS.

CCC doesn't copy the source drives EFI folder to the new drive's ESP.

The Disk Utility error may be a red herring.

While having a bootable macOS drive handy is always a good thing, you might be working too hard in this case.

Also, if you truly do need to fix drive structure on a non-boot drive, you don't need to boot an alternate macOS.

Please read my response on the other thread for more info on fixing the ESP.

If what you need is just to copy your source drives EFI over to the ESP of the backup, you are going down a needless path.

But having a bootable macOS USB drive is handy for future contingencies
 
pisomojado said:
These instructions don't match what I'm experiencing. I inserted the USB drive and opened Disk Utility. The Partition tab is greyed out. If I click on the Erase tab I can format as MacOS Extended (Journaled) or two other options. It also asks for a Scheme, but there is NO "GUID Partition Table". There is Guid Partition Map. Since I don't know what these things mean, multiple discrepancies in the instructions cause anxiety.

Also there's no indication of whether there is a minimum or maximum size recommended for the USB.
Click to expand...
When you're in Disk Utility, make sure to set 'Veiw -> Show All Devices...' from the top menu bar. You should see all of the media items, containers, as well as the current volumes. The former items will permit you to erase/reformat or repartition a media item (USB stick, Hard drive, or SSD). If you select a media item, and then attempt to 'Erase...', you'll get a Dialog that lets you set both the drive format and the partition scheme.

Selecting 'Scheme: GUID Partition Map' on the Erase Dialog will reformat the media and creates a hidden EFI partition. This EFI partition permits the media/drive to be bootable.

If your target drive is an older spinning HD, format using 'Journaled', and then the scheme is 'GUID partition map'.
If your target drive is a Solid State Drive, Apple wants you to use APFS (Apple File System). If you choose incorrectly, the installer will likely 'fix' this for you. But it's best to chose the right one first, and then have one less thing to go wrong later.

If your end goal is to use OpenCore, you'll download OC and create your own EFI folder, which will then be copied into the hidden EFI partition. Yes, both use the same name. Making a valid set of OpenCore files for your hardware is a non-trivial procedure. if you haven't done it before, find someone with similar hardware who is willing give you a working EFI.zip file as a starting point. You can then uncompress the sample EFI folder, go into the config.plist and put in your hardware specific serial numbers. Your odds of getting a working set of OC EFI files will be much higher.

Also remember that the hidden EFI partitions aren't mounted. To see them on the desktop, you'll need to mount them first. There are many utilities to help do this. I happen to use 'Hackintool' to both see and mount these partitions.

BTW: I used to use 16GB USB sticks. Now I mostly use 64GB (about the same price) since the most recent OS updates are getting bigger to handle both Intel and Apple M2 codebases.
 
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Last edited:
tonymacx86 said:
Here's a quick guide to create a macOS 14 Sonoma Public Beta Installation USB. Please note, this guide is not universal, and may not work for all systems.

Note: Sonoma does not support Broadcom WiFi cards such Fenvi T919. See this thread for possible solution.

www.tonymacx86.com

Fenvi T919 and Broadcom wifi back in Sonoma with OCLP

Note: macOS Sonoma 14.4 breaks OCLP patch Post 418 (page 42). Good morning. My wifi is Fenvi T919. I know that it is not the ideal situation that many of us want to have the system as vanilla as possible, but what the OCLP team has achieved is amazing. I have followed TO THE LETTER the...
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STEP 1: Download macOS Sonoma Public Beta

1. Enroll in the Free Apple Beta Software Program
2. Download Public Beta Access Utility
3. Run installer. System Preferences / Software Update will then open.
4. Choose Upgrade Now to download the 12 GB installation Application.

The Application Install macOS Sonoma Beta will appear in /Applications.

Alternative download: Download macOS Sonoma using gibMacOS

STEP 2: Prepare Bootable USB Drive
This step extracts the Installer contents, then installs Clover bootloader to the USB stick.

1. Insert the USB drive
2. Open /Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility
3. Highlight the USB drive in left column
4. Click on the Partition tab
5. Click Current and choose 1 Partition
6. Click Options...
7. Choose GUID Partition Table
8. Under Name: type USB (You can rename it later)
9. Under Format: choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
10. Click Apply then Partition
11. Open /Applications/Utilities/Terminal
12. Type the following, enter password and hit enter. This command completely erases the USB, then creates native installer media from the Install macOS Beta Application.

macOS Sonoma (Release)
Code: 
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sonoma.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/USB /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sonoma.app --nointeraction
Upon completion, the USB will be renamed Install macOS Sonoma.

macOS Sonoma (Public Beta)
Code: 
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sonoma\ beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/USB /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Sonoma\ beta.app --nointeraction

Upon completion, the USB will be renamed Install macOS Sonoma beta.
Option 1: OpenCore Bootloader
13. Download OpenCore Bootloader 0.9.2 or higher from the official downloads section.
14. Install OpenCore EFI using the USB's EFI partition (Install macOS Sonoma beta) as the target volume.
15. Navigate to /EFI and apply necessary kexts, SSDTs.

Option 2: Clover Bootloader
13. Download the standalone Clover Bootloader v5.0 r5152 or higher from the official downloads section.
14. Install UEFI or Legacy Clover version using the USB (Install macOS Sonoma beta) as the target.
15. Navigate to /EFI/CLOVER/kexts/Other/ and apply necessary kexts.

Your macOS Installation USB is now finished.

This thread is not a Help thread! Post your question(s) as a standalone thread in the Sonoma Desktop Support forum section.
Click to expand...
Guys, if I have downloaded the Sonoma from gibMacOS it downloads it as 6 individual files, how can I get that to convert to a bootable USB?
 
wsolarczyk said:
Guys, if I have downloaded the Sonoma from gibMacOS it downloads it as 6 individual files, how can I get that to convert to a bootable USB?
Click to expand...
Hello,

Try to run this command :

1711661758186.png
 
pisomojado said:
These instructions don't match what I'm experiencing. I inserted the USB drive and opened Disk Utility. The Partition tab is greyed out. If I click on the Erase tab I can format as MacOS Extended (Journaled) or two other options. It also asks for a Scheme, but there is NO "GUID Partition Table". There is Guid Partition Map. Since I don't know what these things mean, multiple discrepancies in the instructions cause anxiety.

Also there's no indication of whether there is a minimum or maximum size recommended for the USB.
Click to expand...
A partition map _is_ a partition table. It's literally just an index structure that tells the computer exactly where on the storage medium each of the logical volumes (the "disks" that you see in the Finder) is. GUID is merely one type of such a map or table; choosing the type of partition map is what the "scheme" part is talking about. (You're using the GUID scheme rather than the obsolete MBR or Apple Partition Map schemes.)
 
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Cosmix said:
Hello,

Try to run this command :

View attachment 580601
Click to expand...

Think I am running into the same issue.. That command gives an error on my side:

/Users/myname/Desktop/sanoma/BuildmacOSInstallApp.command ; exit;
marcjurriens@myname-Mac-mini ~ % /Users/myname/Desktop/sanoma/BuildmacOSInstallApp.command ; exit;
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/Users/myname/Desktop/sanoma/BuildmacOSInstallApp.py", line 2, in <module>
from Scripts import *
File "/Users/myname/Desktop/sanoma/Scripts/utils.py", line 225
print(text, file=sys.stderr)
^
SyntaxError: invalid syntax
Saving session...
...copying shared history...
...saving history...truncating history files...
...completed.



[Process completed]


I get that a command has to run to create the correct setup on the USB that I prepared,I imagine there needs to be a way that I tell the command line where the downloaded sanoma file is (downloaded thru gibMacOS)..?
 
Can you use Xcode on this hackintoshed pc?
 
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