Importantly, you should download the DMG file through Safari. If you want to download an older version installer - OS X El Capitan - note that it will be downloaded as a disk image to your Downloads folder. If you’re good to go, grab the installer file: Before you go to the App Store, check if your Mac is compatible with the macOS you’re going to download and make sure your Mac is currently running macOS Sierra 10.12.5 or later. Installers for newer versions (from High Sierra to Monterey) can be downloaded from the App Store as applications and saved to your Applications folder. At this point, you should be very careful because 1) there are different ways to download installer files, depending on the macOS version, so you should choose the right download method 2) you should download installer files but shouldn’t install new macOS on your Mac - when the installation starts, make sure to terminate it right away. We’ll explain how to get those files on your Mac in a sec.ĭo you have your external drive ready? Great! Let’s grab the installer files now. The drive should be formatted as Mac OS Extended. An external drive (USB flash drive or any other type) with at least 14GB of free space.What you need to create a bootable USB for Macīefore we begin, here are two main things you need to create a bootable USB:

Whether it’s an external hard drive or a USB ‘thumb’ drive, both are considered bootable drives.įor the sake of clarity, we’ll simply refer to any external drive as a USB drive. Simply stated, a bootable USB Mac drive is one that has a version (or versions) of macOS available on a disk that isn’t your machine. Try free What is a bootable USB or external drive?

Download macos to usb