Making a bootable USB drive of Mountain Lion question

What if I have Mountain Lion already pre-installed on my retina MBP? I can't download it from the app store because it will charge me $20 for an OS I already have. Are there any guides on the net where I can DL Mountain Lion without the $20 charge?
Will Internet Recovery work like it does for Lion users?

Make sure your Apple ID is setup in the User & Groups System Preference.
When you sign into the App Store with your Apple ID, press the option key before clicking Purchases. Does Mountain Lion show up ready to Install?
If it does, download it again, but do not click Continue when it auto-runs and wants to update your rMBP. Now get Lion Diskmaker and a spare 8GB USB stick. Let Lion Diskmaker will ask you if Lion or Mountain Lion, then automagically build the bootable USB stick. Realize that the bootable USB stick will only provide full, clean installs.

Similar Messages

  • I want to create a USB drive for Mountain Lion and have no discs

    I have a nice shiny new 27: iMac and was hoping to create a USB boot drive in case I need it. The iMac does not come with a disk drive and Mountain Lion is purchased via the App Store, so there are no disks with which to build the boot drive. I tried downloading Mountain Lion again from the App Store, but it tells me Mountain Lion is not compatible with this computer. (yes, the computer that is running Mountain Lion right now)
    iTunes Support is not very helpful. They keep telling me that I can't make a boot drive and are unable to help me download if from the App Store.
    Surely Apple has created a way to build a boot drive in the case of emergency. There will be no way to defrag my hard drive if I am unable to boot from the USB drive.

    You have one on your iMac, the recovery partition. Your iMac is not compatible with the App Store version so don't try.
    Install OSX on to a thumb drive if you want, it's a waste of time compared to using Recovery.
    Click this link for a Google search for 3rd party suggestions.

  • Making a bootable USB Drive for Windows 8 Release Candidate; How To?

    Hello everyone,
    I am in the process of building a Windows PC and I need to make a bootable USB Thumb Drive to Install the Windows 8 Release Candidate on. The only problem is when I go into the restore section of Disk Utility it always comes up with either of these errors:
    Thanks in advance,
    Sean.

    I have created PC bootable USB's on Mac OS X before but I am having trouble finding the instructions to duplicate that.  It's been a while.  It's not impossible though.

  • I have a 15" MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Early 2008) running OSX Lion 10.7.5. I want to erase the Hard Drive, install Mountain Lion, and manually restore select applications and files. Is there a known procedure to do this? Any tips or feedback?

    I have a 15" MacBook Pro 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (Early 2008) running OSX Lion 10.7.5.
    I want to erase the Hard Drive, install Mountain Lion, and manually restore select applications and files.
    Is there a known procedure to do this? Any tips or feedback?

    1. Make a backup, open App Store and purchase Mountain Lion. When its download finishes, close the installer and open Lion Diskmaker to create a bootable USB drive with Mountain Lion.
    2. Press Option key while your Mac is starting, select the external drive and open Disk Utility.
    3. Select Macintosh HD in the sidebar and erase the drive.
    4. Close the window and install Mountain Lion

  • I  want to make a bootable usb drive for my macbook air,and my ystem is osx mountain lion 10.8.5. How can i download it again without repaying for it so i can make my bootable flashdrive? I'm pretty new at this computer stuff so i don't know how things

    I want to make a bootable usb drive for my macbook air,and my system is osx mountain lion 10.8.5. How can i download it again without repaying for it so i can make my bootable flashdrive? I'm pretty new at this computer stuff so i don't know how things work.
    Message was edited by: tzaphon

    This is not difficult and you will not have to download from the app store.
    your computer has what is called  a recovery partition that came with it.
    simply hold cmd+R while you boot up. let go a second after you hear the chime.
    you will boot into the recovery partition.
    Use disk utlity to format your usb drive and then exit Disk utlity and go to Reinstall Mountain Lion.
    it will ask  you which disk you want to install ML onto. Choose your new USB drive.
    easy peasy

  • How to download Lion again to make bootable USB drive?

    I downloaded Lion and have it installed.  Wanted to create a bootable USB drive from the .dmg file but it's gone after install.  How can I download again?  App Store shows it's installed and won't let me re-download.

    This is not difficult and you will not have to download from the app store.
    your computer has what is called  a recovery partition that came with it.
    simply hold cmd+R while you boot up. let go a second after you hear the chime.
    you will boot into the recovery partition.
    Use disk utlity to format your usb drive and then exit Disk utlity and go to Reinstall Mountain Lion.
    it will ask  you which disk you want to install ML onto. Choose your new USB drive.
    easy peasy

  • Clean install mavericks failed. No bootable USB drive either. Help please.

    HI guys I really would appreciate some help here.
    i Saw on apples site how to do a clean install of mavericks. In disk utilities I erased my osx drive and began The download of a fresh copy. I didn't back up my files as I was going to manually install my applications etc. When the download finished and it tried installing mavericks it failed, I restarted as it was the only option and it failed again. I ran disk repair and it said everything was ok. I only have Internet access at the cafe near where I live so only have it during the day. I checked online with my iphone for similar troubles and found everyone mentioning making a bootable USB version but... As it did not say that on the mac website where it showed how to erase and install a clean copy I never made a USB copy. I'm left with my macbook not able to install my os. Please can anyone advise, I have no way of getting to a Genius Bar and there is no mac service repairs in my area.
    I'm now using Internet recovery. I rebooted with option-command-r. A globe came up, I am now downloading mountain lion. Is this the right procedure now or am I wasting time as I only have a few hours left in the cafe with my macbook on? Thank you in advance.
    Gregg
    ps- I had mavericks up and running on my previously but wanted to  basically clean my system of preference files, unwanted folders etc etc. Lesson learnt. I just need advice on the steps I must take to have my system  working again .

    What you are doing now is the correct procedure, install the Mac OS X that came on the machine.  From that you can have a working machine and then install Mavericks again.
    Building a bootable/installable Mac OS X on a USB drive is time consuming and not necessary for most users...it is not difficult but it takes time and precision to get it right.  Perhaps something to do in the future when you have the time.
    Using a coffee shop internet connection is not a good idea for installing Mac OS X...you need a good, solid internet connection to do that, one that is reliable and offers sufficient bandwidth.  But you don't have much option at this point since you say an Apple store and the genius bar is not available to you.
    Finish the Mountain Lion install, reinstall your applications, get the Mac up and running well, then do the Mavericks install on top of the Mac OS X you have.
    You would do well to get an external hard drive, great ones are available from OWC http://www.macsales.com and make a good backup of your entire system as soon as you are finished installing Mac OS X.  If you make the external a bootable copy, such as by cloning with Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper, you can always have a working computer...life will be much easier with that.
    Good luck building Mountain Lion, and get the system running again before upgrading Mac OS X

  • How do  I Install Windows 7 on Mac Book Pro via a Bootable USB Drive

    Hi Guys,
    I have a Mac Book Pro 13 inch, Early 2011 Processor  2.3 GHz Intel Core i5 (I initially had OS 10.5.8 which I upgraded to OSX 10.9.4 a few months ago).
    When purchased it, I installed Windows via Super Drive (that being the only time i ever used the super drive). My Windows got corrupted for some reason 2 months ago. Hence, I removed the windows via Bootcamp to perform a fresh install. I discovered my Super Drive was no longer working.
    Thereon I have been trying to install Windows via a bootable USB Drive but am failing to do so. After going through several forums, I have reached the following stage.
    1. Created Bootable Windows USB Drive using Windows USB (http://www.wikihow.com/Create-a-Bootable-Windows-7-or-Vista-USB-Drive). Have used this USB drive to install windows on a DELL Computer
    2. Bootcamp wasnt creating a partition for windows since no Windows Installation disc was being detected in super drive. (Solved it by downloading Toast Titanium and loading the .iso file on a virtual drive).
    3. Boot menu was initially not detecting external drive, so installed rEFIt - An EFI Boot Menu and Toolkit. Now it is detecting the USB Drive.
    Now when I boot from this device, it get a black screen with the message "No bootable device - Insert Boot Disk"
    Request someone to please help me install windows as some softwares which I work with are windows based.

    smartestidiot wrote:
    So my understanding is that my Boot Camp Assistant (BCA), since it does not allow USB installer, it sets NVRAM to boot from Optical Drive. Right?
    Yes.
    So can I change it or update it to another BCA version which supports the same??
    All BCA versions drive the logic based on the Mac Model Identifier. Unfortunately there is no real workaround. .
    Please see https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+Optical+Driv e+Replacement/5122
    and https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Mac/Unibody-8x-SATA-SuperDrive-Post-Early-2009/IF16 1-073-2.

  • How do I format an external drive with mountain lion?

    How do I format an external drive with mountain lion?

    Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility
    select the external drive in the left pane
    partition and format in the right pane

  • If I replace my old iMac with a new one can I burn DVDs on an external drive using Mountain Lion or Toast?

    My 2006 iMac is getting a bit long in the tooth and I was thinking of replacing it with a new one. However, Mac have not included an optical drive and I back up my photographs on DVD as well as external hard drives. I also supply DVDs of my work to friends etc.
    Will I be able to burn to an external drive using Mountain Lion or other software such as Toast? Does the burn option still exist on the new machines?

    Hello,
    You shouldn't have any problem, if you do just try Burn...
    http://burn-osx.sourceforge.net/Pages/English/home.html

  • Creating a Mavericks USB boot drive after the horse has bolted.  Can I create a bootable USB drive from my iMac after installing Mavericks without saving the Install OS X Mavericks.app file?  Do I need to re- download the whole 5.29 Gb again?

    Creating a Mavericks USB boot drive after the horse has bolted.  Can I create a bootable USB drive from my iMac after installing Mavericks without saving the Install OS X Mavericks.app file?  Do I need to re- download the whole 5.29 Gb from the App Store again?  My problem is my 4Gb/month allowance on a 12 month contract.  I cannot purchase a data block from my ISP and although my speed is theoretically slowed to 64k after reaching my 4Gb, it actually ceases to download in reality.

    HI tasclix, it depends what you mean by an OS X boot drive.
    If you want a recovery disk from which you can reinstall (by re-downloading) or recover from a time machine backup, then nbar is correct.
    If, however, you want to boot and run the OS X installer from the USB drive (so that you don't need to download again), then you will need a copy of "Install OS X  Mavericks.app"; see this article:
    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5856
    Before downloading again, search your system to see if the installer is still there - it's usually in the /Applications folder unless it has been deleted, but check your whole system for it anyway, you never know, you might still have it somewhere.
    Message was edited by: SilverSkyRat

  • I currently run Mac Pro with three hard drives. Can I dual boot or even triple boot with Snow Leaopard on one drive and Mountain Lion or Lion on others?

    I currently run Mac Pro with three hard drives. Can I dual boot or even triple boot with Snow Leopard on one drive and Mountain Lion or Lion on others?
    I need to keep Snow Leopard so that I can run some old softward.

    If you are careful you can put at least two on one drive, having Recovery from Lion and Mountain Lion on their own drives though.
    CCC can clone Lion Recovery - great for moving or backup.

  • I am confused by the installation step that requires you to create a bootable USB drive for windows installation.  What is the ISO image and why has it selected my Passport backup drive as the destination disc?

    In the bootcamp installation it asks me to create a bootable USB drive for Windows Installation.  To do so, I must choose an ISO image.  What is that?  When I click "choose" I don't understand the options presented.  Is this the destination of the partition or where Windows will reside on the Mac?  Why does it also indicate the the destination disk si my WD Passport Back up drive?

    OK, so I have an apple superdrive hooked up to my mini (along with my Passport back up drive).  I also have  the discs for both 64bit and 32bit Windows along with the product key.  I am still not sure what to do when faced with the options after "choose".

  • BootCamp Assistant Error : Your bootable USB drive could not be created. "An error occurred while formatting the disk."

    I have a Windows 7 Ultimate .iso file saved onto a "Mac OS Extended (Journal)" formatted USB flash drive. I am trying to install it with BootCamp Assistant and I keep getting the error message : Your bootable USB drive could not be created. "An error occurred while formatting the disk."
    I have previously installed Windows 7 on my Mac (and it worked flawlessly - same .iso file), but I uninstalled it because I didn't partition enough space on my hard drive. I have used several flash drive to try and install and none have worked.
    Some help would be greatly appreciated.

    The Boot Camp forum is located here: https://discussions.apple.com/community/windows_software/boot_camp
    The Boot Camp Guides are located here: http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

  • "Your bootable USB drive could not be created" "Boot Camp only supports 64-bit Windows installation on this platform. Please use an ISO file for 64-bit Windows installation."

    I try to install windows7 system on my macbook air, which version is 10.8.5. When I open the bootcamp, it let me to choose a windows ISO image, which I've already downloaded from this website: http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325 /, it also asked me to select a USB drive, which is kingston that has 8GB. Then when I clicked "continue", it said that "Your bootable USB drive could not be created" "Boot Camp only supports 64-bit Windows installation on this platform. Please use an ISO file for 64-bit Windows installation." But actually the ISO image I downloaded is 64-bit windows7. I don't know why this would happen. Could someone help me please!!

    Thanks for your feedbakc Kiranjj!
    I identified the reason to be that the W8 installation file didn't download completely from a Mac OS-device. I downloaded from another Win-device and the moved the installation file with a USB-stick and then everything worked diectly! But thanks anyway.

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