Bootable macOS Catalina

[kribensis12]

Hello friends,

I'm attempting to make a bootable MacOS Catalina USB and I have a 128 GB thumb drive that was formatted for Mac OS Extended (Journaled). When I go through terminal I type:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -- volume/Volumes/MacOS\ Catalina


It prompts me for my password which I provide, and then it says:

The volume could not be found.

Would someone please help me understand what I am doing wrong?

 

[krs]

Doesn't the file system for Catalina have to be APFS?

 

[Rod]

I assume you have a copy of the macOS Catalina installer on your drive.
The USB flash drive does not have to be formatted APFS but occasionally people report problems using the Terminal command line to create a bootable installer.
I would suggest using either DiskMakerX (for Catalina) or Instal Disk Creator which are free.



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[ferrarr]

It is telling you the "volume" you are trying to create the installer on is not present. What did you name the 128GB USB drive?

 

[jasongoldworthy]

It is telling you the "volume" you are trying to create the installer on is not present. What did you name the 128GB USB drive?

im with you on this

as I think the OP has just copied and pasted the terminal command without replacing VOLUME with his USB Drive name,

 

[Raz0rEdge]

You are just missing a space between "--volume" and "/Volumes/MacOs\ Catalina".

 

[jasongoldworthy]

You are just missing a space between "--volume" and "/Volumes/MacOs\ Catalina".

the OP may be missing a space but as we don't know his volume's name he could be as ive said copying and pasting the command from a website and not replacing the volume name with his own volume's name,

 

[Raz0rEdge]

The OP formatted the USB drive from Disk Utility and named it "MacOS Catalina", thus the volume name.

 

[Rod]

That's why using Instal Disk Creator or DiskMakerX simplifies the process. It looks for a suitable media Device and either names or renames it as part of the proceedure. Having said that all the instructions I have read for using Terminal include this information but there are a lot more chances of making an error.

 

[kribensis12]

Thanks guys.

The USB is named macOS Catalina (so that I know what's on the drive when I plug it in).

I followed Raz0rEdge's advice and it still claims that the volume cannot be found. I'd prefer to work in terminal if possible (but not against downloading a free service). Is it because it's Mac OS Extended (Journaled)? I can reformat it.

 

[Raz0rEdge]

Once the USB drive is plugged in, type "mount" in the terminal to see the list of what's mounted. Take note of anything that beings with "/Volumes" which indicates what the drive is called. If you don't see it, that's why the tool can't find it either.

 

[ferrarr]

The OP formatted the USB drive from Disk Utility and named it "MacOS Catalina", thus the volume name.

If that is true, then the “\“ is not needed between Mac OS and Catalina.


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[ferrarr]

Thanks guys.

The USB is named macOS Catalina (so that I know what's on the drive when I plug it in).

I followed Raz0rEdge's advice and it still claims that the volume cannot be found. I'd prefer to work in terminal if possible (but not against downloading a free service). Is it because it's Mac OS Extended (Journaled)? I can reformat it.

That’s because the USB volume is one name, no “/ or \” needed. Just use “Mac OS Catalina” for the volume name.

No need to reformat.


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[Raz0rEdge]

If that is true, then the “\“ is not needed between Mac OS and Catalina.


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On the contrary, if you double quote "MacOS Catalina", then you don't need it. Since the OP didn't do that, you have to escape the space with a \. A little bit of a terminal expert here, so I know what I'm talking about.

 

[krs]

I realize the OP would prefer to use the terminal to create a bootable USB flash drive, but if one of the readily available and free software options had been used, that drive could have been created many times over in the time spent so far trying to get the terminal approach to work.

Just saying......

 

[Raz0rEdge]

I realize the OP would prefer to use the terminal to create a bootable USB flash drive, but if one of the readily available and free software options had been used, that drive could have been created many times over in the time spent so far trying to get the terminal approach to work.

Just saying......

Perhaps, and then again the Terminal method doesn't require installing a separate single-use application that needs to be removed later on.

 

[krs]

The DiskMaker application is only 7.5MB, so I just left that in my App folder.

But my situation is different anyway since I had to make several different USB Flash Drive installers for all the Macs in the Family.
I try to get everyone on the same macOS since it makes trouble shooting easier, but unfortunately that doesn't always work out.

 

[MacInWin]

The suggestion to use DiskmakerX assumes that the OP wants to bootable installer. But post #1 doesn't say that, just that what is wanted is a bootable USB drive.

So, for kribnensis12, what is it you are trying to create?

 

[krs]

I assumed bootable installer because of the terminal command that was trying to be used:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia -- volume/Volumes/MacOS\ Catalina

But I could be off in left field.

 

[MacInWin]

Yep, but the OP didn't SAY it clearly. I think you are correct, in which case DiskmakerX is definitely the way to go. I have not managed to get the createinstallmedia command to work, with the same kind of syntax errors the OP has. DiskmakerX works, works well.