Skip to main content

How to create a macOS Mojave USB installer the easy way [Video]

We’ve covered how to use simple terminal commands to create a macOS Mojave USB installer in the past, but understand that not everyone is comfortable fooling around with the Terminal. With this in mind, we’ve created a brief tutorial highlighting an alternative method that’s as simple as it gets. Watch our hands-on video for the details.

How to create a macOS Mojave USB installer drive

Step 1: Acquire a USB drive with 16 GB of storage or more. Drives like the SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive USB Type-C are a nice choice, because they allow quick connections to both USB-C and USB-A ports with no dongles needed.

Step 2: Download and install CleverFiles’ Disk Drill.

Step 3: Download the macOS Mojave Installer from the Mac App Store.

Step 4: Launch Disk Drill.

Step 5: Connect your USB drive to your Mac.

Video walkthrough

Subscribe to 9to5Mac on Youtube for more videos

Step 6: In Disk Drill, click Create Boot Drive → OS X / macOS Installer.

Step 7: Disk Drill should automatically point to the macOS Installer location, but if not, you can click Locate installer on disk and point to the location in the /Applications folder manually.

Step 8: Click Use as Source.

Step 9: Click Make Bootable next to your USB flash drive. Be sure to select the correct drive, because the entire contents of the selected drive will be erased.

Step 10: On the warning screen, click Yes to proceed once you’re sure that the correct disk is selected and that it’s okay to erase its contents.

Disk Drill will now go through the process of copying over the necessary files and making the USB drive bootable. Once completed, you’ll see a confirmation box. Click OK, let’s do it to proceed.

Now it’s just a matter of connecting the drive to a Mac that you’d like to reinstall macOS on, powering off the machine, and rebooting it while holding the Option (⌥) key. From there, select Install macOS Mojave to load the macOS Utilities tool.

Of course, if you prefer not to use third-party software, you can still use the excellent Terminal method, which is a little bit more involved, but requires no additional outside software.

Do you like to create a bootable macOS USB installer to have on hand? If so, what’s your method of choice?

Special thanks to MacPaw, creators of CleanMyMac X, for sponsoring our macOS screenshots walkthrough.

MORE MACOS MOJAVE HANDS-ON VIDEOS

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

Author

Avatar for Jeff Benjamin Jeff Benjamin

Jeff is the head of video content production for 9to5. He initially joined 9to5Mac in 2016, producing videos, walkthroughs, how-tos, written tutorials, and reviews. He takes pride in explaining things simply, clearly, and concisely. Jeff’s videos have been watched hundreds of millions of times by people seeking to learn more about today’s tech. Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube to catch Jeff’s latest videos.