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These advanced steps are primarily for system administrators and other experienced
users who are familiar with entering commands in Terminal.
You don't need a bootable installer to upgrade macOS or reinstall macOS, but it can be useful if you want
to install macOS on multiple computers without downloading the installer each time, or you're unable to
install a compatible macOS from the Finder or macOS Recovery.
Download a macOS installer using the App Store or your web browser
1. Plug in the USB flash drive or other volume that you're using for the bootable installer.
2. Open Terminal, which is in the Utilities folder of your Applications folder.
3. Type or paste one of the commands below into Terminal, then press Return to enter the command.
Each command assumes that the installer is in your Applications folder, and that MyVolume is the name
of the USB flash drive or other volume that you're using. If the volume has a different name, replace
MyVolume in the command with the name of your volume.
4. When prompted, type your administrator password. Terminal doesn't show any characters as you type.
Then press Return.
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5. When prompted, type Y to confirm that you want to erase the volume, then press Return. Terminal
shows the progress as the volume is erased.
6. After the volume is erased, you may see an alert that Terminal would like to access files on a removable
volume. Click OK to allow the copy to proceed.
7. When Terminal says that it's done, the volume will have the same name as the installer you
downloaded, such as Install macOS Sonoma. You can now quit Terminal and eject the volume.
Commands
Depending on which macOS you downloaded, enter one of the following commands in Terminal as
instructed above.
Remember to replace MyVolume in the command with the name of your volume.
If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, append --applicationpath followed by the appropriate
installer path, similar to what is shown in the command below for El Capitan.
macOS Sonoma
Ventura
Monterey
Big Sur
Catalina
Mojave
High Sierra
El Capitan
Learn more
For information about the createinstallmedia command and the arguments you can use with it, make
sure that the macOS installer is in your Applications folder, then enter the appropriate path in Terminal:
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