Creating Lion USB Installer so frustrating

Question

Creating Lion USB Installer so frustrating

I have been trying this for a couple days. I want to create a USB Lion installer. I have tried every thing that everyone has mentioned here an on other sites but for some reason I keep getting errors or the terminal installer create installer is for newer OS not for Lion.

I am looking for some way to create one of these.

I have used Disk Utility, Diskmaker, and terminal and even Carbon Copy Cloner but nothing I try will boot on the older Macs I am working on (currently 2006 MacBook Pro 17)

Has anyone actually created one?

Thanks for any help.

Earlier Mac models

Posted on Sep 21, 2023 7:52 AM

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Answer 1

Kurt Lang

Level 9

67,704 points

Sep 21, 2023 8:10 AM in response to Phil Shirley1

Do you have a copy of the original Lion installer from Apple? You won't get anywhere creating a bootable USB installer without one.

The site of the vendor who created Diskmaker X is down. But you can get it here. Though I don't know if it will work. Apple changed the Terminal shell macOS uses. So this app may not run properly, or at all, on a newer Mac.

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Answer 2

Sep 21, 2023 8:49 AM in response to Kurt Lang

Yes, I downloaded straight from the Apple page and I have all the different versions of Diskmaker. The newest disk maker does not work on Ventura on my M1 so I have been using a 2010 Mac mini but still seem to get errors. I have opened the downloaded files to get to the .ESD file but it seems the no way is working. Some suggest using Terminal but those directions only go back to El Capitan.

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Answer 3

Kurt Lang

Level 9

67,704 points

Sep 21, 2023 9:28 AM in response to Phil Shirley1

A bit odd that a 2010 mini can't successfully run Diskmaker X. I used to use that app a lot, up through about Mavericks.

But Apple did change how old versions download. If the file you have ends in .esd, that will throw off Diskmaker X. Originally it was an installer app, and the main file within the application package was InstallESD.dmg. Since DiskMaker X can't find that file in the expected location, it bombs out.

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Answer 4

Sep 21, 2023 9:37 AM in response to Kurt Lang

That is part of what I was running into, not having a .app file that others had mentioned. I am going to try leopard and see if there is a different outcome. I found an old OEM Apple 10.6 usb installer but that starts but then says it won't work on the 2006 MacBook. Maybe 2006 is too old for 10.6?

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Answer 5

Kurt Lang

Level 9

67,704 points

Sep 21, 2023 9:41 AM in response to Phil Shirley1

The last OS a 2006 MacBook could run is Lion. But Diskmaker X should run in that or Snow Leopard, since that's when it first appeared.

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Creating Lion USB Installer so frustrating

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