Create a macOS Monterey Bootable Installer USB!

Introduction

This tutorial will guide you through the process of creating a bootable USB installer for macOS Monterey. This installer can be used for installing or recovering macOS Monterey on your Mac. Having a bootable USB drive is especially useful for troubleshooting and reinstalling macOS without needing an internet connection.

Step 1: Gather Required Materials

Before you start, ensure you have the following items ready:

• A USB flash drive with at least 16GB of storage capacity.
• A Mac computer running macOS.
• The macOS Monterey installer, which can be downloaded from the App Store or via Apple's support page.

Step 2: Format the USB Drive

You need to format the USB drive to prepare it for the macOS installation files.

1. Insert the USB flash drive into your Mac.
2. Open Disk Utility (found in Applications > Utilities).
3. In Disk Utility, select your USB drive from the list on the left.
4. Click on Erase at the top.
5. Choose the following settings:
   • Name: MyVolume (you can use a different name, but you'll need to adjust it in the command later)
   • Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
   • Scheme: GUID Partition Map
6. Click Erase to format the drive.

Step 3: Download macOS Monterey Installer

If you haven't downloaded the macOS Monterey installer yet, follow these steps:

1. Open the App Store on your Mac.
2. Search for "macOS Monterey".
3. Click on Get to download the installer. It will be saved in your Applications folder.

Step 4: Create the Bootable Installer

Now that you have everything set up, you can create the bootable USB installer.

1. Open the Terminal application (found in Applications > Utilities).

2. Enter the following command, replacing "MyVolume" with the name of your USB drive if you named it differently:

   sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
   

3. Press Enter and you will be prompted to enter your administrator password.

4. Confirm that you want to erase the USB drive by typing "Y" and pressing Enter.

5. Wait for the process to complete. This may take some time, depending on the speed of your USB drive.

Step 5: Eject the USB Drive

Once the process is finished:

1. Type diskutil eject /Volumes/MyVolume in Terminal and press Enter.
2. Safely remove the USB flash drive from your Mac.

Conclusion

You have successfully created a bootable USB installer for macOS Monterey. This installer can now be used to install or recover macOS on compatible Mac devices. Keep the USB drive in a safe place for future use. If you need to reinstall macOS, simply connect the USB drive, restart your Mac while holding the Option key, and select the USB drive to begin the installation.