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command not found by installing boot USB drive

Goodmorning everyone,


I want to make an OSX El Capitan USB drive for a clean install on a 2007 iMac.

I want to make this USB drive on my 2018 MacBook Pro and tried the support site from apple to make an bootable USB drive. But when I try the command:


sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/OSX --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app 

It says: command not found. What am I doing wrong?

Posted on Sep 15, 2020 12:34 AM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 15, 2020 2:07 AM

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app


The path above is the default command that Apple quotes here,

How to create a bootable installer for macOS – Apple Support


Your command should work as long as you have these items in the correct places, the USB should be plugged

directly to your mac, no USB hubs.


Do you have the Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Applications folder and do you have a USB stick called OSX mounted on your Desktop.


When did you download the Install OS X El Capitan.app, if it was before October 2019 then it may not work as the certificate for it has now expired. Apple did release an updated version with a valid certificate which you can download from here,

How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan – Apple Support

This follows a different procedure where by you initially download a file called InstallMacOSX.dmg

to your Downloads folder. You would open that to get InstallMacOSX.pkg.

The next stage of the process can only be done on a mac that can run El Capitan, a mac that came pre installed with

a newer OS like Sierra onwards will refuse to do this.

Double-click on InstallMacOSX.pkg this opens an installation window, which does not install El Capitan

but creates the Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Applications folder.

Similar questions

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Sep 15, 2020 2:07 AM in response to janmetdepet

sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app


The path above is the default command that Apple quotes here,

How to create a bootable installer for macOS – Apple Support


Your command should work as long as you have these items in the correct places, the USB should be plugged

directly to your mac, no USB hubs.


Do you have the Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Applications folder and do you have a USB stick called OSX mounted on your Desktop.


When did you download the Install OS X El Capitan.app, if it was before October 2019 then it may not work as the certificate for it has now expired. Apple did release an updated version with a valid certificate which you can download from here,

How to upgrade to OS X El Capitan – Apple Support

This follows a different procedure where by you initially download a file called InstallMacOSX.dmg

to your Downloads folder. You would open that to get InstallMacOSX.pkg.

The next stage of the process can only be done on a mac that can run El Capitan, a mac that came pre installed with

a newer OS like Sierra onwards will refuse to do this.

Double-click on InstallMacOSX.pkg this opens an installation window, which does not install El Capitan

but creates the Install OS X El Capitan.app in your Applications folder.

command not found by installing boot USB drive

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