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Unable to create install media for Monterey - Failed to extract AssetData/... from update bundle.

I'm running MacOS Monterey on an iMac 27. I am using the published commands to create the install media ISO. It is failing with the following dialog:


johne*****@MacOS-Monterey ~ % hdiutil create -o /tmp/NewMacISO -size 14000m -volname NewMacISO -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J
created: /tmp/NewMacISO.dmg
johne*****@MacOS-Monterey ~ % hdiutil attach /tmp/NewMacISO.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/NewMacISO
/dev/disk2 Apple_partition_scheme
/dev/disk2s1 Apple_partition_map
/dev/disk2s2 Apple_HFS /Volumes/NewMacISO
johne*****@MacOS-Monterey ~ % sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/NewMacISO
Password:
Ready to start.
To continue we need to erase the volume at /Volumes/NewMacISO.
If you wish to continue type (Y) then press return: y
Erasing disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 30%... 100%
Making disk bootable...
Failed to extract AssetData/boot/Firmware/Manifests/InstallerBoot/* from update bundle
The bless of the installer disk failed.

It appears that the Copying to disk: step is not executing. Any idea what could be causing this? On the same machine, I was able to create an Install MacOS Big Sur with no problem. I have 75 GB of disk space.


Thanks for your help.

iMac 27″, macOS 12.4

Posted on Jul 13, 2022 1:53 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jul 13, 2022 2:21 PM

To double-check the steps, please review the following Apple Support article on how to create a bootable installer for macOS:


Similar questions

14 replies

Jul 13, 2022 2:15 PM in response to Tesserax

Thanks for replying so soon.


I downloaded the Install MacOS Monterey app from the Apple Store. The code block in my original message shows the commands I used and resulting dialog.


For completeness, here's the commands:

hdiutil create -o /tmp/NewMacISO -size 14000m -volname NewMacISO -layout SPUD -fs HFS+J
hdiutil attach /tmp/NewMacISO.dmg -noverify -mountpoint /Volumes/NewMacISO
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/NewMacISO



Jul 13, 2022 6:03 PM in response to Tesserax

Tesserax wrote:

Hmm. Since I have never attempted to create a bootable installer using a disk image, I really can't say if it would be possible ... or not. Sorry, maybe someone else who was successful doing so, will chime in to help you out. Good luck!

It works exactly the same. The USB drive is mounted in /Volumes just like the disk image. I am successful creating a Big Sur install image. But I'm having the issue with Monterey. Maybe something changed in the Monterey release.

Jul 14, 2022 8:22 AM in response to DoctorBashir

You are creating an Apple Partition Map scheme. You need a GUID partition map. I believe you need to use "GPTSPUD" in place of "SPUD".


Edit: Also you can archive the installer app into a read-only .dmg file for storing for later. You can use any Mac later on to run the Terminal commands to create the bootable USB installer. Apple only restricts the ability to download the installer to qualifying Macs. I create a new folder and copy the installer app from the Applications folder into the folder. Then I use Disk Utility to create a new image from folder making sure to select the "read-only compressed" option in order to have a single .dmg archive file. If you elect to use a .sparesbundle, then the resulting archive will cause you problems since it is not a single file, but a folder with lots of items in it (macOS Finder makes it look like a single file, but the command line and other operating systems reveal the truth -- it can cause issues and is not really a safe method of archiving).

Jul 14, 2022 4:06 PM in response to HWTech

Would the use of SPUD explain why the same command sequence works with the Big Sur Installer, and not the Monterey installer? I'm not a expert on these utilities and the options. I just use what other posters suggest.

Yes, thanks for showing that there are other ways to archive the installers. I wasn't sure you could just store the entire folder structure of the app and have it work when you restore it. I work more with Windows where you can't just save the program folder and expect it to work. Will that work across OS's, for example, archive on Big Sur, and restore it to Monterey? What about user specific Preferences?

Jul 15, 2022 8:48 AM in response to DoctorBashir

DoctorBashir wrote:

Would the use of SPUD explain why the same command sequence works with the Big Sur Installer, and not the Monterey installer? I'm not a expert on these utilities and the options. I just use what other posters suggest.

I believe the "createinstallmedia" utility requires the USB stick to be GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled). If you use:

man  hdiutil


and look under the "create" section and look for the " -layout" option which explains the various options for it like "SPUD" and "GPTSPUD". The "GPTSPUD" will give you the GPT partition layout.


FYI, Macs require a GPT partitioned drive for booting.


Yes, thanks for showing that there are other ways to archive the installers. I wasn't sure you could just store the entire folder structure of the app and have it work when you restore it. I work more with Windows where you can't just save the program folder and expect it to work. Will that work across OS's, for example, archive on Big Sur, and restore it to Monterey? What about user specific Preferences?

You cannot just leave the installer application on the system as is. Even if you move the installer app from the Applications folder to somewhere in your home user folder, when you go to download the installer again macOS will not download the new one to the Applications folder as one would expect, but it will download it over top of the previous installer regardless of where it is stored. I found this out when I couldn't find the installer and realized it had updated the time stamp on the old installer I had located elsewhere. Storing the app in an read-only .dmg archive hides it from view and preserves its integrity.


macOS restricts the download & extraction of the installers to systems which can actually have that OS installed. However, once the installer app has been extracted to the Applications folder there should not be any issues or restrictions for creating the bootable USB installer even when moving that app to another Mac which is not able to use that OS. I have created bootable USB installers from those archived installers on other systems which cannot actually run the OS.



Is your raw image archive file "NewMacISO.dmg" you are creating actually large enough for the installer? Have you tried making it larger? Maybe you should also remove the " -noverify" option from the attach command so that macOS actually verifies the file system on your image archive file.


Apple does keep changing how things are done and Monterey has introduced a lot of changes. It is hard to say how the installer and creation process may have changed. What version of the Monterey installer do you have? Maybe see if you can access a slightly older version of the macOS Monterey installer. I think I remember someone mentioning problems with 12.4 installer. You will need to use the command line to check for which versions of maOS are available to download.

softwareupdate  --list-full-installers


If macOS 12.3.1 is available, then this is the command you would use (replace the "12.3.1" with a version available as listed from the output of the previous command):

softwareupdate  -d  --fetch-full-installer  --full-installer-version  12.3.1


Here is an article for reference (I added the " -d" option so it will only download and not run the installer):

https://osxdaily.com/2020/04/13/how-download-full-macos-installer-terminal/

Jul 15, 2022 3:20 PM in response to HWTech

HWTech wrote:

I believe the "createinstallmedia" utility requires the USB stick to be GUID partition and MacOS Extended (Journaled). If you use:
man hdiutil
Is your raw image archive file "NewMacISO.dmg" you are creating actually large enough for the installer? Have you tried making it larger? Maybe you should also remove the " -noverify" option from the attach command so that macOS actually verifies the file system on your image archive file.

Yes, it is large enough. The "createinstallmedia" checks and give an error if it's too small. I also increased the size, no effect. Removed the "-noverify", no effect.

I think I remember someone mentioning problems with 12.4 installer. You will need to use the command line to check for which versions of maOS are available to download.
softwareupdate --list-full-installers

If macOS 12.3.1 is available, then this is the command you would use (replace the "12.3.1" with a version available as listed from the output of the previous command):
softwareupdate -d --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 12.3.1

Here is an article for reference (I added the " -d" option so it will only download and not run the installer):
https://osxdaily.com/2020/04/13/how-download-full-macos-installer-terminal/

Thanks for these commands. That was very helpful. I downloaded MacOS 12.3.1 and tried that. Same result.


I really appreciate your effort.

Unable to create install media for Monterey - Failed to extract AssetData/... from update bundle.

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