OS X El Capitan Installer USB

This video will show you how to create an OS X El Capitan Installer USB.

Hi All,
We previously showed 123myIT users how to create an OS X Yosemite and Mavericks USB drive. And we have the video on how to create an OS X El Capitan installer USB. The process is very simular to the other OS X installer videos that we have done in the past. There is a few code changes so just be aware of that.
Again you will need a computer running Mac OS X and you will also need a 8GB or larger USB drive. In this video I didn’t take any chances and I use a 16GB USB drive, which are quite cheap to buy these days.

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

Copy and paste the code into a Terminal window and press enter, you will be prompted for a user name and password. This should be your Admin accounts user name and password. Remember to change the name of your USB device to ElCapInstaller if you miss this step the code will error out with something like incorrect syntax error. 🙂

OS X El Capitan Installer USB

You should see the name of the USB change from whatever its called when you plug the USB in to Install OS X El Capitan. Once this has completed you should then be able to use the USB drive to do clean installs of OS X on almost any Mac hardware or computer. Its always helpful to keep a back up of OS X versions. Because if you ever want to go back a version or install OS X on a different Mac its good to have this backed up copy. Also Apple updates their OS X software once a year and then makes their old version unavailable. So to save yourself getting caught out this way the USB is a great step.

In the next video I will show you how to do a clean install this OS X El Capitan Installer that you have just created.

Cheers
Matt

27 thoughts on “OS X El Capitan Installer USB

  1. pls is it possible to create windows7 usb bootable on OS X El Capitan Installer USB? i didn’t have the create windows 7 or later version in my bootcamp. and i am not able to edit the info.plist. i even try to burn a dvd still didnt work.
    pls kindly help me….

  2. hello. i am trying to put new OS on old mac book w new ssd. my desktop already has el capitan so i cant find installer. any advice?

  3. Hi Matt,

    I want to install OS X El Capitan into my Lenovo T420s laptop. Do you have a tutorial for it? I tried the method above but didn’t succeed. I also tried using the UniBeast method to create a bootable USB but didn’t work either. Is there a specific settings within the Lenovo’s BIOS that I missed? If you could help me out, that would be great. Thanks ahead

    • Hi Minh,
      Usually Apple wont let you install OS X on anything other than Apple hardware.
      There is a thing called Hackintosh. But I haven’t tried this in a long time so I can’t really advise on this.
      Cheers
      Matt

  4. Hi Matt
    I want to install OS X El Capitan onto my Lenovo T420s laptop. Do you have the tutorial for it? I followed your steps above but didn’t work, I also tried using UniBeast method but couldn’t either. Is there specific settings in BIOS that I missed? If you could help me out, that would be great. Thanks ahead

    Minh

    • Hi Minh,
      Usually Apple wont let you install OS X on anything other than Apple hardware.
      There is a thing called Hackintosh. But I haven’t tried this in a long time so I can’t really advise on this.
      Cheers
      Matt

  5. Hi,
    I cannot rename my pendrive. Limited character. Cannot rename from “UNTITLED” to “ElCapInstaller”.

    Thanks.

  6. I don’t want to create an installable usb flashdrive right now, but a dmg which I can later clone to a flashdrive. I already have the download from Apple Store and I found the hidden OS X Base System.dmg. I have to replace Packages alias, but it won’t let me delete it. With terminal command ‘defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles 1 && killall Finder’ without the ‘ at the begin and end I already made all visible. How to proceed?

      • Hi
        I have the same thought as Jade, I think…
        I want to try out Sierra on my Macbook 12 (2015) but I am unsure if it will slow things down or not.

        I would like to download El Capitan OS file for safe keeping… just in case it will no longer be available for download. And when time is due I would like create the USB installation.

  7. Got to end, but when hit USB drive Install OSX Yosemite, still says “your copy of the Install OS X Application is too old to be opened on this version of OSX.

  8. Hi there

    My old MacBook 2008 white has been playing up. So I’ve reset the mac. Im now trying to reinstall the software but it says Reinstall OS X. Whenever I click this it says This is not supported method of installing the operating system . Please run Install OS X El capitan.app that you downloaded from the App store. – is there a way I can install another programme if OS X El capitan is not available – You help would be much appreciated

  9. Hi, Hope you are doing well. I am using MacBook Pro Early 2011 13-inch with windows 8.1 pro only (no Mac OS). Now I want to install a fresh MAC OS X El Capitan on my MacBook. Kindly guide me how I will download MAC OS X El Capitan and make a bootable usb using Windows 10 (I don’t have have any other mac OS system). I am waiting for your kind response.
    Thanks.

    • HI Mate, the only way would be to download from a torrent site. Or buy it from somewhere. That aside I am not sure your 2011 Mac will support it.
      Good luck!

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