How to Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB Flash Drive Using Terminal

In this feature, I will guide you on how to create a macOS Catalina bootable USB flash drive using the Terminal. An external drive that you can use as an installer for macOS Catalina is a good thing to have. If you have multiple Macs to upgrade, it’s quite easy to plug in the USB installer drive and run the installer than to log into the App Store, download the 8.09GB OS installer, and then run it.

However, there are many ways to create a macOS USB flash drive installer like Disk Creator but the easiest way to create macOS Catalina bootable USB is using Terminal, which you don’t need to install and additional software. But before moving to our main topic, let’s have some piece of information about macOS Catalina, macOS Catalina features and macOS Catalina system requirements.

A. macOS Catalina

macOS Catalina 10.15 is the sixteenth and latest major release of macOS, Apple’s Macintosh computer desktop operating system. It is the successor to macOS Mojave, revealed at WWDC on June 3, 2019, and released to the public on October 7, 2019. Catalina is the first version of macOS to support only 64-bit applications and the first to feature Activation Lock.

B. macOS Catalina Features

Catalina has more important new features than we saw in previous updates to macOS. There are a few new apps, as well as several other apps with significant new functionality and updates to the UI. Improved performance and improved usability. Here’s a quick list of some of the apps and new features. macOS Catalina bootable USB

• Project Catalyst: iPad apps that have been brought over to the Mac
• Music, Podcasts, and Apple TV apps that replace the iTunes app
• Improvements to the Photos app
• Enhancements to the Notes app
• Three new features in Apple Mail: mute a thread, block a sender and unsubscribe
• Safari updates
• A redesigned Reminders app
• A new Find My app that combines the features of
• Find My iPhone and Find My Friends
• Screen Time for Mac
• Sidecar, for using an iPad as an external display
• Voice Control

C. System Requirements: Which Macs are compatible with macOS Catalina?

• MacBook (2015 or newer)
• MacBook Air (2012 or newer)
• MacBook Pro (2012 or newer)
• Mac mini (2012 or newer)
• iMac (2012 or newer)
• iMac Pro (2017 or newer)
• Mac Pro (2013 or newer)macOS Catalina bootable USB

How to Create macOS Catalina Bootable USB Flash Drive Installer Using Terminal

Here’s how to create macOS Catalina 10.15 bootable USB flash drive installer for a clean install on your Mac. With macOS Catalina being Apple’s latest software release, it stands to reason that there is going to be a big interest in it.

However, let me mention some essential things you need to have before creating a macOS Catalina bootable USB flash drive installer.

A. USB Flash Drive installer 

To complete the process, you’ll need a spare USB flash drive and your USB must be at least 16 GB and is formatted as Mac OS Extended. Remember that it will be deleted during the procedure and make sure to copy all your important data

B. macOS Catalina installer software

The second, which is needed is macOS Catalina installer software. If you have a macOS Catalina file then you’re good to go and if you don’t have the file then you have to download it from Mac App Store. No worries! I will show you how to download the macOS Catalina file from the Mac App Store.

How to Download macOS Catalina?

Step 1. Click on the Apple logo on the top left-hand corner, select App Store.

Step 2. In the search bar, search for “Catalina“. In results, you’ll see “macOS Catalina” then click on VIEW.

Step 3. In order to download macOS Catalina 10.15 click GET. (If you’ve already downloaded the installer, the button will say Install instead of GET.)

Step 4. Here, you’ll receive a notification “Are you sure you want to download macOS Catalina 10.15? Of course, you want to! Click Download and wait until the macOS Catalina download completes.

Step 5. Once the download is complete, the installer will launch automatically. But don’t continue with the installation. Instead, press Command + Q on your keyboard to quit the installer.

Create macOS  Catalina bootable installer drive: Terminal 

You don’t need to use Install any additional software like Disk Creator to create a bootable installer. You can do it in the Terminal and it’s easy. Here are the instructions and this is a step by step and complete guide.

Step 1. In these instructions, I use Untitled as the name of the external drive. If your drive is named something else, you need to change Untitled to the name of your drive.

Step 2. Open Terminal. To open Terminal: Finder > Applications > Utilities > Terminal or simply open the Spotlight then search for Terminal.

Step 3. In the Terminal window, type sudo followed by a space. Keep the Terminal Window open!

Step 4. Now, go to Finder then select Applications.

Step 5. Find Install macOS Catalina then right-click on it, select Show Package Contents.

Step 6. In this step, select Contents, select Resources. Here you will find createinstallmedia file. Select the createinstallmedia file and then drag it to the Terminal window.

Step 7. In the Terminal Window, type –volume followed by a space.

Step 8. In the Finder window, click Go then select Go to Folder.

Step 9. Type /volumes then click Go.

Step 10. You will find your USB drive listed here. Select your USB drive then drag it to the Terminal Window then hit enter.

Step 11. Type your system password. If you’re prompted.

Step 12. Type “Y” and press enter if you’re prompted. Because it will erase your USB files and data. Now, the command will create your bootable macOS Catalina installer directly on your USB drive.

Step 13. That’s it. Now, your USB flash drive installer has been created.

Related Posts:

• How to Create Windows 10 Bootable USB Using Rufus For Free
• How to Create a Windows 10 Bootable USB on Mac Using UNetbootin

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Conclusion

That’s it! This feature was about how to create macOS Catalina bootable USB flash drive installer using Terminal. You can create macOS Catalina bootable USB with Terminal very easily and the process is very easy and simple. there’s no need to download any additional or third-party software.