Make an osx lion install usb flash drive

This will show you how to burn the downloaded osx lion to a usb flash drive so that you can do a fresh install.

  • download lion from the app store.
  • right click the downloaded file
  • click ‘show package contents’
  • go to contents > sharedsupport
  • right click on the installesd.dmg
  • copy it, and paste it on your desktop
  • insert flash drive [8gb recommended]
  • open disk uility
  • click on your flash drive in the left column and click ‘erase’
  • dont do it on your harddrive.

once the usb drive is erased and formatted [as a mac partition]

  • drag the installesd.dmg to the left column of disk utility
  • then click on it in the disk utility
  • goto restore
  • as source drag the installesd.dmg to that box
  • as destination drag the freshly formatted usb drives partition
  • hit ok.

enjoy your lion install flash drive :D

This Post Has 4 Comments

  1. Kyle Hayes

    How can I make one after I’ve already installed Lion and restarted?

    1. jonathan

      um, check your applications folder, if its not still there then you need to download it again and go through the process… until i find a smarter way :D

      1. drew clausing

        You can reinstall it by going to the app store.  Hold Option while you click the “purchased” tab at the top and an “install” button should reappear next to OSX Lion. That will re-download lion to the applications folder and from there you can follow the above directions.

    2. Abc

      You have to download it again if you already installed it. The install process wipes it. Just got this info from the regional mac rep.

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