Tutorial: How to create an OS X Lion boot drive
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How to create an OS X Lion boot drive
Unlike previous versions of Mac OS X, Lion isn't delivered on physical media.
Instead, you buy and download it from Snow Leopard's Mac App Store.
But what if you want to do a clean install, boot from an optical or external
drive or install Lion on all your Macs (which is perfectly legal) without
downloading it over and over again?
Thankfully, there's a way of creating a boot drive, either on a DVD or an
external USB or FireWire drive. Administrator privileges are needed, so make
sure you have your password handy.
First of all, purchase and download Lion from the Mac App Store. When it's
finished downloading, an app called 'Install Mac OS X Lion' appears in your
Applications folder and your Dock. It runs automatically, but instead of
following the on-screen instructions to install the new operating system, quit
the installer; you can run it again later by clicking on its Dock icon, as you
would any other application.
Show Package Contents
Find the 3.76GB Install Mac OS X Lion file located in your Applications folder.
Right-click the icon and select Show Package Contents. In the Finder window
that opens, navigate to Contents > SharedSupport, and copy the file
InstallESD.dmg by moving it to another location while holding the Option key.
You can then follow the steps outlined below to create a bootable USB drive or
DVD.
After installing Lion, the Install Mac OS X Lion file disappears, and you can't
download it again through the App Store; if you open your Purchased tab, you
find the option is greyed because Lion's already installed.
If you have access to a Mac that's still running Snow Leopard, use it to open
the Mac App Store and sign in. You can then download it through the Purchased
tab without paying again. If not, you must create a Snow Leopard drive to boot
from.
First, find an external hard drive and connect it to your Mac. Make sure
there's nothing on there you want to keep, then open Disk Utility. Select the
drive from the left-hand column, open the Erase tab and select Mac OS Extended
(Journaled) from the Format tab. Name it whatever you like, and press Erase to
wipe and format it.
Time to restart
With your Snow Leopard install disc in the optical drive, restart your Mac with
the Option key held down. Choose to boot from Mac OS X Install DVD, and when
instructed, install Snow Leopard on the external drive.
After your Mac reboots from the newly installed version of Snow Leopard, follow
the on-screen prompts to set it up, as you would a new Mac. Update to 10.6.8
using Software Update, and open the Mac App Store. Sign in, and select the
Purchased tab. Lion is available to download; you won't have to pay for it
again.
When it's finished downloading, the installer starts automatically. Quit it and
extract InstallESD.dmg from the Install Mac OS X Lion file found in
Applications, as described above.
If you wish to boot back into Lion before finishing the tutorial, you can;
simply restart your Mac holding Option, and this time choose your main hard
drive. The Lion installer you just downloaded can then be found by navigating
to the external drive's Applications folder.
How to make an install drive and perform a clean install
1. Create a USB boot drive
First, find a USB (or if you prefer, FireWire) drive of at least 5GB in size.
You can use an external hard disk drive or a flash drive; it doesn't matter
which, as long as it's formatted to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). If it isn't,
reformat it using Disk Utility.
2. Restore the disk image
In Disk Utility, click on the Restore tab. Drag the InstallESD.dmg file you
extracted from the Lion installer application earlier into the Source field.
Drag the drive or partition from the left-hand column into the Destination
field. Press the Restore button.
3. The finished product
When the process is complete, your external drive can be used as a Lion boot
drive, and also to install Lion on other Macs. To learn how to boot from this
drive, perform a clean install or just install Lion on another Snow Leopard
Mac, see Steps 6-8.
4. Create a boot DVD
The process for creating a bootable DVD is very similar, and again uses Disk
Utility and demands the InstallESD.dmg file we extracted from the Lion
installer. First, insert a blank DVD. Open Disk Utility, and press the Burn
button on the left of the top bar.
5. Burn the disc
A window opens entitled Select Image to Burn. In this window, navigate to and
select the InstallESD.dmg file, and press Burn. A window opens in Disk Utility
inviting you to burn the disc – do so. When it's finished, the disc is ejected.
You've created a boot DVD.
6. Use the boot disc or drive
To boot your Mac from your newly created DVD or external drive, first insert
the disc or connect the drive. Restart your Mac while holding down the Option
key. You're given a choice of devices to boot from. Select your new boot volume
and it boots to this window.
7. A clean install
To perform a clean install, select the Disk Utility menu from the window.
Highlight your Mac's main boot drive, and erase it. Quit Disk Utility and from
the menu window, choose Reinstall Mac OS X. The boot volume you created doesn't
require internet access to install.
8. A standard install
To install Lion without erasing your Mac's hard drive, restart using your new
boot volume, and select Reinstall Mac OS X as outlined in Step 7, but without
using Disk Utility to wipe the boot drive. Again, you don't need to be
connected to the internet to install.
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