The right-side panel of TransMac allows you to right click your USB drive, the format the disk with the disk image. Be aware that other Windows tools might not be able to read the Apple-native DMG files. You will need the OS X install disk image (see above for various methods on how to obtain one), then use the 15-day free trial of TransMac to copy the disk image to your USB drive. You can now use your USB key like an installation disc.įor older versions of OS X (10.5, 10.6), you will also have to find an installation medium since there's no way to get them from the App Store, but the rest of the process is the same. dmg disk image, which you can restore to a USB key the same way as explained in the Ars Technica article above.īasically, you'll need to open Disk Utility, then select your 8 GB USB key, partition it fully with Mac OS Extended (Journaled). The internet is full of … 'places' where you can find installer images for OS X versions. If you don't have access to a Mac with App Store installed, you need to find your installer elsewhere. It requires you to download the installer through the App Store just like above, but creating the USB drive is now way easier. Lion Disk Maker is an application that you can use to burn a DVD or build a bootable drive from Mac OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion Installation program. Not feeling like hacking? Let Lion DiskMaker do the job for you: Ars Technica has an in-depth guide on how to do that: How to create a bootable, backup Mountain Lion install disk Once you downloaded the installer you can create a bootable flash drive using /Applications/Install OS X Lion.app. They don't appear to do this anymore but maybe you can find one.ĭownload the OS X Lion installer from another Mac's App Store using your Apple ID. Given your vague error description it's hard to diagnose the problem here, but this is the usual way to go.Īpple used to sell USB keys with a Mac OS X Lion installer on it for around $60.

Apple has details on this here: About OS X Recovery – basically, given high speed internet access and enough time, the recovery partition installed with Mac OS X Lion or OS X Mountain Lion should enable you to download the installer. If you don't have access to another computer:

Hacked mountain lion disc image