. Open a window and navigate to your Applications folder. Look through your list of applications and locate the one named Install OS X Mavericks. or control-click the Install OS X Mavericks file and select Show Package Contents from the pop-up menu. The Finder window will display the contents of the Install OS X Mavericks file. Open the Contents folder.
Sierra, El Capitan, Yosemite, Mavericks, Mountain Lion, Lion and Snow Leopard,. Ask them to download the Mac OS X installer for you. How can the answer be improved?
Open the SharedSupport folder. Right-click or control-click the InstallESD.dmg file, and then select Copy 'InstallESD.dmg' from the pop-up menu. Close the Finder window, and return to your Mac's Desktop. Right-click or control-click on an empty area of the Desktop and select Paste Item from the pop-up menu. The InstallESD.dmg file will be copied to your Desktop.
This can take a bit of time because the file is around 5.3 GB in size. Insert the USB flash drive into one of your Mac's USB ports. Launch Disk Utility, located in Applications Utilities.
In the window that opens, use the sidebar to scroll through the list of storage devices connected to your Mac and locate the USB flash drive. The drive may have one or more volume names associated with it. Look for its top-level name, which is usually the name of the drive's manufacturer.
For instance, our flash drive's top-level name is 30.99 GB SanDisk Ultra Media. Select the top-level name of your USB flash drive.
Click the Partition tab. From the Partition Layout drop-down menu, select 1 Partition. Click the Format drop-down menu and ensure that Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) is selected. Click the Options button. Select the GUID Partition Table from the list of available partitioning schemes, and then click the OK button.
Click the Apply button. Disk Utility will ask for confirmation that you wish to partition the USB flash drive. Remember, this will erase all of the content on the flash drive.
Click the Partition button. The USB flash drive will be erased and formatted, and then mounted on your Mac's Desktop. Reveal What Is Hidden. Double-click the InstallESD.dmg file that you copied to the Desktop earlier. The OS X Install ESD file will be mounted on your Mac and a Finder window will open, displaying the contents of the file.
Some file names will appear dim; these are the hidden files that are now visible. Arrange the OS X Install ESD window and the Disk Utility window so that you can easily see both of them. From the Disk Utility window, select the USB flash drive's name in the sidebar. Drag the BaseSystem.dmg file from the OS X Install ESD window to the Source field in the Disk Utility window. Select the USB flash drive volume name (untitled 1) from the Disk Utility sidebar and drag it to the Destination field. If your version of Disk Utility contains a box labeled Erase Destination, make sure that box is checked. Click Restore.
![Installer Installer](http://cdn.osxdaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/os-x-mavericks-installer.jpg)
Disk Utility will ask for confirmation that you wish to erase the destination volume and replace it with the contents of BaseSystem.dmg. Click Erase to proceed. Supply your administrator password, if required. Disk Utility will start the copy process. This can take a bit of time, so relax, play a game, or explore some of the other articles on. When Disk Utility finishes the copy process, it will mount the USB flash drive on the Desktop; the name of the drive will be OS X Base System. You can quit Disk Utility.
Copy the Packages Folder. Disk Utility should have mounted your flash drive and opened a Finder window labeled OS X Base System. If the Finder window isn't open, locate the OS X Base System icon on the Desktop and double-click it. In the OS X Base System window, open the System folder. In the System folder, open the Installation folder.
Within the Installation folder, you'll see an alias with the name Packages. Right-click the Packages alias and select Move to Trash from the pop-up menu. Leave the OS X Base System/System/Installation Finder window open; we'll be using it in the next few steps. Locate the Finder window called OS X Install ESD. This window should be open from a previous step. If not, double-click the InstallESD.dmg file on the Desktop. In the OS X Install ESD window, right-click the Packages folder and select Copy 'Packages' from the pop-up menu.
In the Installation window, move your cursor to a blank area (make sure you're not selecting any item already in the Installation window). Right-click in the blank area and select Paste Item from the pop-up menu. The copy process will take a bit of time. Once it's complete, you can close all of the Finder windows, and eject the OS X Install ESD image and the OS X Base System flash drive.
In April, I wrote an article on TechRepublic about. The latest iteration of OS X, version 10.9 (aka Mavericks), marks not only 200+ changes in the OS, but also does away with the fabled 'big cat' naming scheme. However, the focus of this article is the change in the process for creating a working, bootable USB drive.