os/macos/ BootableInstallDisk

Getting the installer

See here. There are links that go via the App Store to Update, and Update downloads the installer. Once downloaded, do not run it normally but see below. Additionally, you may wish to copy the installer to an external drive.

For example, the Catalina url is

macappstores://apps.apple.com/app/macos-catalina/id1466841314?mt=12

and note that you can't find these via the search facility of the App Store.

For reference, the URLs are:

macappstores://apps.apple.com/app/macos-ventura/id1638787999?mt=12
macappstores://apps.apple.com/app/macos-monterey/id1576738294?mt=12
macappstores://apps.apple.com/app/macos-big-sur/id1526878132?mt=12
macappstores://apps.apple.com/app/macos-catalina/id1466841314?mt=12
macappstores://apps.apple.com/app/macos-mojave/id1398502828?mt=12
macappstores://apps.apple.com/app/macos-high-sierra/id1246284741?mt=12

and the .dmg URLs are:

http://updates-http.cdn-apple.com/2019/cert/061-39476-20191023-48f365f4-0015-4c41-9f44-39d3d2aca067/InstallOS.dmg # Sierra
http://updates-http.cdn-apple.com/2019/cert/061-41424-20191024-218af9ec-cf50-4516-9011-228c78eda3d2/InstallMacOSX.dmg # El Capital
http://updates-http.cdn-apple.com/2019/cert/061-41343-20191023-02465f92-3ab5-4c92-bfe2-b725447a070d/InstallMacOSX.dmg # Yosemite
https://updates.cdn-apple.com/2021/macos/031-0627-20210614-90D11F33-1A65-42DD-BBEA-E1D9F43A6B3F/InstallMacOSX.dmg # Mountain Lion
https://updates.cdn-apple.com/2021/macos/041-7683-20210614-E610947E-C7CE-46EB-8860-D26D71F0D3EA/InstallMacOSX.dmg # Lion

at time of writing this (2023-03-16).

Making the media

Summarised from here. Use the appropriate line from

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Ventura.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Catalina.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ High\ Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume
sudo /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ OS\ X\ El\ Capitan.app

note: If your Mac is using macOS Sierra or earlier, the command should conclude with --applicationpath followed by the appropriate installer path, as shown in the command below for El Capitan.