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Tuesday

How To Create Bootable MacOS USB from Non Mac PC

You don’t need Apple repair services to fix a failed upgrade or boot problem.

✅ Windows/Linux PC
✅ Internet
✅ USB Drive (16GB+)
🚫 No extra Mac required
💰 Save $100–$300

Here's a detailed, formatted context you can share with others to help Mac users recover their system without paying for service center visits:

🆘 Stuck Mac? Don't Waste Hundreds at Service Centers – Here's a Free Recovery Guide!

If your MacBook (2012–2017) is stuck during an upgrade (especially using OpenCore Legacy Patcher to install macOS Ventura or Sonoma), and:

It won’t boot
Internet Recovery isn’t working
Main disk isn’t showing up
And you don’t have another Mac (only Windows or Linux)...

Then you’re not alone — and you DON’T need to pay hundreds to fix it. Here's a step-by-step rescue method using just a Windows/Linux PC and a USB drive.

✅ Why This Happens

Apple doesn’t officially support newer macOS versions on older Macs (like 2015 MacBook Pros), so people use tools like OpenCore. If anything goes wrong:

Mac won’t boot
Recovery mode fails
Disk may look like it vanished
Apple Support suggests replacement — $$$!

🛠️ Free Do-It-Yourself Recovery Steps (No Mac Needed)

1. Create a macOS Recovery USB (Catalina or earlier)

Apple stopped traditional USB creation support after macOS Big Sur. But you can still create recovery installers for Catalina or Mojave that work perfectly to get your system back.

On Windows/Linux:

Download a macOS Recovery image (like Catalina .dmg or .img)
- 📥 Archive: https://archive.org/details/macos-catalina-recovery
Extract with 7-Zip
Use dd for Windows or Rufus (in DD mode) to flash to USB:
```
dd if=macos_recovery.img of=\\.\PhysicalDriveX bs=1M
```
Replace PhysicalDriveX with your USB drive (⚠️ Double check it to avoid overwriting another drive)
Boot Mac while holding Option (⌥) → choose USB

2. Erase and Reinstall macOS

Once in recovery mode, open Disk Utility
- Show All Devices → Erase internal drive as APFS + GUID
Then choose Reinstall macOS
- Catalina will be installed → Fully functional!

3. (Optional) Upgrade to Big Sur, Monterey, or Sonoma

Once you’re back in Catalina:

Use tools like GibMacOS to download newer versions (InstallAssistant.pkg)
Install and patch using OpenCore Legacy Patcher

💡 Tip: Use a Virtual macOS (VM) if Needed

If you want to build full USB installers for newer macOS:

Run macOS in VirtualBox or VMware on your Windows PC
Use the real createinstallmedia tool inside the VM

Here’s what you can do to recover your MacBook Pro 2015 even without another Mac device:

⚠️ Situation Recap

MacBook Pro 2015 trying to upgrade to macOS Sonoma using OpenCore Legacy Patcher

Now stuck and won't reboot

Internet recovery fails, main disk not showing

No other Mac available

✅ Step-by-Step Recovery Plan

1. Create a macOS Bootable USB on Windows/Linux

Option A: Use Windows (Easier with GUI)
You can create a macOS bootable USB from a Windows PC using GibMacOS:

On Windows:

Download GibMacOS from GitHub: https://github.com/corpnewt/gibMacOS

Run `gibMacOS.bat`, select a macOS version like Big Sur (recommended for MacBook Pro 2015)

After download, use `MakeInstall.bat` to create a bootable USB (needs at least 16GB USB drive)

It will format the USB and create a bootable macOS installer.

Option B: Use Ubuntu (Command-line)
On Ubuntu, follow these:

Use `gibMacOS.command` via Wine or manually download the .pkg

Extract `.pkg` → `.app` → create installer via `createinstallmedia` (if you have access to macOS inside a VM)

But this is harder than Windows.

2. Boot from USB Installer on MacBook

Plug in the bootable USB

Power off the Mac

Hold Option (⌥) key and power it on

Select the USB installer (e.g., "Install macOS Big Sur")

3. Use Disk Utility

From the macOS installer → Utilities → Disk Utility

Check if your internal disk appears

If not, click View → Show All Devices

Try First Aid, or Erase it if recovery isn't possible

Format as: APFS, GUID Partition Map

4. Reinstall macOS

Return to the main menu → click Install macOS

Install on the newly erased internal disk

🧯If Still No Disk Appears

Disk may be corrupted or failed physically
Boot USB → open Terminal → run:

diskutil list

Check if your internal drive (usually disk0) appears
Try to reformat using Terminal:

diskutil eraseDisk APFS "Macintosh HD" GPT disk0

If it fails or the drive doesn't show, it's likely hardware failure.

🛠 Optional: Use OpenCore Installer Again

If you still want macOS Sonoma, re-run OpenCore Patcher from USB after getting Big Sur working again.

You're absolutely right — here's an updated, concise guide based on your situation and recent changes:

💡 Goal: Reinstall macOS on MacBook Pro 2015 without another Mac

Since macOS Big Sur and later cannot be made bootable using traditional `createinstallmedia` methods from Windows, here’s the best working method for your case:

✅ Best Recovery Option for You (from Windows/Linux)

Option A: Internet Recovery USB (macOS Catalina or earlier)

You can create a macOS Catalina recovery USB using 7zip + dd on Windows.

Steps:

Download the macOS Recovery Image (e.g., Catalina .dmg) from trusted source (e.g., macrecovery.net)
Use 7-Zip to extract .dmg or .img
Use **dd for Windows** (or Rufus` in DD mode) to write to USB:
```
dd if=macos_recovery.img of=\\.\PhysicalDriveX bs=1M
```
Replace PhysicalDriveX with your USB drive (use Disk Management to find it)
Plug into Mac, boot holding Option (⌥), and launch macOS Recovery
From there, use Disk Utility → Erase (APFS + GUID), then Reinstall macOS

Option B: Download Full Installer via GibMacOS (macOS Big Sur or Monterey)

Apple uses InstallAssistant.pkg for Big Sur+, so you can:

On Windows, use GibMacOS
Download Big Sur / Monterey InstallAssistant.pkg
Transfer the pkg to a macOS virtual machine (on VMware or VirtualBox on your Windows)
Run .pkg inside VM → It will create the installer in /Applications

Then use USB in VM to run:

sudo /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyUSB

📌 Recommendation (Fastest Path)

Use macOS Catalina recovery image + dd method to get to working macOS

Then from there, upgrade to Big Sur via InstallAssistant.pkg

Finally, patch with OpenCore again if you still want to reach Sonoma

Friday

UTM setup for MAC Microprocessor

Hope you have already installed your required software from IT team [eg. Vinit]. He has mainly installed the following software:

Python 3.8
Docker
VSCode
Sublime Text
Anaconda including navigator
Chrome
MS Edge
draw.io
Acrobat reader [original]
Itsycal [for notification from our office 365 calendar and more]
Postman
Mongodb Compass [community version]
DBbrowser for sqllite
balenaEtcher
OpenVpn connect [to connect to our office.vpn to work and connect to our remote team]
XCTU [to configure xBee module if needed]
Microsoft Teams
LibreOffice

After several R&D found that UTM | Virtual machines for Mac (getutm.app) can solve our problem. Before that I have tried with lima-vm/lima: Linux virtual machines, typically on macOS, for running containerd (github.com) which not helped out the problem with Docker Desktop run on MAC especially on our M1 MAC which can’t detect our xBee module USB port. M1 MAC host do not share the USB port with guest system [Docker container]. Also then we needed different VM for windows as well eg. Parallels [not free].

UTM does solve both windows and ubuntu can run with USB port sharing inside the container.

Remember:

Size of the disk space can’t be change unless delete the VM [eg. Windows] and increase or decrease the size eg. 20 GB to 30 GB etc
Windows need to unblock Device Manager by following a You tube link I provided below or you can approach Vinit [IT team]
Never close the VM window directly by click on X. Instead shut down the VM properly from OS menu itself first and then can close the window
Do not need to keep running UTM all the time. Run only when you require to run any VM OS

How to install UTM in M1 MAC:

Download latest [at least 3.1.5] from UTM | Virtual machines for Mac (getutm.app) or Latest UTM release you can download from:
Releases · utmapp/UTM (github.com)
Open a terminal and run
1brew install qemu
Install the UTM dmg file by clicking on it
Follow this link to install and configure UTM for Ubuntu 20.04 Ubuntu 20.04 | UTM (getutm.app)
but settings on UTM must be following
need at least 64 GB space for Ubuntu guest [as we will be using Docker 20–30GB fails]

Keep patient it can goes error or take some time around 10–20 min max to boot up if everything fine. Otherwise restart again and when it is calling rebooting just hold the shift key.
Then terminal login with your username and password you have given when installing.
Run the following commands from the above links to install Desktop and sharing lib
After run all the commands for desktop you can login inside it
To get the share folder inside the guest [Ubuntu] you may need to run this command
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop
sudo reboot
sudo apt install davfs2
sudo systemctl start spice-webdavd.service
sudo mount -t davfs -o noexec http://127.0.0.1:9843/ <your_mnt_folder>
Click on USB icon need to click the USB device you attached to your host to get inside guest. For me it is USB connector for hat with xBee module.

Now open a terminal and install
sudo apt-get install docker-compose
First time you may need the UI folder in your shared folder
Now you are ready to get the git pull of our application and then run docker-compose to run the application

Similar way you can install Windows 10 home edition,. Before start installing kindly take the lic key for it from our IT team. Windows installation very straight forward.

Follow this link How to Install Windows 10 in UTM (M1 Mac) — YouTube or Windows 10/11 | UTM (getutm.app)

Setup 20 GB space is more than enough
connect USB drive and activate from VM top right panel
Copy paste the folder containing [spice guest tool from above utm link, Mission Control application zip, USB to URT bridge driver zip] into desktop
extract the zip folders inside that folder
You need to unblock the Device Manager [Vinit from IT team helped me,

How to Fix this App has Been Blocked for Your Protection Error in Windows 10 ]
Now restart the system
Connect the USB from RC
activate the USB port from top right panel
Then go to Device Manager and update the driver

Utm

Mac