I cannot create a bootable ML USB thumb drive on new MacBook Air

Posted:
in Genius Bar edited January 2014


I'm seeing this error:


 


 



 


I can see it's happening because of this reason (When attempting to download OS X Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store on certain Macs that shipped with OS X Mountain Lion preinstalled) but I'm not seeing an explanation anywhere.


 


I want to create a bootable thumb drive, but I am limited because it's a new machine? What?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    ireland wrote: »
    I'm seeing this error:


    <img alt="" class="lightbox-enabled" data-id="28209" data-type="61" src="http://forums.appleinsider.com/content/type/61/id/28209/width/350/height/700/flags/LL" style="; width: 350px; height: 124px">


    I can see it's happening because of this reason (<span style="color:rgb(51,51,51);font-family:'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, sans-serif;font-size:12px;line-height:18px;">When attempting to download OS X Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store on certain Macs that shipped with OS X Mountain Lion preinstalled) </span>
    but I'm not seeing an explanation anywhere.

    I want to create a bootable thumb drive, but I am limited because it's a new machine? What?

    http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433
  • Reply 2 of 8
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Relic View Post



    http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1433


     


    I had forgotten that tool existed.


     


    Just trying it now. What's up with this?


     


  • Reply 3 of 8
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,326moderator
    This isn't quite an OS installer remember, it's just a copy of the Recovery Volume - it'll have to download the OS in order to reinstall it like with the Recovery Partition. I'd say you're better off cloning your OS to an external using Carbon Copy Cloner. That way you not only get a recovery volume but also a bootable OS you can use to troubleshoot.
  • Reply 4 of 8
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post



    This isn't quite an OS installer remember, it's just a copy of the Recovery Volume - it'll have to download the OS in order to reinstall it like with the Recovery Partition. I'd say you're better off cloning your OS to an external using Carbon Copy Cloner. That way you not only get a recovery volume but also a bootable OS you can use to troubleshoot.


     


    I don't use CC. I had a clean install on ML on a USB that installed fine on my late 2008 Air. I still  haven't seen an explanation for why this seems to be impossibly on the new Air.


     


    Does anyone know what the original error means?

  • Reply 5 of 8
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    ireland wrote: »
    I don't use CC. I had a clean install on ML on a USB that installed fine on my late 2008 Air. I still  haven't seen an explanation for why this seems to be impossibly on the new Air.

    Does anyone know what the original error means?

    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4541
  • Reply 6 of 8
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Relic View Post



    http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4541


     


    I liked to that in the first post on this thread:


     


    Quote:


    I can see it's happening because of this reason (When attempting to download OS X Mountain Lion from the Mac App Store on certain Macs that shipped with OS X Mountain Lion preinstalled) but I'm not seeing an explanation anywhere.


  • Reply 7 of 8
    relicrelic Posts: 4,735member
    ireland wrote: »
    I liked to that in the first post on this thread:

    Read between the lines, it's a bug!
  • Reply 8 of 8
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Relic View Post





    Read between the lines, it's a bug!


     


    What? Why don't they say this is a known bug FFS.

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