How to Make a Bootable Snow leopard USB Stick

29 August 2009 by Vinay 14 Comments

I have a Retail Disk / Developers Seed of Mac OS X Snow Leopard 10.6 build 10A432, but i need to make a bootable USB disk so i can install Snow Leopard using a memory stick but how ?? I just got this question from a user through comment and i decided to answer him in a detail. To make a bootable USB disk we need a USB memory stick minimum 8GB, Working Leopard(10.5.X) or Tiger (10.4.X), Retail Disk or Developer Seed of latest build of Snow Leopard. If you fulfils the requirement then proceed the following steps.

Step 1). Plug you USB drive and launch Disk Utility, navigate to your USB stick and format it. In this guide we named it SL USB STICK.

Step Two). Now select the Restore tab in the top right, Here select your Source and Destination.

Source is the Snow Leopard, if you have a Developer Seed in .dmg format then browse or drag n drop can also works, if you have a retail disk then simply drag n drop to source.
Destination is the SL USB STICK you formatted in step one, so simply drag n drop to destination. Make sure to uncheck Erase destination and then hit the Restore button.

Step Three). Write your password in next window.

Step Four). Take a cup of coffee, sit back and relax the process may take 15-minutes to 45-minutes depending on your USB quality.

Note : This guide is for Mac users (Original Mac Machine Owners)only, we are working for a full proof guide on bootable Snow Leopard USB Stick. So keep checking iHackintosh daily. In the man time check How to Install Snow Leopard (10A432) on PC Hackintosh

14 Comments »

Mpl said:

Hey it does not work for me. After doubleclicking on the “Install Mac OS X” Button there is an error-message displayed:

http://s6.directupload.net/images/090901/dsc7exse.png

kann you help me?

# 1 September 2009 at 11:46 am

LKM said:

@Mpl: Try booting from the USB Stick (hold down the Option key while booting) and install that way. My DVD drive is busted and I had to install SL from an USB Stick, and this seems to work for me.

# 1 September 2009 at 4:53 pm

Twi said:

Is it possible to make this on a Windows computer?
My DVD-Reader on my MacBook is not working anymore

# 2 September 2009 at 7:21 pm

konteudos.info said:

Hi ,

I think you have to turn the usb bootable, just install Chameleon 1 on it

# 2 September 2009 at 8:25 pm

dna said:

Did every thing you did, with a sony usb stick. Did not work. Any suggestions. what is chameleon?

# 15 September 2009 at 7:16 pm

xecuta said:

thanks for this! just trying it out now. i just got 10.6 and want to use USB stick. just need it for upgrades from 10.5.8

# 18 September 2009 at 4:21 pm

Josh Wilde said:

go here it explains charmeleon it;s used to run os x on windows machines

# 1 February 2010 at 4:31 am

concerned said:

is it possible to do this on windows. is there some type or 3rd part program that could do this.

right now i have a leopard 10.5 upgrade disk, snow leopard dmg and a mac without any operating system. i tried to install leopard using the upgrade disc but it requires tiger 10.4.x. which i don’t have.

# 9 February 2010 at 12:52 pm

GerT1s said:

I need some help I have windows xp and I want to make a
(bootable usb to install snow leopard) but I haven’t got any program
to make a bootable usb please help me!!!

# 24 March 2010 at 1:11 am

uno said:

hfs+ partition error…: hi, after installed efi on my usb-stick, rebooted, I got this error.

# 9 April 2010 at 6:18 pm

Anarch said:

I just wanted to help everyone else out who’s on the google search for how to make a snow leopard bootable usb install WITH WINDOWS(Not OS X like the first 20 pages of the search explain…).

You need a program called “TransMac”, you’ll also need an 8GB Flash drive (with nothing on it). I used MagicISO(trial won’t do it… sorry) to expand my dmg to it’s full size which adds another gig to total size. Next I used TransMac to “Format for Mac use” and formated to HFS+. Then I used the option to “Use disk image to format”. Takes a while… fills ur drive to the near 7.50 gigs.

I don’t use any form of a Hackintosh but with the massive failure of the 2009 superdrive….. There are many legitimate needs for this of which is very under-documented.

# 15 August 2010 at 2:46 am

DirtySkeMe said:

better use the partition tab on disk utility
if u have a higher usb key than 8go
partition it to have one sized 8go and other how many and size you want
and if is a 8go key just use 1 partition
select Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)
then before click apply click on the option… button
and choose GUID Partition Table like this you are able to start a intel-based mac
then apply
now it should be recognize as a bootable device

# 10 September 2010 at 1:14 am