Download specific macOS version and create USB installer from the CLI

README.md

I always seem to forget how to download the macOS version I need by the time I need it again, so here is a quick and nasty guide on how to download a properly signed *.dmg file to build a USB installer.

• The script below is just copy pasted from here: https://github.com/grahampugh/macadmin-scripts (This is a jacked up version of the original found here: https://github.com/munki/macadmin-scripts)
• Here is some nice documentation to use the script: https://derflounder.wordpress.com/2018/02/27/using-installinstallmacos-py-to-download-macos-high-sierra-installers/

If you don't want to download the tool or monkey around with permissions, give this a shot: (Provided you are dumb enough to pipe unknown code off the internet in sudo python of course):

• sudo curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grahampugh/macadmin-scripts/master/installinstallmacos.py | sudo python - --help

If you're downloading an installer for your current machine, do the following:

1. Run sudo curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grahampugh/macadmin-scripts/master/installinstallmacos.py | sudo python - --list
2. Copy the build number of the macOS version you want to download
3. Run sudo curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grahampugh/macadmin-scripts/master/installinstallmacos.py | sudo python - --workdir ~/Downloads --build build_version
4. Open your Downloads directory after the download is complete, and you should be in business

To create a bootable USB installer, do the following:

1. Plug in the USB drive you want to use as the installer
2. Run ls -la /Volumes
3. Copy the full path to the mounted USB volume (e.g. /Volumes/Untitled)
4. Run /Applications/Install\ macOS\ Big\ Sur.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /path/to/mounted/volume
5. Accept all the prompts, wait a long time, and you're done

Here is a one-liner for downloading a macOS Big Sur disk image to your Downloads folder: sudo curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/grahampugh/macadmin-scripts/master/installinstallmacos.py | sudo python - --workdir ~/Downloads --os 11.0

Is there a resume command for this script? I've lost my connection while downloading the build.