The Mac OS X 10.9 Mavericks download script is now hosted on Mavericks Forever. To download Mavericks, open a Terminal on any Mac and run:
curl mavericksforever.com/get.sh | sh
Or, navigate directly to mavericksforever.com/get.sh to read what the script does.
Last login: Mon Dec 1 01:16:03 on ttys000
/Users/alex/create-bootable-installer.command ; exit;
alex@Louises-MacBook-Air ~ % /Users/alex/create-bootable-installer.command ; exit;
Checksumming partition of size 0 blocks...done
Block checksum: ....10....20....30....40....50....60....70....80....90....100
successfully scanned image "/Users/alex/InstallMacOSXMavericks.dmg"
Please enter the volume name of your USB flash drive: Untitled
WARNING: All data on Untitled will be erased. Continue? (yes/no) yes
Password:
Started partitioning on disk2
Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Waiting for partitions to activate
Formatting disk2s2 as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) with name Untitled
Initialized /dev/rdisk2s2 as a 57 GB case-insensitive HFS Plus volume with a 8192k journal
Mounting disk
Finished partitioning on disk2
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
#: TYPE NAME SIZE IDENTIFIER
0: GUID_partition_scheme *61.9 GB disk2
1: EFI EFI 209.7 MB disk2s1
2: Apple_HFS Untitled 61.5 GB disk2s2
Validating target...done
Validating source...done
Retrieving scan information...done
Validating sizes...done
Restoring ....10....20....30....40....50....60....70....80....90....100
Verifying ....10....20....30....40....50....60....70....80....90....100
Restored target device is /dev/disk2s2.
Remounting target volume...done
asr: Couldn't personalize volume /Volumes/OS X Base System - State not recoverable
Saving session...
...copying shared history...
...saving history...truncating history files...
...completed.
[Process completed]
So great news , after a few failed attempts (Could Not Unmount Volume etc.) , I found that having the finder window open showing the volume stopped it being unmounted for some weird reason. Also at the end I got an ASR error , but I think that was just trying to rename the USB.
Odd, I'm not immediately sure what to do about that. (I know you got it working but it's a shame it wasn't a smoother experience.)
One last question , any guess why the Installer I can download from an old OS App Store will not just work using the createmedia tool? and any idea why when I try to look inside the app contents the shared system InstallESD.dmg is reporting itself as corrupt?
If I recall correctly, the InstallESD.dmg inside the App Store's Mavericks installer was never restorable, even when Mavericks was current. But of course createinstallmedia worked at one point.
From what I understand, Apple updated the App Store Mavericks installer some years back to re-sign a certificate or something, but ended up breaking it. Or something like that, haven't looked into this closely—but It's not only broken for you!
Many thanks , that explains a lot.
Congrats again with the great work in automating the whole process. 👍👍
Hi There. :)
So great news , after a few failed attempts (Could Not Unmount Volume etc.) , I found that having the finder window open showing the volume stopped it being unmounted for some weird reason. Also at the end I got an ASR error , but I think that was just trying to rename the USB.
Either way , it's worked , a working booting USB from Apple Servers of Mavericks in 2025.
I have learnt a lot from my experimenting and failures but also from your awesome script work , thank you very much , it's much appreciated.
I think I could have come to the same end by using the BaseSystem.dmg that your script downloaded , and the package files , the semi installed OS had , along with my dd copied and enlarged Image , but why reinvent the wheel right :)
Again thank you.
One last question , any guess why the Installer I can download from an old OS App Store will not just work using the createmedia tool? and any idea why when I try to look inside the app contents the shared system InstallESD.dmg is reporting itself as corrupt?
Not that it matters now just curious.
Thanks again to all involved in this great work. :)