Lion install disk create

Update: When this article was originally published, the Mac App Store version of Lion would not boot any Macs released in mid or later, as those models shipped with a newer version of Lion preinstalled. The next steps depend on whether you want to create a bootable hard drive or flash drive, or a bootable DVD.

I recommend a hard drive or flash drive—a DVD will work, but it takes a long time to boot and install. Note: In versions of the Lion installer prior to However, with the When prompted, insert a blank DVD a single-layer disc should work, although you can use a dual-layer disc instead , choose your burn options, and click Burn.

Apple has released OS X Lion as a download from the Mac App Store only; however, you can use the download to create a separate OS installation disc or drive partition to use for troubleshooting purposes. While its availability solely as a download may have its conveniences, the lack of its initial distribution on optical or other media has been met with a decent amount of criticism, especially by those looking for options to troubleshoot and customize their OS installations.

Apple's approach to installing and managing your Lion installation does offer a decent amount of flexibility, but if you would like to have your Lion installation on DVD, then you absolutely can do this. Luckily the OS X installer contains all the materials you need to burn yourself a boot image of the installer, and all you need to do is access this image and then either burn it to DVD or restore it to another bootable storage medium.

To do this, you will need a storage medium DVD, flash drive, or hard-drive partition of at least 4GB in size, and then just follow these steps:. Purchase and download Lion from the Mac App Store. When downloaded it will be added to your Dock and Applications folder, but do not proceed with the installation and instead quit the store and close the installer if it has automatically opened.

At this point you can either create the installation disc, or you can copy the installer to a backup location so you can create the installation disc at a later point. Right-click the installer and choose Show Package Contents.

Note: You will see an option in the menu to burn the item to disc, but do not use this as it will only burn the item as-is and the resulting disc will not be bootable. From here you can either burn the disk image to DVD, or restore it to a hard drive or flash drive.

To do this, ensure your medium has at least 4GB of capacity and then follow these steps:. Insert a blank disc when the burn dialog displays, and then click Burn be sure to have Disk Utility verify the burn to ensure the media works as it should. To restore to a drive, select the Disk Image and click the Restore tab.