How to make a macOS 12.0 Monterey flash drive installer

This guide will walk you through creating a bootable installer for macOS Monterey on a USB flash drive for the purpose of installing Monterey on a hackintosh compatible computer.

Part 1: Creating a Monterey USB Installer

To create a bootable macOS installer that works on a PC desktop or laptop we’ll need:

1. Copy of macOS Monterey
2. 16GB USB Flash Drive (Monterey takes up 13GB of disk space)
3. Software to create a bootable copy of macOS Monterey

Step 1: Downloading macOS Monterey

On Mac? Easiest way to Monterey is from the Mac App Store 

On Windows/Linux? Download macOS Monterey on Windows or Linux (coming soon)

Step 2: Formatting the USB Drive

In order to create a bootable macOS installer that works on PC the USB flash drive must be formatted as Mac OS Extended (Journaled) which adds a second hidden EFI partition where the hackintosh bootloader is stored.

1. Insert a USB Flash Drive
2. Open Disk Utility
3. Click View from the top silver menu bar
4. Select Show All Devices 
5. Select your Flash Drive on the left column under External
6. Click Erase
7. Set the following settings:
   • Name: Hackintosher
   • Format: Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
   • Scheme: GUID Partition Map
8. Click Erase (If you get an error use First Aid in Disk Utility first)
9. Click Done upon finish

Step 3: Transferring the Monterey Installer

Afterwards the the Monterey Installer downloaded from the Mac App Store is ready to be placed on the USB drive using Terminal.

1. Verify Install macOS Monterey is in the /Applications folder
2. Open Terminal through spotlight or launchpad
3. Paste the following into Terminal entering your password if prompted:
   Monterey Public:

   sudo /Applications/Install macOS Monterey.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Hackintosher /Applications/Install macOS Monterey.app --nointeraction

   Monterey Beta:

   sudo /Applications/Install macOS Monterey Beta.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/Hackintosher /Applications/Install macOS Monterey Beta.app --nointeraction

4. Select OK if you get the prompt “Terminal” would like to access files on a removable volume.
5. Do not close Terminal, the installer will transfer over slowly and can take awhile especially if you are using USB 2 bus speeds

Part 2: Configuring EFI Partition for a Monterey Hackintosh

We will now mount the hidden EFI Partition created when the flash drive was formatted.

Mount EFI Partition

1. Download OpenCore Configurator
2. Open OpenCore Configurator
3. Select Mount EFI under TOOLS
4. Click Mount Partition for Install macOS….
5. Click Open Partition (This is where the EFI Folder will go)

Create or Download a EFI Folder

An EFI folder can be created with either Clover or OpenCore.

If you’re updating a hackintosh from an earlier version of macOS the same EFI folder that worked before may not work in Monterey without changes for compatibility.