Creating a Mountain Lion Bootable USB on Ubuntu

In this article, we will walk you through the process of creating a Mountain Lion bootable USB on Ubuntu. This process involves converting the .dmg image file to an .iso file and then using a tool to create the bootable USB drive.

Prerequisites

Before we begin, ensure you have the following:

• An OS X Mountain Lion .dmg file
• A USB drive with at least 8GB of storage
• A computer running Ubuntu

Step 1: Install the dmg2img Tool

The first step in this process is to install the dmg2img tool. This tool will allow us to convert the .dmg image file to an .iso file. To install dmg2img, open a terminal and run the following command:

sudo apt-get install dmg2img

Step 2: Convert the .dmg File to .iso

After installing dmg2img, we can now convert the .dmg file to .iso. In the terminal, run the following commands, replacing “OriginalFile.dmg” with the filename of your .dmg file:

filename="OriginalFile.dmg"
dmg2img -i "${filename}" -o "${filename%.dmg}.img"
mv "${filename%.dmg}.img" "${filename%.dmg}.iso"

In these commands, -i "${filename}" specifies the input file, and -o "${filename%.dmg}.img" specifies the output file. The mv command then renames the .img file to .iso.

Step 3: Create the Bootable USB Drive

Now that we have the .iso image file, we can create the bootable USB drive. There are several tools available for this, but for this guide, we will use the dd command.

Before proceeding, identify the device identifier for your USB drive. You can do this by running the following command:

lsblk

This command lists all block devices (hard drives, USB drives, etc.) and their mount points. Identify your USB drive from this list.

Once you have identified the device identifier for your USB drive (e.g., /dev/sdb), run the following command, replacing “/path/to/orig.img” with the path to your .iso file and “/dev/s**” with the appropriate device identifier:

sudo dd if=/path/to/orig.img of=/dev/s**

In this command, if=/path/to/orig.img specifies the input file (the .iso file), and of=/dev/s** specifies the output file (the USB drive).

Warning: Be cautious when using the dd command, as it can overwrite data on your USB drive if used incorrectly.

Conclusion

Creating a Mountain Lion bootable USB on Ubuntu involves converting the .dmg file to .iso using the dmg2img tool and then using the dd command to create the bootable USB drive. While this process can be complex, following these steps should make it manageable. Always remember to handle commands that can overwrite data with care.

For more information on the dd command and its parameters, you can check out the Ubuntu manpage. For more information on the dmg2img tool, you can check out the dmg2img webpage.