Bootable USB creation FAIL on M4 Mac mini for macOS Sequoia 15.1

Report this to Apple as a " Bug Report " , link below

I say this, having tried, on a M4 Mac Mini, already updated to Sequoia 15.1 build ( 24B2083 )

Even giving Terminal " Full Disk Access " from Privacy and Security Before attempting to create the Bootable Installer it still failed

Feedback - macOS - Apple

Same exact issue on M4 Mac mini.

Exact same problem, I think there is an issue with the source file we are downloading. If you examine the contents of the download, the path does not exist.

The folder structure has

AssetData/boot/Firmware/Manifests but the is no "InstallerBoot" folder, or file.

You can check for yourself, open the Applications folder, right click on "Install macOS Sequoia" icon, and select "Show Package Contents". From there you can follow the directories (folders) and you will see the "Installer Boot" does not exist.

I realize this is not a solution, but thought I would post this here so people are assured there is nothing wrong with their M4 Mac Mini, or USB Drives, etc. I would imagine this will be a software fix in the next OS update for Sequoia image download, but then again maybe not - I guess that would depend on Apple and if they think we should have the ability to create USB Installers.

It's in my installer package, I did not download it through the app store, but using the terminal command:

softwareupdate --fetch-full-installer --full-installer-version 15.1

This ensures you get the FULL installer package, and not just an upgrade.

I did try both ways of downloading, and nothing works. I've seen people say (about previsou versions of MAC OS) to boot into safe mode, etc......nothing worked.

I'm pretty sure it's an error or oversight in the installer package, Apple seems to be pushing for cloud installs (booting up in recovery mode and downloading online rather than using physical media).

I've read too many posts on quite a few sites, about M4 Mini's and making a 15.1 installer USB, it seems this is a widespread error. Just for giggles later today when I have time, I am going to try and create a 15.1 install USB on my husband's M2 Mini, and see if it fails. I'll post the results tonight.

OK, UPDATE - This DOES seem to be a specific problem with the M4 Mini. I used my hubby's 2023 M2 Mini to create the masOS 15.01 install USB and it worked perfectly. Same terminal commands, same Sandisk USB-C Thumbdrive and it worked error free - and I also TESTED the USB installer on my M4 mini, and the install worked perfectly.

This seems to be a problem specific to the M4 Mini, possibly the M4 in general (I'd be curious to know if the M4 Macbook Pro owners will get the same error. It's probably a coding issue, and not a hardware problem. I got the M4 PRO base configuration (no options added) and the machine works FLAWLESSLY aside from creating Sequoia 15.01 USB install media. Note - aside from the USB installer I created on a 2023 Mini, I also tested the "cloud recovery" option in recovery mode and that also worked fine.

I don't know if Apple Support actually READS these forums, but when I have time I am going to send an email and point this out. It's not a dealbreaker, I LOVE M4 Pro Mini.....it's even competitive with my Windows Gaming PC (AMD Ryzen 7950X3d and a Radeon 7900XTX). For gaming in 4K, it's pretty **** CLOSE in performance as far as picture quality, and framerates (FPS). That is pretty **** impresive considering it's 1/3 of the sice of my 7900XTX GPU alone! Off topic from the subject of this post, but I am really impressed with it so far. It does get pretty warm when gaming for a while, but, it does not slow down - and I have AppleCare+ so I'm not too worried.

Same issue but have tried on M1 Pro and M3 Pro

Ive used the DownloadFullInstaller utility and downloaded directly using FetchFulInstaller and downloaded from Apple App Store

15.1-24B2083 - appears to be the build version

Same errors after Terminal command..

I have an open case with Apple support. Will feedback when / if resolved

FWIW, I had an issue copying a bootable drive to a Superduper! backup. Copy succeeded but drive would not boot and would go to Recovery. "Solution" was to attempt to boot from the backup drive (the copy) and then do what Recovery said and install the OS over the backup from Recovery. OS now boots from the backup.

I'm having the same issue creating a bootable USB with my new Mac mini m4

Making disk bootable...

Failed to extract AssetData/boot/Firmware/Manifests/InstallerBoot/* from the update bundle

The bless of the installer disk failed.

Please help

Turns out, even though I was able to create the usb install on our M2 mini successfully, it does not function. neither the m4 pro, or m2 recognize the installer as a bootable installer, and will not install Sequoia onto a blank disk in recovery mode.

I tried to create the usb installer again today with the latest release, 15.1 and same error....Failed to extract AssetData/boot/Firmware/Manifests/InstallerBoot/* from update bundle. So it's not working on 15.0.1 or 15.1 - filed a bug report with Apple, this is REALLY frustrating. Can I live without the usb installer? YES, but this function should work and is listed on Apple's own support site as a featuer - creating a usb installer.......

I can't see anywhere in the installer package that this path exists:

AssetData/boot/Firmware/Manifests

No part of it even.

Where are you seeing it?

It's definitely not a Mac mini or M4 specific thing. I've seen this on both an Intel machine and an M1 Air.

Same problem with the exact same errors on both my M4 Pro mini and my M1 mini. Followed Apple's instructions to the letter.

Exact same issue on a days old MacBook Pro M4 Max.

Me too. The same exact issue on a new M4 Mac mini