macOS Installer Image Builder – No Mac Required

• Generate bootable macOS installer images directly from Apple's servers via GitHub Actions.
• Includes intelligent file size optimization to produce the smallest possible installer images.

Supported formats:

• ISO – True DVD format compatible with Proxmox VE, QEMU, VirtualBox, and VMware
• DMG – Create bootable macOS installer USB drives on Windows with Rufus or on Linux with dd

Available workflows:

• macOS Recovery ISO (Recommended) – Lightweight recovery image (build takes ~2-5 min) • Best for virtualization
• macOS Full Installer – Complete offline installer (build takes ~20-60 min, 5-18GB) • Best for offline use

Important

• Use the "Build macOS Recovery ISO image" workflow unless you really need an offline installer.
• GitHub-hosted runners are a free public resource — please use them responsibly.
• Already have a macOS VM? Build macOS Installer ISO inside your VM with Create_macOS_ISO.command

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Usage

1. Fork this repository.

2. Go to the Actions tab in your forked repository.

3. Click the green "I understand my workflows, go ahead and enable them" button.

4. Select the "Build macOS Installer ISO/DMG image" or "Build macOS Recovery ISO image" workflow.

5. Click the "Run workflow" button.

6. Configure the workflow inputs:

   • macOS version – Choose a version (Sequoia, Sonoma, etc.).
   • Image format – Choose iso for virtual machines or dmg for bootable USB drives.

7. Click the green "Run workflow" button to start the build.

8. Wait for the workflow to complete (this may take 20-60 minutes).

9. Open the completed workflow run and scroll to the Artifacts section.

10. Download the artifact (e.g., macOS-Sequoia-15.7.2-ISO).

Tip

Enable Cloudflare WARP for faster downloads.

11. Extract the ZIP file to get your .iso or .dmg file.

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Tip

To create a bootable macOS installer USB drive on Windows:

1. Open Rufus
2. Click SELECT, change the filter to "All files", then select your .dmg
3. Click START
4. Optional: After flashing the dmg image to the USB drive with Rufus, there will be free/unallocated space remaining on the USB drive. Use Disk Management to create a new FAT32 partition and place your EFI there if needed.

Note

By default, artifacts are kept for 5 days. You can change this in the workflow YAML file.

Tip

• For best performance, use a macOS VM on Proxmox VE with iGPU or dGPU passthrough.
• Install macOS on Proxmox VE using LongQT-sea/OpenCore-ISO.
• For Intel GVT-d iGPU passthrough, see LongQT-sea/intel-igpu-passthru.

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Legal Notice

This tool downloads macOS images directly from Apple's servers. Users are responsible for complying with Apple's Software License Agreement.