How to create a macOS recovery USB installer without macOS (on Linux/Windows)

If you need a macOS USB installer, but you cannot boot into macOS, you can still create one on Windows or Linux using Docker-OSX

Create a macOS virtual machine on Linux:

https://github.com/sickcodes/Docker-OSX

docker run -it \
    --device /dev/kvm \
    -p 50922:10022 \
    -v /tmp/.X11-unix:/tmp/.X11-unix \
    -e "DISPLAY=${DISPLAY:-:0.0}" \
    -e GENERATE_UNIQUE=true \
    -e MASTER_PLIST_URL='https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sickcodes/osx-serial-generator/master/config-custom.plist' \
    sickcodes/docker-osx:monterey

I would use Monterey because it can “do recovery” on Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, etc.

This is because Monterey can perform recovery on APFS and HFS disks.

Once you’ve created a Monterey or later macOS virtual machine, you can hot plug a USB stick in:

https://github.com/sickcodes/Docker-OSX#mount-usb-drive-hotplughot-plug-usb

Pick a port, for example, port 7700.

lsusb to get vendor ID and product ID of the USB stick, for example:

Bus 003 Device 008: ID 0781:5590 SanDisk Corp. Ultra Dual

The above vendor ID is 0781

The above product ID is 5590

Now, expose your USB stick via network access using usbredir so the macOS guest can reach the USB over-the-air:

sudo usbredirserver -p 7700 0781:5590

Now, in the Docker window hit Enter to see the (qemu) console.

Then hot plug the USB stick through to the macOS virtual machine:

chardev-add socket,id=usbredirchardev1,port=7700,host=172.17.0.1

device_add usb-redir,chardev=usbredirchardev1,id=usbredirdev1,debug=4

The USB will appear in the macOS virtual machine and then you can create a real USB installer.

You may need to change 172.17.0.1 to your host IP, e.g. 192.168.1.x, which you can get using ip addr on linux.

And, of course, the xxxx:yyyy of your USB stick will be different, unless it’s the same USB as mine!