I need a Lion installer to create a bootable USB to start an old iMac that was erased. But it's virtually impossible because the Mac App Store no longer provides it and I can't convert the occasional .pkg file I get into an installer. P.S. I can't use Recovery Mode to reinstall the OS.
Similar to the post above, you may also want to download Mac OS X Lion 10.7 for an old Mac that no longer supports newer Mac OS versions. The good news is that we'll provide the direct links to download Mac OS X Lion installer, DMG, or ISO image in this post.
Note: If you want to download OS X 10.7 Lion safely, we recommend you use iBoysoft DiskGeeker for Mac. This tool provides the bootable DMG file for OS X Lion and other macOS versions. It also allows you to create a bootable USB installer for OS X Lion effectively. To download OS X Lion, take the following steps:
Step 1: Free download and launch iBoysoft DiskGeeker.
Step 2: Select Download Image from the left.
Step 3: Choose OS X 10.7 Lion and click Get.
Mac OS X Lion installer download
There aren't many resources that provide the Lion installer in the .app extension. Fortunately, Internet Archive has a copy archived. It's a 3.5GB ZIP file named Install Mac OS X Lion.app.zip.
Mac OS X Lion installer download
You can download it, unzip the file to obtain the application installer, and then use it to create the Mac OS X Lion bootable USB directly.
Mac OS X Lion DMG download
You can choose to download the OS X Lion DMG (.dmg) file for the bootable USB media too. A Mac OS X Lion DMG file is essentially a disk image containing the installation files needed to install or upgrade to Mac OS X Lion. An advantage of this format is that you can use it to create bootable media on both macOS and Windows.
The official Mac OS X Lion DMG file is still available on Apple's server. You can copy the link below and open Safari to download it.
Mac OS X Lion download DMG
Once it finishes downloading, you can extract the installer and jump to the last part to learn how to create the bootable Lion USB installer on a Mac or follow this guide to make a bootable Lion USB media on Windows: How to Create macOS Bootable USB from Windows 10/11.
To get the Lion installer from the disk image, follow the steps below: (Note that you must have a Mac that's compatible with Mac OS X Lion.)
- Double-click the Mac OS X Lion DMG file to open it.
- Then double-click the .pkg file within and follow the onscreen instructions to save the installer to your Applications folder.
Share to help others download Mac OS X 10.7 Lion DMG for free!
Mac OS X Lion ISO download
If you plan to install Mac OS X Lion on a Windows PC, you'll need the ISO file instead. This is also a disk image format but it works with virtual machines like VirtualBox, VMware, or Parallels Desktop.
Mac OS X Lion ISO download (Mediafire)
Mac OS X Lion ISO download (Google Drive)
Credits go to techrechard.com.
How to make a Mac OS X Lion Bootable USB?
Tips: Remember that we mentioned you can easily create a bootable USB installer for OS X Lion with iBoysoft DiskGeeker? Here are the steps:
Step 1: Download and install iBoysoft DiskGeeker.
Step 2: Click Create boot disk from the left Shortcut section.
Step 3: Choose your external drive and click Select > Continue.
Step 4: Select OS X 10.7 Lion and click Create boot disk.
Step 5: Wait while the bootable USB installer is being created.
Once the Lion installer is in your Applications folder, you can take the steps below to create the Mac OS X bootable USB:
- Connect a USB flash drive with at least 8 GB of free storage to your Mac.
- Open Disk Utility.
- Click View > Show All Devices.
- Select the physical disk of your USB and click Erase. (This removes all data on the drive.)
- Name it MyVolume.
- Choose Mac OS Extended (Journaled) as the format.
- Keep GUID Partition Map.
- Click Erase.
- Launch Terminal.
- Input the command below and hit Enter.sudo /Applications/Install\ Mac\ OS\ X\ Lion.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume /Volumes/MyVolume --applicationpath /Applications/Install\ Mac\ OS\ X\ Lion.app
- Type your admin password and hit Enter.
- Type Y to confirm that you want to erase the volume and hit Return.
- Wait patiently until you see the message "Install media now available at."
- Safely eject your Lion bootable USB.
Now that the bootable media is ready, you can boot the Mac from the external drive to install macOS.
Also read:
Free Download Mac OS X 10.8 Mountain Lion Full Installer, DMG & ISO