This article applies to:

•  macOS 10.14 or newer

Symptoms

1. You run Rescue Media Builder and select the disk that you want to make bootable.
2. You get the following error:

   An error occurred while creating media. Failed to create bootable media by using Apple Software Restore

Cause

Most likely, access to removable volumes was explicitly denied by the user for Media Builder.

When Rescue Media Builder is run on the system for the first time, the system asks permission to access files on the removable volume.

If the option "Don't Allow" was selected in the past, then the system will not ask permission again and bootable media creation will fail with the above error, even after a new Agent build is installed.

Solution

Enable access to external drive for Rescue Media Builder:

1. Go to System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Files and Folders:
2. Click the "lock" button to allow changes
3. Select the checkbox Removable volumes for Rescue Media Builder:

   

More information

As an alternative workaround, you can also remove Rescue Media Builder from Files and Folders table. In this case, when Rescue Media Builder is run for the first time, it will ask for permission to access files on removable media. Click OK to allow access.