OS X Mavericks usb asks me to sign into App Store

migz20 wrote:

First of all I found my install of Mavericks From the Internet archive,

Is it from Apple's servers? If not, then I would not trust it. Who knows what someone may have added or removed from it. Or even in what form the installer is.

Second of all I’ve used option+command+r before but the That only gives me the OS it was shipped with which was mountain lion,

You've got to start somewhere to get an OS onto this Mac. Using the OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard If Internet Recovery Mode is only providing Mountain Lion, then start there. You will then need to use any other computer running any OS that can access the Internet to download the macOS 10.11 El Capitan installer using the information in the following Apple article.....you will need transfer the downloaded DMG file to this Mac and follow the instructions in the Apple article to extract real installer into the Applications folder.

How to download and install macOS - Apple Support

You can now either install the macOS 10.11 upgrade or create a bootable macOS 10.11 USB installer.

Also, there is no need to install every version of macOS to get to the later versions. At most, the critical ones are macOS 10.11 and 10.13 if only to be able to access the App Store to get the later versions of macOS.

Last but not least I do have an iMac but that’s running A modded version of steam OS called bazzite So I’ve basically run out of options

If it is a Late-2009 Mac compatible with macOS 10.13 to 11.x, then you can use Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R) on this iMac to install macOS onto an external drive. Boot from the external drive to be able to access macOS installers from the linked Apple article to create a bootable macOS USB installer for the MBAir.

If that external drive you are using has data on it and is using the APFS file system, then you can create a new APFS volume on it for the installation of macOS (this APFS volume is easily removed if you want to reclaim the space).

As always, make sure to have good backups before doing anything just in case you make a mistake. You should already have frequent & regular backups of the computer and all external media anyway.....if not, that should be the first priority.

You would have needed to create that "bootable USB" using your own Apple credentials. Did you do that?

Since Apple doesn't have a download for macOS 10.9 Mavericks, I don't see how you can create a bootable macOS Maverick's USB installer.

If you are booting into Recovery Mode to access the Mavericks installer, then you should try using Command + Option + R to do so since at one time Apple's documentation mentioned that doing so for these older installers would not require authenticating with any AppleID. And if your Mac has ever had macOS 10.12.4+ installed at some point in the past, then you should be able to access a more recent online installer such as macOS 10.13+.

I see you have a Early-2013 MBAir running Mountain Lion. You won't be able to access the App Store to download the macOS 10.13 High Sierra or later installers until you upgrade the system to at least macOS 10.11 El Capitan. You will most likely need to use any other computer or OS which can access the Internet to download the El Capitan installer.....then transfer the downloaded DMG file to this MBAir so you can extract the real installer followed by running the real full El Capitan installer.

If you go to the MacRumors site on this very subject, you will see a very long and painful thread where users are trying to install Mavericks. It seems that is one OS that Apple have effectively given up on, though no-one knows why.

Ironically I am running Mavericks as my base OS and can still install it on any external drive using the actual kosher Apple Mavericks installer.

There were Early-2014 and Early-2015 Airs, but only mid-2013 Airs were produced in that year.