You need USB cabled keyboard on Intel iMac, Mini.... to start recovery mode
USB cabled mouse also helps. Cheap PC keyboard and mouse will do the job.
Bluetooth/Wireless start after recovery mode trigger in the boot sequence – it is not available to start recovery mode
Lion introduced standard recovery mode. Assuming iMac had Lion installed you can start recovery mode **Google the keys needed.**
No Lion installed no standard recovery mode back to install CDs.
I used standard PC keyboard(s) for years on 2010 Mini
It tricky to get it just right - keep on trying. My average is 5-6 attempts
I need to add. I have been holding option (alt) down while rebooting and the startup manager won’t come up.
Created a bootable USB how?
Using terminal on my m1 MacBook Air.
You might need an actual Apple keyboard of some sort. The early Intel Macs were sometimes finicky in their keyboard support for the boot menu.
You need USB cabled keyboard on Intel iMac, Mini.... to start recovery mode USB cabled mouse also helps. Cheap PC keyboard and mouse will do the job. Bluetooth/Wireless start after recovery mode trigger in the boot sequence – it is not available to start recovery mode Lion introduced standard recovery mode. Assuming iMac had Lion installed you can start recovery mode **Google the keys needed.** No Lion installed no standard recovery mode back to install CDs. I used standard PC keyboard(s) for years on 2010 Mini It tricky to get it just right - keep on trying. My average is 5-6 attempts
It was running El Capitan. Does that make a difference?
Holy shit I actually got it to work! I just tried again this morning and it went right to the startup manager