create-dmg

A shell script to build fancy DMGs.

Status and contribution policy

Create-dmg is mostly maintained by @aonez and the contributors who send pull requests. The project home page is https://github.com/create-dmg/create-dmg.

We will merge any pull request that adds something useful and does not break existing things.

If you're an active user and want to be a maintainer, or just want to chat, please ping us on Gitter at gitter.im/create-dmg/Lobby, or email Andrew directly.

Create-dmg was originally created by Andrey Tarantsov. In May 2020 Andrew Janke helped vastly with the project.

Installation

• You can install this script using Homebrew:

  brew install create-dmg
  

• You can download the latest release and install it from there:

  make install
  

• You can also clone the entire repository and run it locally from there:

  git clone https://github.com/create-dmg/create-dmg.git
  

Usage

create-dmg [options ...] <output_name.dmg> <source_folder>

All contents of source_folder will be copied into the disk image.

Options:

• --volname <name>: set volume name (displayed in the Finder sidebar and window title)
• --volicon <icon.icns>: set volume icon
• --background <pic.png>: set folder background image (provide png, gif, jpg)
• --window-pos <x> <y>: set position the folder window
• --window-size <width> <height>: set size of the folder window
• --text-size <text_size>: set window text size (10-16)
• --icon-size <icon_size>: set window icons size (up to 128)
• --icon <file_name> <x> <y>: set position of the file's icon
• --hide-extension <file_name>: hide the extension of file
• --app-drop-link <x> <y>: make a drop link to Applications, at location x, y
• --app-drop-link-name <name>: set the non-empty name of the Applications drop link (default is "Applications")
• --ql-drop-link <x> <y>: make a drop link to /Library/QuickLook, at location x, y
• --eula <eula_file>: attach a license file to the dmg
• --rez <rez_path>: specify custom path to Rez tool used to include license file
• --no-internet-enable: disable automatic mount&copy
• --format: specify the final image format (UDZO|UDBZ|ULFO|ULMO) (default is UDZO)
• --filesystem: specify the image filesystem (HFS+|APFS) (default is HFS+, APFS supports macOS 10.13 or newer)
• --encrypt: enable encryption for the resulting disk image (AES-256 - you will be prompted for password)
• --encrypt-aes128: enable encryption for the resulting disk image (AES-128 - you will be prompted for password)
• --add-file <target_name> <file|folder> <x> <y>: add additional file or folder (can be used multiple times)
• --disk-image-size <x>: set the disk image size manually to x MB
• --hdiutil-verbose: execute hdiutil in verbose mode
• --hdiutil-quiet: execute hdiutil in quiet mode
• --hdiutil-retries <x>: specify the number of retries for the "Resource busy" error from "hdiutil create" and "hdiutil detach" (default is 5)
• --bless: bless the mount folder (deprecated, needs macOS 12.2.1 or older, #127)
• --codesign <signature>: codesign the disk image with the specified signature
• --notarize <credentials>: notarize the disk image (waits and staples) with the keychain stored credentials For more information check Apple's documentation
• --skip-jenkins: skip Finder-prettifying AppleScript, useful in Sandbox and non-GUI environments, #72
• --applescript-sleep-duration <x>: specify the sleep duration before executing AppleScript to workaround occasional "Can’t get disk" (-1728) issues (default is 5)
• --sandbox-safe: hdiutil with sandbox compatibility, do not bless and do not execute the cosmetic AppleScript (not supported for APFS disk images)
• --skip-finalize: skip creating the final read-only disk image, and leave a writable one
• --overwrite: overwrite the output file if it already exists
• --version: show tool version number
• -h, --help: display the help

Encryption

hdiutil supports native disk image encryption using AES-256 (slower but stronger) or AES-128 (faster but weaker). Enabling disk image encryption via create-dmg will require the entry of the password during the middle (compression phase) of the process. Take care to enter the password correctly, because hdiutil will not prompt a second time to confirm the password.

Example

#!/bin/sh
test -f Application-Installer.dmg && rm Application-Installer.dmg
create-dmg \
  --volname "Application Installer" \
  --volicon "application_icon.icns" \
  --background "installer_background.png" \
  --window-pos 200 120 \
  --window-size 800 400 \
  --icon-size 100 \
  --icon "Application.app" 200 190 \
  --hide-extension "Application.app" \
  --app-drop-link 600 185 \
  "Application-Installer.dmg" \
  "source_folder/"

See the examples folder in the source tree for more examples.

Requirements

Nothing except a standard installation of macOS/OS X is required.

We think this works in OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and later.

We'd like to keep it working in as many versions as possible, but unfortunately, we just don't have test boxes running old versions of OS X adequate to make this happen. Development and testing mostly happens in the last 3-5 years' worth of macOS releases; as of 2026, this means macOS 13 and later.

But if you find a bug in an older version, go ahead and report it! We'll try to work with you to get it fixed.

If you're running OS X 10.5 or earlier, you're SOL. That's just too hard to deal with in 2026. ;)

On OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard, due to Finder's unknown bug, concurrent runs of this script may race on the same volume name, so it's not recommended to do so.

Alternatives

• node-appdmg
• dmgbuild
• see the StackOverflow question