Why we should make a bootable USB from ISO on Mac?Having a bootable Windows USB makes it very easy to install or conduct repairs on Windows based computers. It gives you a portable installation drive that you can carry with you wherever you go, and all you need is a USB flash drive with adequate storage, and the appropriate Windows ISO file. The benefits of creating such a bootable USB are obvious: convenience, speed and portability. As such, this is an essential tool for IT administrators working in a Windows environment. Whenever a user has an installation or repair-related problem, it will be immensely useful.
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Basically, Boot Camp is just a minimal prototype product. The bootable USB created by Bootcamp can be only used on Mac computer for dual boot. The USB not being recognized on Windows 10 computer so it is uselessly if you want to use it on a Windows computer. In addition, the burning process is extremely slow.
- Step 2: Partition USB disk on Windows to make it bootable on Mac. Here we are creating a UBS installer for Mac on Windows. So make sure that we keep the partition of the USB disk to have an appropriate scheme. Converting the USB disk to have a GUID partition table (GTP) is recommended for this method work effectively.
- For un-known reason, Apple removed the feature from the two apps and no longer valid to make bootable Windows installation USB. However, you can use the Teminal app to perform command line task so you can create Windows bootable USB without Bootcamp or Disk Uitility. Step 1: Insert an USB flash drive and open Disk Utility app from Launchpad. You will see the drive name of USB on left sidebar.
So, how do you create a bootable Windows 10 USB on Mac? That's the tricky question because you have to choose the most convenient way for the job. There are tons of ISO burning utilities available on the Internet, but not all of them have high burn success rates for bootable ISO files.
The three methods described below are all popular ways to do this on a Mac, but they differ in that they require various levels of technical expertise. Only one of these methods can be executed by novice users. Let's take a look at all three, and make sure you have a USB drive with enough space to hold a Windows disk image for the particular version you require. You will also need to download the appropriate Windows ISO file, which you can get from Microsoft's site.
Part 1: Create Windows 10 Bootable USB on Mac via Terminal (Without Bootcamp)
Before macOS High Serria rolled into public eyes, there are two simple apps available on Mac for creating bootable Windows USB. They are Bootcamp and Disk Utility. For un-known reason, Apple removed the feature from the two apps and no longer valid to make bootable Windows installation USB. However, you can use the Teminal app to perform command line task so you can create Windows bootable USB without Bootcamp or Disk Uitility.
Step 1: Insert an USB flash drive and open Disk Utility app from Launchpad. You will see the drive name of USB on left sidebar.
Step 2 : Right-click the drive name and choose 'Erase' from the drop-down menu. At there, you have to choose a partition format. For Windows installation disk, MS-DOS (FAT32) is preferred. Now, the disk will be erased and formatted with FAT32.
Step 3 : Now open Terminal app and type 'diskutil list'. This will list all the storage devices on Mac, such as /dev/disk2 (with names and patition scheme).
Step 4 : Now open Terminal app and type 'diskutil list'. This will list all the storage devices on Mac, at my computer is the USB drive is shown as /dev/disk2 (with name and patition scheme).
Step 4 : Run 'diskutil unmount Disk /dev/disk2' and hit Enter. Then input 'sudo dd if=/path/to/windows.iso of=/dev/disk2 bs=1m' . Replace the real path to Windows iso file. This command will write the ISO image to USB with bootable option.
Teminal is a great to make a bootable Windows 10 USB on Mac but it is also riksy enough! If you typed the wrong command, all the data on the selected drive would be erased and all data being vanished in seconds. So it is not ideal solution for beginners who don't know much technical staff.
Part 2: Create Bootable Windows 10/8/7 USB from ISO on Mac via UUByte
Create Mac Install Usb From Windows
People are more willing to use tools that fix the certain issue at minimal effort. That's why we recommend UUByte ISO Editor at this section. It is a market-leading application for burning ISO files and creating bootable media. Its flexibility allows you to choose your storage medium and change burn settings in an easy manner. The utility is fully tested on the world's top PC brands running all the recent versions of Windows. It is compatible with multiple file systems as well as both legacy BIOS and UEFI boot schemes.
Best applications for mac. The most important features are the high burn success rate and the simple UI that allows even novice users to quickly burn bootable ISO files to a disk or USB flash drive. These features have made UUByte ISO Editor extremely popular among both Windows and Mac users around the world. In a matter of a few steps, anyone can create a bootable USB drive for Windows 10/8/7. The process has been described in detail below:
Key Features of ISO Editor
- Make bootable disk from USB or CD/DVD.
- Able to edit Windows ISO file before burning.
- Support legacy and UEFI booting.
- Create ISO image from local folders or files.
- Work well on Windows 10/8/7 and macOS.
Step 1: Download UUByte ISO Editor on a Mac Computer
Download and install UUByte ISO Editor on a Mac computer. You need to input the user password before opening the program to authorize the permission. After that, you will see a clean user interface like this.
Step 2: Plug USB Flash Drive into Mac
When you launch the software, you will see multiple options on the home page. Click on 'Burn' to create the bootable disk.
Step 3: Import Windows ISO File and Start Burning it to USB on Mac
In the next window, select the bootable ISO file in the top section, and then the appropriate storage medium. Now click on 'Burn' after choosing the USB option.The bootable drive will be created in a few moments, and you can use it for Windows installations and other purposes. There's no confusion with advanced settings, no command line work and no other tools required to complete the process. The formatting is done by the software itself, so the user doesn't have to worry about lengthy and complex actions.
Creating bootable Windows USB on Mac is not that simple as you could image. You won't want to wait for an hour and found out the USB was useless becasue it couldn't boot Windows from it, right? That's why UUByte ISO Editor comes into help!
Part 3: Use CMD to Make Bootable Windows USB Drive from ISO
The Command Prompt is an extremely useful utility in Windows, but you have to know what you're doing. Command improperly executed can lead you to several issues down the road. Therefore, you need to be confident in doing command line work in order to use this method. You can certainly try it if you are a novice, but that may not be the recommended course of action. In Windows 10, it's very easy to create a bootable USB from an ISO file or disk image, but you need to format the USB drive first. The process is described as Step 0 below, but remember to remove the single quotes when entering commands:
Step 1 : Open the Command Prompt by pressing Windows + R and then typing ‘cmd' and Enter in the run box.
Step 2 : Now insert the USB drive and type in 'diskpart' , then hit Enter.
Step 3 : Once the disk partition utility is running, you'll see a new window. In this, type 'list disk' and Enter. Select the USB drive from this list; it will usually be Disk 1, so now input 'select disk 1' and hit Enter.
Step 4 : In the next step, input 'clean' and again press Enter. After you see the success message 'Diskpart succeeded in cleaning the disk'. Then you can type 'create partition primary' and again press Enter.
Step 5 : Next, type 'select partition 1' and press Enter, then type 'active' and Enter, and finally, 'format fs=ntfs quick' and Enter. The chosen partition is now formatted as the NTFS file system. Now type 'exit' and hit Enter again.
Step 6 : Assuming your ISO file is on your hard drive labeled D: Now input the following command, followed by Enter after each line:
d:
cd boot
bootsect /nt60 g: (this assumes that your USB drive has been assigned this letter; otherwise, change it as appropriate)
d:
cd boot
bootsect /nt60 g: (this assumes that your USB drive has been assigned this letter; otherwise, change it as appropriate)
Step 8 : The above command creates a boot sector on your pre-formatted USB flash drive to create bootable media. You can now exit the Command Prompt with 'exit'.
Cons:
- Hard to understand.
- Need to deal with text commands .
- More risk to ruin the computer if you did it wrong.
Part 4: Create Bootable USB Drive from Multiple Windows ISO Files
RMPrepUSB helps you format drives and burn multiple bootable ISO files on a single drive. It's useful for when you need the same drive to contain different versions of Windows. The biggest drawback, however, is that it is built for pre-Windows 10 bootloaders. It works well with Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Interestingly, RMPrepUSB was originally written for the purpose of wiping, partitioning and formatting USB drives, but it has evolved into a much larger software with multiple features.
Step 1: The first step is to download the RMPrepUSB zip file, extract the .exe file and run it to install the software on your Windows PC. Then launch the application and follow the instructions provided below.
Step 2: To format the drive, there are five parameters that you must enter:
Partition size - set as MAX for maximum allowable partition size
Drive name - specify a name for your drive
Bootloader options (select the first option for Windows installations)
File system - for smaller USB drives use FAT16; for larger ones over 16GB, use NTFS.
Partition size - set as MAX for maximum allowable partition size
Drive name - specify a name for your drive
Bootloader options (select the first option for Windows installations)
File system - for smaller USB drives use FAT16; for larger ones over 16GB, use NTFS.
Step 3: Finally, click on 'Prepare Drive' to format it and add the bootable ISO file.
Cons:
- Complex settings and user interface.
- Not supporting Windows 10 ISO .
- Take a lot of time to find the correct user manual.
Conclusion:
RMPrepUSB utility is clearly not for everyone. If you have no experience handling disk images, then we recommend using Method 2 described above. UUByte ISO Editor does not require any sort of technical expertise, and the software comes with superb technical support if you get stuck at any point. With most other bootable media creation software, you'll come across issues like drive not found, file system incompatibility or other problems. Not with UUByte ISO Editor. It's the one software utility that you can trust to create bootable USB drives accurately every time.
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There are a couple of reasons why you would want to create Windows 8.1 bootable USB flash drive on your Mac. Maybe you’ve decided to install Windows 8.1 on Mac without Boot Camp; or maybe your PC is unbootable and you want to prepare a bootable USB using the ISO file that you have on your external hard drive; or you want to easily create bootable Windows 8.1 USB without installing new tools.
If you are using a recent version of Mac OS X, preparing Windows 8.1 USB is fairly simple and can be done without having to install additional software on your Mac. The only thing is that you need to have a Windows 8.1 ISO image file in order to prepare bootable Windows 8.1 USB on your Mac.
Follow the given below instructions to create Windows 8.1 bootable USB on Mac:
Step 1: Connect your USB flash drive to Mac and backup your files as all data will be formatted during the process.
Step 2: Next, transfer Windows 8.1 ISO file to your Mac. If you already have a copy of the ISO file on your Mac, you can safely skip this step. If you don’t have the ISO on Mac, you can follow our how to transfer files between Windows and Mac guide to quickly transfer the ISO file. And if the PC unbootable, you can follow our how to backup data from a unbootable PC (the easy way) guide to copy ISO file to the USB drive first and then copy the same to your Mac.
Mac Create Bootable Usb From Iso
Step 3: Launch Boot Camp Assistant software. To do that, click on Launchpad icon, click Other, and then click Boot Camp Assistant icon to open Boot Camp Assistant software.
Step 4: Once Boot Camp Assistant is launched, click on the Continue button.
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Step 5: Uncheck the option titled Install Windows 7 or later version (we use this option while installing Windows on Mac using Boot Camp), and also uncheck Download the latest Windows support software from Apple option if you’re preparing this bootable Windows 8.1 drive to install Windows 8.1 on a PC.
Make sure that the option titled Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk option is checked before clicking on the Continue button.
NOTE: As mentioned earlier, keep the option Download the latest Windows support software from Apple checked if you’re going to use this bootable USB on your Mac (this Mac) and not on a PC. As the support software is designed specifically for each Mac, it might not function properly if you try to run the downloaded support software on a Mac other than the model that you’re using to prepare the bootable USB.
Create Bootable Usb For Mac On Windows 7
And if you plan to install Windows 8.1 on this Mac, keep that option checked to automatically download all support software on to the USB so that you can easily install all drivers after installing Windows 8.1 on your Mac.
Step 6: In the following screen, click the Choose button to browse to the Windows 8.1 ISO image file. Select the ISO image file and then click Continue button to proceed further.
Create Bootable Usb For Mac On Pc
Click Continue button again when you see “The drive will be erased” warning to begin formatting the drive and then copying Windows files. If you have selected the option Download the latest Windows support software from Apple option, Boot Camp Assistant will also download required drivers from Apple servers. So if you have selected that option, make sure that your Mac is connected to the web.
Step 7: Once Boot Camp Assistant completes its business, you’ll see “The selected drive has been formatted and the Windows installation image has been copied” message. And if you have selected Download support software from Apple option in Step 5, you’ll see “Install this Windows support software after installing Windows” message. Click Quit button. That’s it!
You can now connect it to a PC or your Mac and begin installing Windows 8.1 operating system.