If your Mac suddenly refuses to boot up properly, you might need bootable macOS install USB to make repairs. But how do you create such a disk if all you're left with is a Windows 10 computer? Fortunately, there's a great tool that you can use for free to create bootable macOS media on a USB drive in a Windows 10 environment. This article shows you how to download a macOS DMG file, format a USB drive using a GUID Partition Table, burn the DMG to the drive and boot your Mac from the USB. All the steps except the last one are done on a Windows 10 machine.
- How To Format Usb To Gpt In Windows For Mac Bootable Usb Windows 7
- How To Format Usb To Gpt In Windows For Mac Bootable Usb Drive Windows 10
Fortunately, there's a great tool that you can use for free to create bootable macOS media on a USB drive in a Windows 10 environment. This article shows you how to download a macOS DMG file, format a USB drive using a GUID Partition Table, burn the DMG to the drive and boot your Mac from the USB. Now Select the USB, Right Click on it and select Format. Now Select the File system and Done! Now the next part Convert Bootable USB to Normal in Mac. By using Disk Utility program, you can easily format or restore your USB drive to the original state in MacOS. Just you have to follow some steps 1. Open Disk Utility program. After connecting the USB drive to your Mac system, open Terminal. Key in “diskutil list” and press “Enter” key to see the list of connected drives and findyour USB drive’s name. Run the command “diskutil eraseDisk MS-DOS “WINDOWS10” GPT@”. Download the.iso file on your Mac system.
Dec 05, 2019 Right Click on your USB drive option in TransMac and select Format Disk for Mac After that, right-click the USB Drive and select Restore with Disk Image Point to your Mac OS.dmg or.iso file by clicking the add button. After that TransMac will create bootable Mac OS USB within few minutes.
Part 1: Download macOS or Mac OS X DMG File
Quick note: You want to do this before creating the bootable media because there is a good chance that the drive was formatted using a Windows device. If this is the case, the chances are that it’s using an MBR partition, and the USB drive needs a GPT partition to work on a Mac. Step #3: Click on the Burn to USB Flash Drive option, then select your USB drive from the list. Choose the GPT from the partition style. This allows you to partition your USB drive with a GUID Partition Table. Step #4: Next click on Burn. The program will begin creating a UEFI/GPT-based Windows 8 installation USB drive.
The first step is to get the DMG disk image file for the version of macOS that you want. You can get a copy of the latest macOS version from Apple download portal or App Store here. There are also several other direct download sites that offer various versions of Mac OS X in DMG format rather than the standard APP format that runs on Mac. Since you're working in a Windows environment, you need the DMG rather than the APP file.
Part 2: Format USB Drive to GPT
Mostly, the USB drive was formmated to FAT32 in default when being shipped out from the factory. However, FAT32 can be only used for installing OS with legacy BISO, which doesn't work for macOS. So the next step is to format your USB drive in the GPT partition style in order to burn installation files to the desired USB drive. You can do this in Command Prompt as admin. In elevated Command Prompt (Ctrl+Shift+Enter), input the following series of commands followed by Enter after each line:
Diskpart
List disk
Select Disk X (X stands for the USB drive name that appears after the previous command)
Clean
Convert GPT
Create partition primary
Diskpart
List disk
Select Disk X (X stands for the USB drive name that appears after the previous command)
Clean
Convert GPT
Create partition primary
Part 3: Create Bootable macOS USB from Windows 10
You have now formatted the partition of USB drive. It's time to download UUByte DMG Editor for Windows. Although this is a premium software, you can use the initial free trial period to create a bootable macOS USB drive on Windows 10. After installing the application, follow the sequence of steps shown below:
Step 1: Right-click the software icon on desktop and select 'Run as Administrator' from the contextual menu. Choose 'Run' when prompted.
Step 2: Insert your formatted USB drive, and click 'Burn' ta on the main screen.
Step 3: Click 'Browse' button to import macOS dmg file into the program. And select the USB drive name from the second row. You can also set a volume labe for that USB drive.
Step 4: Click 'Burn' button at the bottom to start the process. You will see a progress bar and wait around 10 minutes to get it done.
Step 5: Once the progress bar is at 100%, a bootable macOS USB is ready. After that, you can use that USB drive for installing macOS.
This is one of the easiest way to create a bootable macOS USB on a Windows PC. The steps are simple and instructions are pretty clear.
Part 4: Boot macOS Install USB on Mac
Now remove the USB drive and insert it into the Mac computer. To boot from the disk, you need to hold down the option key when you hear the boot chime. This will take you to the Startup Disk Manager, where you should be able to see the USB drive. It might have a different name, but as long as it is bootable, you'll be able to see it there. Once you select it, the computer will boot from the disk and the macOS installation will begin.
Conclusion:
The whole process might look a bit complicated if this is your first time, but just follow the instructions in this article and you should be fine. That being said, you need to be careful when downloading the DMG file and formatting your USB drive. If you don't do these two steps correctly, the output drive from the UUByte DMG Editor software won't be bootable, which means you can't install macOS using it, and you may need to do the whole thing over again.
Jun 08, 2020 • Filed to: Solve Mac Problems • Proven solutions
A Universal Serial Bus or USB drive, also known as a flash drive is a portable data storage device that includes a memory which includes a USB interface. It is typically removable and much smaller than an optical disc. Any sort of data can be stored in this device. The drives are available in various sizes and as of till date, the 2TB(Tera-Byte) flash drives in terms of storage capacity are the largest ones available in the market.
How To Format Usb To Gpt In Windows For Mac Bootable Usb Windows 7
Today, these drives are one of the most consumed used devices in the world. Thanks to their portable nature, affordability, and compatibility, USB drives are being used to send and receive endless information across a surplus of networks and platforms all around the globe. This small tool has opened the world to a stream of limitless options with respect to storing, transferring, copying data, and much more. One of them includes Booting the Mac from such device.
Part 1. Reasons for Mac Boot from USB:
Booting the Mac from USB in a way gives the power back to the user. The likeliest of the reason for choosing the boot from USB method is that your Mac won’t start which denies the user access to the computer. Using from an external source like the USB drive helps the user get around the problem. It provides the user access to contents of the internal drive, assuming the data is safe and not corrupted. It also helps to repair the Mac disk with Disk Utility and other tools. Here are the top reasons why the user should choose to Boot Mac from USB:
- Allows the user to install a different version of MacOS.
- It allows the user to test a new version before you make the decision to upgrade.
- Allows risk-free testing of the Beta version.
- Faster and efficient.
- By installing older versions through USB, it permits certain Apps to run which are not compatible with the latest MacOS.
Part 2. Preparations for Booting Mac from USB:
To ensure a risk-free procedure certain measure should be taken:
- The user should buy a name-brand flash drive.
- The USB should contain 16-32GB of free space.
- The user should scan the flash drive with some reputable Anti-Virus software.
- The user should check to see what size of ports they have on the Mac. A 12’ Mac only contains a single C-Type port.
- Make sure to purchase the C port flash drive to avoid any inconvenience.
- It is adviced that the user should go with a USB 3.0 supported drive, with a size of 16GB to ensure a swift transfer of data.
- The USB drive should be formatted with a supported GUID partition.
- It should contain an OS X installer or a usable operating system to work with.
Part 3. How to Create Bootable USB on Mac:
There are a few general guidelines that can help get your machine started which are mentioned above, regardless of the OS the user prefers.
Here are the methods to create a bootable USB drive on Mac.
- Creating a Bootable USB Using Terminal.
- Create a Bootable drive with the help a third party compression software, which is available for free.
Creating a Bootable USB Using Terminal:
Terminal is the default gateway to the command line on a Mac. It is just like the Command Prompt feature works for MS Windows. The Terminal feature ensures a hassle-free experience for the Mac user without the conventional pointing and clicking, the user just has to type the commands and the computer does the rest. The user can find Terminal in the Applications>Utilities folder or it can be checked in the finder utility.
Using the Terminal feature is the most simple way to create the bootable USB drive. The user just needs to follow one easy step which is renaming the MyVolume portion of the command with the name of the drive. The name of the drive can be changed using the Disk Utility of Mac.
Mac Os Create Bootable Usb Drive From Iso
Edirol um-1 driver mac os x 10.10. Here are the steps required after opening the Terminal feature to create a bootable USB drive.
- Copy and paste the command which is suited for the version of the operating system into the Terminal window.
- The command for MacOS Mojave is as follows:
-
sudo /Applications/InstallmacOSMojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia --volume/Volumes/MyVolume
- Press the Return key.
- Enter the password.
- Confirm to erase the USB drive by typing Y followed by the Return key.
- Terminal will erase all the data inside the drive and create the bootable USB drive.
If there is a need to install a different version of the operating system then the user just has to replace the above-underlined command with their desired version of OS. For example, if the user wants to install Mac OS Sierra instead of Mojave then they would have to replace “Mojave.app” with “Sierra.app” inside the command line.
Part 4. How to Boot Mac from USB Media:
Create Macos Bootable Usb Drive
After creating a bootable USB drive, the user simply needs to plug the created drive into the open port on the Mac. Here are the steps to boot Mac from the USB flash drive:
Make A Bootable Usb Mac Os
- Power on the system.
- Press and hold the Option (Alt) key on the keyboard when the computer starts.
- Select the USB drive as a startup disk when the option appears.
- The system will start the boot process off the USB drive.
- Install the operating system from the MacOS utilities.
- Data can be restored by using the Time-Machine backup option.
Part 5. How to Recover Data from Unbootable Mac:
The Mac becomes unbootable when the BIOS which is a firmware that is used to perform hardware initialization during the booting process fails to recognize the startup process. It usually happens when there is a failed system update, system crash, damaged MBR, or when the drive becomes corrupt.
Create Mac Os X Bootable Usb Drive
Recoverit Mac Data Recovery tool is the most efficient option to recover all the lost data when Mac becomes unbootable. Developed by Wondershare, Recoverit is one of the most preferred recovery tools in the world. The tool provides an instant preview of what is recovered after a detailed scan. It allows to connect almost every type of portable device and recover data from them. Data can be restored by performing the recovery and repair process. The process involves the installation of the Recoverit software that offers users the chance to get back the important data that they had lost.
First of all, the user is required to download the Recoverit software on Mac system from the official website. Here are the following step required to recover data from an unbootable computer:
- Installation: Please Install Recoverit by clicking on the icon.
- Select the folder: Select the “Recover from Crash Computer” option.
- Initiate Recovery Process: Click on “Start” for the recovery process to launch.
- Create Bootable Drive: Select the “Create USB bootable drive” option and click on “Create”.
- A pop up will appear that will prompt the user to format the USB drive.
- Format the Drive: Click on “Format” Now.
- The process will start that will create a bootable flash drive.
- Recover Data: After the boot is completed, click on the ”View Guide” option to recover data.
- Start Recoverit: Launch the Recoverit software again.
- Recover Data: Scan the drives for lost data.
All hope gets lost when the computer becomes unbootable and the data gets deleted. Recoverit recovery software is the most convenient program when it comes to retrieving lost data from the computer.
How To Create A Mac Os Bootable Usb Drive
Conclusion:
Installing the MacOS from a USB flash drive gives the user an instant solution when the Mac installer due to some reason refused to work. The method to create a bootable drive is easier than it sounds. Now, you know what to do whenever you want to upgrade your MacOS from a bootable external source by following different methods to ensure a safe and hassle-free process. If you lose valuable data when the Mac becomes unbootable then you can easily recover the lost files by using the Recoverit recovery software. Recoverit guarantees data recovery in no time.
Mac Os Bootable Flash Drive
Video Tutorial on How to Boot Mac into Recovery Mode
Make A Macos Bootable Usb Drive In Windows
What's Wrong with Mac
- Recover Your Mac
- Fix Your Mac
- Delete Your Mac
- Learn Mac Hacks
Since Microsoft introduced Windows 11 in June this year, a lot of folks, especially software developers and tech fans are eager to see how Windows 11 works! Recently, we finally got the leaked version of Windows 11 and able to install it on a PC by creating a Windows 11 bootable USB.
In this article, we will share all the steps how to create a Windows 11 bootable USB on Mac, which is much more challenging than doing the same task this task on a Windows machine. You can check our previous post for making a Windows 11 bootable installer on PC.
![Mac Mac](https://www.switchingtomac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/06-Format-USB.png)
Before proceeding to the details, please make sure you already have a Windows 11 ISO image. If not, please download Windows 11 ISO file by following the suggestions in another article written by our senior editor.
In addition, please prepare for USB drive. USB 3.0 or about is preferred as it will be much faster for file copying.
Now, it is time to see how to create a Windows 11 bootable USB on Mac with different tools.
Create Windows 11 Bootable on Mac in Terminal
The first method we will be talking about is Terminal app, a command line based utility for performing tasks with text commands. Almost all the activities being done under graphics user interface can be achieve in Terminal app. We will be going to use Terminal to create a Windows 11 bootable USB on Mac.
Step 1: Insert a USB drive on Mac and eject other USB devices at this time to avoid confusion.
Step 2: Input the following command to get the physical drive name of target USB drive.
diskutil list external
In our example, the physical volume name of USB is
disk3
.
Step 3: Format the USB drive to
MS-DOS
with MBR
boot scheme, which is mandatory to hold Windows OS files. WIN11
is the volume name of USB drive and disk3
is the physical USB drive we got from previous step.
diskutil eraseDisk MS-DOS 'WIN11' MBR disk3
Step 4: After that, mount the Windows 11 ISO on Mac, assuming it is saved in
Downloads
folder. You will also see the mounted volume name at left sidebar of Finder.
How To Format Usb To Gpt In Windows For Mac Bootable Usb Drive Windows 10
hdiutil mount ~/Downloads/Windows_11.iso
Step 5: At this stage, we need to get the mounted volume name for USB drive and Windows 11 ISO with
ls
command. CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN_US_DV9
is the volume name of Windows 11 ISO and WIN11
is the volume name of USB drive.
ls /Volumes
Step 6: Finally, copy all files and folders from mounted Windows 11 volume to USB drive.
cp -rp /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN_US_DV9/* /Volumes/WIN11/
When you see a new line of command input in Terminal, it means the file copying is finished.
That's all! This is not difficult task if you are playing commands on Mac from time to time. If not, please consider the following methods instead, which could be much simpler!
Pros:
- 100% free.
- macOS built-in app.
Cons:
- Pure text command interface.
- Not easy to get started.
- More steps and take more time.
- Unable to handle large ISO files.
- More risky than Boot Camp and ISO Editor.
Make Windows 11 Bootable on Mac via Boot Camp Assistant
Boot Camp Assistant, Boot Camp for short, is another system app that comes with macOS. The main usage is to create a Windows dual boot on Mac. Besides that, it is also capable of creating Windows bootable USB.
[Updates]: Creating Windows bootable USB feature is no longer available from Boot Camp app since macOS Big Sur. You have to remove all attached external USB devices before using Boot Camp app as the screenshot shows. However, you can still install Windows on Mac with Boot Camp.
The following tutorial is completed on a Intel Mac that is running macOS Catalina.
Step 1: Open Boot Camp Assistant app from Launchpad and click Continue button to process. It will remove old time machine backups and cached iCloud files to make more room for further task.
Step 2: Wait about one minute. From Select Tasks Window, please check
Create a Windows 10 or later install disk
and click Continue
to proceed.
Step 3: Click
Choose...
button to load Windows 11 ISO into Boot Camp and select the USB drive name.
Step 4: Finally, click
Continue
button to erase the USB disk and start copying Windows files to USB. At the end of burning process, Boot Camp will download Windows Support Software. This will be a greta help if you are trying to run Windows 11 on Mac.
Pros:
- Free app.
- No additional software or library install.
- Able to create Windows dual boot on Mac.
- Simple to use.
Cons:
- Bootable USB feature not available on Big Sur and later release.
- Slow file copying.
- Spend more time before finishing.
- Not working on M1 Mac.
Create Windows 11 Bootable on Mac with ISO Editor
ISO Editor is a cross-platform utility for creating bootable USB from Windows ISO. Unlike Terminal or Boot Camp app, this professional app does not have limitations and super user friendly that comes with a modern UI. Currently, it can be working on macOS Monterey, Big Sur, Catalina, Mojave, High Sierra and Sierra. What's more, it also adds support for Apple Silicon Mac (M1 Chip).
Besides the ISO burning feature, UUByte ISO Editor can be also used for editing ISO, creating new ISO and extracting content from ISO image.
Step 1: Download Mac version of UUByte ISO Editor
Download latest version of ISO Editor from UUByte official website, which keeps the most up-to-date version.
Step 2: Connect USB Drive to Mac
Plug a USB flash drive into Mac and back up the data. Also remove other unnecessary USB devices from this Mac.
Step 3: Open ISO Editor App
Double click the downloaded dmg file and drag the icon into Application folder you can open this app from Launchpad. Then, click Burn icon to next step.
Step 4: Import Windows 10 ISO
Import Windows 11 ISO into the program and choose the USB drive from drop-down menu.
Step 5: Create Windows 11 Bootable USB from ISO
Leave other settings in default value and click Start button to format USB drive and burn Windows 11 ISO to USB drive. This will be done in less than 5 minutes.
Pros:
- GUI-based app and easy to get started.
- Super fast file copying speed and save time.
- Compatible with all modern macOS, including Monterey and Big Sur.
- Work nicely on both Intel Mac and Apple Silicon Mac.
- Support large Windows 10 ISO file (install.wim > 4GB).
- Extract content from ISO image.
- Edit and repack bootable ISO files.
Cons:
- Not totally free.
- Not support Linux ISO.
![How to format usb to gpt in windows for mac bootable usb windows 10 How to format usb to gpt in windows for mac bootable usb windows 10](https://www.techrepublic.com/a/hub/i/r/2015/07/03/84bf3a17-7a0a-4fdb-9e8a-3be2e21c86eb/resize/1200x/af004cb001474e8351751a510edb0f48/0096how-to-create-a-bootable-usb-drive-to-install-windows-on-os-xhero.jpg)
Other Apps You Can Try Out
I am pretty confident to say you can successfully make a Windows 11 bootable USB with one of the apps suggested above in most of the cases. However, if you had a bad luck, please don’t be frustrated as there are more apps you can test it out.
SysGeeker WonderISO: This is another GUI based application being used for creating Windows bootable USB. The steps are quite straightforward and no hassle at all. The only drawback is that it is a premium app. This means you have to pay a few bucks for a commercial license.
UNetBootin: It is a famous free tool for making bootable USB from all kinds of ISO files. You can use this free utility on Mac, Windows and Linux computers. However, the user interface is bit weird and you need to spend sometime to figure out how it works.
Virtual Machine Software: There are tons of free software available on Windows when it comes to create bootable USB, such as Media Creation Tool, Rufus or Etcher. This is a great alternative solution if you have a Windows virtual machine set up on your Mac. If not, then it is easy to create one with virtual machine apps, such as Virtual Box, Parallels Desktop.
No matter which method you are going to use , you will see Windows 11 setup screen upon success when booting the computer from USB. You can now follow the instructions to get Windows 11 installed on that computer.
Our Takeaways
The above are the three popular ways to create Windows 11 bootable USB on a Mac. For advanced users, Terminal seems to be a nice suggestion as it is totally free. Boot Camp is a nice consideration when you are using a Mac running an old version of macOS. If the task could be completed with Terminal or Boot Camp app, then UUByte ISO Editor is your best option now!
Common Issues and Bug Fix
Q: USB Drive Not Seen by Mac
Mac can only recognize external drives formatted by FAT, HFS, APFS and exFAT. Other drives, for example, NTFS drive, which is mostly used on Windows PC, is not supported by Mac. You have to format this USB to FAT with Disk Utility app to make it working on Mac.
Q: USB Not Bootable After Burning
This error mostly comes with Terminal app. In this case, you should change the disk formatting command from MBR to GPT. On modern computers with UEFI booting, GPT should be the default partition scheme.
Q: Boot Camp Not Enough Space Error
You will see a warning message (The starup disk does not have enough space to be partitioned) when opening Boot Camp Assistant app. This happens when the free space on your Mac is less than 42 GB. Please click OK button to ignore this error. This has nothing to do with the future steps for creating bootable USB.