How To Make A Bootable Drive For A Mac On A Windows

If you want to create a bootable USB drive on a Mac, you'll need to have an ISO file (or an image file, if you're backing up your computer's hard drive) ready to drag and drop into Terminal. This is different than how Windows handles bootable flash drives, since you can make a flash drive bootable and then save it for later when using Windows.

If you want to create a Windows 10/8/7 bootable USB on Mac and don't know how to do it, then this article can help you a lot. Creating bootable Windows 10/8/7 USB on Mac with or without Bootcamp can be done by anyone. It's not just about creating a bootable Windows USB, it's about efficiently learning the process and executing it properly so that you don't face any problems while doing it.

Part 1. How to Create A Bootable Windows 10/8/7 USB on Mac with Bootcamp

Creating a bootable Windows 10/8/7 USB with Bootcamp is really easy. All you need to do is follow the right process and your job will be done. Here is how you can do it:

Step 1. Insert an 8GB USB Flash drive into your Mac.

Step 2. Now run Bootcamp Assistant, select the box for 'Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk' and uncheck 'Install Windows 7 or later version.' Click Continue to go for the next step.

Step 3. Download a Windows 10/8/7 .iso file and keep it in the Downloads folder.

Step 4. Bootcamp will automatically locate the .iso file in your Downloads folder. Also you can make sure by using the 'Choose' button and locating the file.

Step 5. Now click continue and it can take some time to format and set up the USB installer on the Mac.

Step 6. When the process is complete, the USB drive will be renamed to 'WININSTALL'. Now click 'Quit' to exit the app and then 'Eject' the USB drive from your Mac.

You may also like: How to Free Download Boot Camp and Install Windows 10 on Your Mac

Part 2. How to Create A Bootable Windows 10/8/7 USB on Mac without Bootcamp

This process is a complicated one so it's highly recommended that you follow each and every instruction properly. Here is a clear and precise instruction on how to create a bootable Windows 10/8/7 USB on Mac without Bootcamp:

Step 1. Download a Windows .iso file.

Step 2. Connect your USB flash drive into your Mac and you must make sure that it has 8 GB space in it.

Step 3. Format the USB flash drive to FAT32 by using 'Disk Utility' feature. Ensure you select FAT32 and Master Boot Record in the options:

Step 4. Open Terminal and run command: diskutil list.

Step 5. Now from the output, find out the name of the USB drive. It should be something like – /dev/diskX. X is the number of the drive.

Step 6. Then type command: diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2
It will print something like this: Unmount of all volumes on disk2 was successful.Then type: sudo dd if=/path/to/win-iso-file of=/dev/disk2 bs=1m

This will also ask for your Mac password. Type it in and click on return.

Step 7. The process will start but there will be no output for a while. It might take quite some time so you need to be patient. Once it's complete, it will output records in/out and bytes transferred.

Step 8. Type: diskutil eject /dev/disk2

Now, re-plug the USB drive and check its contents. It will have files and folders but especially a setup.exe and an autorun.inf file. The process is fully complete.

Part 3. How to Create A Bootable Windows 10/8/7 USB on Mac with PassFab 4WinKey

It's not an easy way to create a bootable disk without professional tool, right? No worries! There is a highly recommended thing that will be a very useful tool for you, It's PassFab 4WinKey. It enables you to create bootable disk on Mac and reset/remove passwords for Windows within 5 minutes, and you don't need to enter the complicated code or search for a specific folder. Keep reading to know more.

Step 1. Download, install and run 4WinKey for Mac to an accessible Mac machine.

Step 2. Insert a USB to the Mac and choose the option to burn from USB flash drvive.

Step 3. Wait for a moment, this Windows password recovery tool for Mac will pop up a window to alert it successful.

Video Tutorial about How to Create Bootable Windows USB on Mac

Final Verdict

It doesn't matter if you want to know how to create Windows bootable USB on Mac with/without Bootcamp, you will get the solution in this article. All you need to do is follow the full process carefully so that you don't make any mistake. So it's definitely going to be useful to a tech geek like you! By the way, if you are interested in create Windows 10 bootable USB on Windows computer, just check out this post.

Here is a guide on how to create a bootable external Mac hard drive to run macOS from an external hard drive.

There are quite a few reasons for why you may want to be able to have an additional startup drive for your Mac. One of the main reasons is backup of your current system. Another is creating a drive for testing your Mac’s hardware. No matter the reason, having an additional bootable option on an external hard drive is definitely a good tool for any Mac user to have.

How to Make a Bootable External Mac Hard Drive

Here are the steps to create a bootable external volume to start up to on your Mac.

How to Create a Second Boot Volume

In order to create another boot volume for your Mac, you will need a form of external storage such as a hard drive. The faster the drive the better and a connection speed like Thunderbolt is preferred. You are going to be utilizing this hard drive, Disk Utility and MaOS installer from the App Store.

If you are running the newest version of Sierra, you will be able to use the Recovery Boot option to launch your installation of MacOS to install it on your external drive. In order to boot to Recovery, restart holding Command and R. You will then choose Reinstall a new copy of MacOS to begin the next step.

If your secondary hard drive was just purchased, you may need to open Disk Utility prior to starting your installation. You will want to ensure that your hard drive is in the proper partition scheme and is available to install to. Many drives purchased from third party retailers may come unformatted or formatted to Windows based schemes like NTFS and FAT32. In Disk Utility you will want to make sure it is set to Mac OS Extended (Journaled).

Try a driver checking tool such as DriverIdentifier Software. As there are many drivers having the same name, we suggest you to try the Driver Tool, otherwise you can try one by on the list of available driver below. Please scroll down to find a latest utilities and drivers for your 2250 PRAM USB Device driver. If your USB device encounters hardware failure, you can check the broken component and replace it with a new one or turn to professional recovery companies to recover data from it. However, one time, it seemed to ush formatted the USB portable for a second or so. PC Pitstop - PC Performance Roots. PC Pitstop began in 1999 with an emphasis on computer diagnostics and maintenance. During the early days of the dot com boom, our online PC maintenance tools were skyrocketing. Driver Information Keep your 2250 PRAM USB Device driver upto date to maximize its performance, fixing any error related to driver. 2250 PRAM USB Device is a windows driver. It's released by Microsoft Type: DiskDrive. Try a driver checking tool such as DriverIdentifier Software. As there are many drivers having the same name, we suggest you to try the Driver Tool, otherwise you can try one by on the list of available driver below. Please scroll down to find a latest utilities and drivers for your 2260 PRAM USB Device driver. Driver 2250 pram usb device.

Upon starting the Install feature of Recovery, you will be presented with the option of choosing which Disk the installer is going to do its work on. You should see your current Macintosh HD and also your external hard drive. Choosing this as your install target should begin the installation process and install MacOS Sierra on your external hard drive. When the machine reboots, it will be booting to your external hard drive where you can set up an account and get to your desktop.

How to Use Your Bootable Mac Disk

Now that you have created a second bootable drive, you are able to plug it in and reboot to it at any point in time. When you wish to do this, plug in the drive and reboot your Mac holding the Option key. Much like you did when installing, you will see your Macintosh HD and your now bootable External Drive show up as options. Clicking the External will start your Mac up on this new volume.

If you have completed the setup process and have an account enabled, the Mac will perform almost identically to how it would using the built-in drive. You are able to install applications on this drive and store media and information as backup or just additional copies. Many users will actually utilize a second hard drive option strictly for work related activities and then use the built-in drive for personal use.

This method is a safe way to keep a second bootable machine safely on a hard drive in the event of your internal hard drive crashing. You will also be able to test if it is indeed an issue with your hard drive by attempting to boot to your second drive and see if you can reproduce your issue.

Having a secondary boot volume has always been a personal recommendation as it comes in handy when you need a secondary place to separate data or use as a recovery tool in the event of mishaps.

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