[Top 4 Ways ] to Create Windows 10/8/7 Bootable USB From ISO

Creating a Bootable Window 8 ISO from Mac was quite easy back then where Mac OS X was in the trend. Later, Mac OS Mojave came into the picture, and the in-built Boot Camp Assistant is no longer supported.

Therefore the process to create Windows 10 bootable USB on Mac for pc from ISO became much more complex and tricky. However, irrespective of the process complexity, Since you are reading this guide, you don't have to worry about the complexity of the process to burn ISO to USB windows 10 using Mac.

In this guide, I have listed 4 different ways to create a windows 10 bootable USB from ISO on a Mac device. Besides this, we have briefly explained why you should have a bootable windows 10/8 USB ready with you.

Let's begin with the explanation first.

Part One: Why to Create Windows 10/8/7 Bootable USB on Mac is Tough?

There could be a situation where your Windows system is compromised due to some virus attack or sudden malware attack. Therefore, it's always handy to have an extra bootable USB lying around so that in the future, if anything goes wrong, you have Windows available with you.

But the thing is, creating a windows bootable USB from ISO on mac is quite tough. If you are doing it for the first time, you might end up getting different unknown errors.

Because Mac Computers have a different architecture than Windows Computers. Mac computers have got some discrepancies that make them vulnerable while operating on different files especially, the files that are created for Windows OS in the first place.

Apart from this, an ISO Image file contains fragmented and archive files compressed from an optical disk. In order to burn them to a USB, i.e., creating a bootable USB from ISO, segregation of the image files is required.

Part Two: How to Create Windows 10/8/7 Bootable USB on Mac

Before you jump on the 4 ways to create a windows USB on Mac, Let me tell you that there are some pre-requisites of these methods.

All of them are listed below:

• Windows 10/8 ISO file.
• USB Flash Drive of at least 16 GB Memory

You can either ask a friend for the ISO file or instead, you can directly download the required ISO file from Microsoft's portal.

Now, let's move to the different ways to create windows bootable usb on mac:

Method 1: Create Windows 10/8/7 Bootable USB on Mac Using “Boot Camp Assistant”

Earlier, I have told you the after the release of macOS Mojave and later, Boot Camp Assistant is no longer supported but if you are using an older version of macOS on your Mac device, this method will be ideal for you.

Follow the below-mentioned steps carefully:

• Insert USB Flash Drive.

• 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.

  
• If you have the ISO file in your system, Boot Camp Assistant will automatically detect it, If it doesn't then you can browse it.

• Once the ISO file is located, you need to select the USB Flash Drive.

  
• Once the Destination Drive is selected, click on “Continue”.

• A new process will begin, you have to wait until it terminates successfully.

  
• Once the process is completed, now click "Quit" to exit the app and then "Eject" the USB drive from your Mac.

That's how you are going to create a bootable USB disk using Mac's Boot Camp Assistant. Maybe you also want to know how to create windows 10 bootable usb on mac without bootcamp, Please read on, because the following three methods can help you to create bootable windows usb on mac effectively.

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

Method 2: Create Windows 10/8/7 Bootable USB on Mac Using “PassFab 4Winkey”

If you are looking for a precise tool which can create windows 10 bootable usb on mac for pc without bootcamp, and it will reduce maximum hustle, PassFab 4Winkey is an incredible option for you. Though it's paid, it is worth every penny spent.

Apart from creating Bootable USBs, PassFab 4WinKey has other features like using this tool, you can reset the Windows Admin Password. Overall, it's a great package. Since we are only talking about Bootable USBs in this guide, we will strictly focus on it only. Before we begin with the steps, it is recommended to download and install the tool.

• After installing the software on an accessible computer, launch it and insert a Windows password disc. It can be a CD/DVD or USB.

  

• Click "Next" and wait for a minute until the password disk burned successfully.

  

That's how you create a bootable USB from ISO using PassFab 4Winkey. The ISO image has been automatically downloaded from the tool itself. Therefore you don't have to look around for the Windows ISO file.

Video Tutorial about How to Create Bootable Windows USB on Mac

Method 3: Create Windows 10/8/7 Bootable USB on Mac Using “UNetbootin”

Before jumping on into the process, let me explain to you the UNetBootin tool. It is a free, open-source utility application that enables you to create boot windows USB from Mac in just a few clicks.

Before we begin with steps, you must Download and Install UNetBootin from its official website.

Follow the steps to avoid random/ unwanted errors:

• Insert a USB drive that is empty.

• Navigate to “Disk Utility” on your Mac Device.

  

• In the disk utility dialogue, select the “USB stick” and click on the “info” (i) button on the top right corner of the dialogue.
• Remember the “Device Name”, as you have to use it in the future.

• Launch the “UNetBootin” Application”.

  

• Click on the “DiskImage” option, and select the ISO file.

  
• Click on the “Type List” option, and select “USB Drive”.

• In Drive: Column, enter the “Drive Name” that you had remembered in Step 4.

  Warning:

  Make sure you have entered the correct Drive Name, otherwise you'll end up getting errors or formatting one your local drive.

• At last, Click on the “OK” button.

  

The process of creating a bootable USB will automatically start and it will take a few minutes to terminate successfully.

Though UNetBootin is one of the best utility tools for Mac, but we can't say it's the perfect tool. There could be situations where the tool might throw some error without any actual issue.

If you want to create a windows 10 bootable USB on Mac without any errors and don’t want to pay for any tools, you could go with the 4th Method i.e using Terminal. But it also has few disadvantages.

Method 4: Create Windows 10/8/7 Bootable USB on Mac Using “using Terminal”

In this process, you have to write a few lines of code to complete the process successfully.

Don't worry, you don't have to go through different internet guides to find the code. I have it all here for you.

1. Connect the USB Drive to the Machine.

2. Launch “Terminal” and Hit the following command:“diskutil list”

   
3. You'll see a list of drives that are connected to your Mac device, find the USB, and remember its “IDENTIFIER” Value aka Device Name.

4. Hit the following Query, just change the device_name with your Device's Name.

   diskutil eraseDisk MS-DOS "WIN10" GPT device_name

   

Here, you are formatting the USB drive and naming it "WIN10". Be very careful with the device name. The wrong entry could format your Mac's local drive.

5. In this step, you need to have the address of your ISO file. Once you have it, hit the following command to mount the ISO file.

   hdiutil mount ~filelocation

   

In the above command, replace “filelocation” with the actual location of your file include the name of the extension. For instance, if your file is located in the downloads folder then your file location will be :/Download/Windows-10.iso

• Don't get confused with the location, otherwise Terminal will throw an error.

6. Once you have mounted the ISO file, hit the following.

   cp - rp /Volumnes/ESD-ISO/* /Volumes/WIN10

   

With this command, you are telling the terminal to copy the ISO file in the USB drive and it will automatically make it executable.

7. The above step could take a couple of minutes, once it is completed, you have to unmount the ISO Image. Run the following command:

   hdiutil unmount /Volumes/ESD-ISO

   

That's all, you have successfully created a bootable USB drive and you can use it for installing windows on any device now.

Teminal is very suitable for making Windows 10 bootable USB on Mac, but if you enter the wrong command, all data on the selected drive will be erased and all data will disappear within a few seconds. Therefore, this is not an ideal solution for beginners who are not familiar with the technical staff.

Part Three: Additional Tips

Apart from these methods, I wanted to discuss a few most asked questions here.

Q1: Is it safe to Install Windows on a Macbook?

The majority of the readers ask me this question and I want to tell all of them that it is completely safe to install Windows on a Macbook. Actually, I have seen people using Windows on a Macbook. Most developers use Windows in Virtual Machine on their Macbook.

Q2: Is it possible to create a bootable USB using Disk Utility?

Yes, it was possible back in the days when MacOS X was used. In the latest macOS versions, this feature of the Disk Utility application is removed due to security reasons. Therefore if you are using an older version of Mac, you can use Disk Utility as well.

Final Notes

So, these were the 4 Best methods to create a bootable USB drive using a Mac device. All these methods are tried and tested, therefore each of them is reliable.

You can pick any of these at your convenience and desire. But if you want to the easiest method to create Windows USB on Mac, PassFab 4winkey is your ideal choice! Certainly if you came across some error that is bothering you, do let us know in the comments below. We will solve it together.

COMMENT