How to Create Windows 10 Bootable USB from ISO on Mac
There are many reasons or errors cause that you have to Windows 10 system int the end, such as windows errors, software failures, hardware failures, system slowdown, freezing, crashing and deadlock. It’s easy to get intimidated when you hear terms like “reinstall system”, because creating a Windows 10 bootable USB is the primary condition for system reinstallation, so the question arises. How to create a Windows 10 bootable USB from ISO on Mac catalina, mojave or mac big sur?
Grounding to the level of discussion, we would discuss only about creating a bootable USB on macOS only.
Bootable USB allows you to re-install your system. But mere copying and pasting the OS installation files into it won’t do any good. You have to burn the ISO files, which are the mountable disk images for Windows into the USB first.
What Pre-Requisites You Need to Prepare Bootable USB?
In a nutshell, all you need is a minimum of 8 GB storage capacity USB thumb drive; the Windows 10 installation files, and of course a spare working computer in case the main computer is shut down due to loss of password.
While you arrange the USB drive, make sure you create backup of all its contents to a secured grid. The contents will be deleted when you will make it bootable so be cautious.
Method #1: To Create Windows 10 Bootable USB on Mac with WonderISO for Mac
SYSGeeker WonderISO for Mac is a fantastic and efficient ISO burning tool, readily available on internet market. It has been in trend by experts and professionals so you can rely on its performance. There are 5 cores function integrated in to the software, including Burn, Extract, Edit, Create and Copy from Disc. “Burn” allows you to write a Windows 10 ISO image to a USB flash drive or external hard drive and have it to be bootabe. In the principle, anybody without experience can create a Windows 10 bootable USB on Mac with the help of WonderISO, easy to use!
It comes both free for trial version and paid for pro version. The paid version comes with certain extra benefits, while the trial version may skip such benefits.
Step 1. To begin with, download the Windows 10 installation .iso files from Microsoft’s official website.
Step 2. Next download the SYSGeeker WonderISO from its official website to a spare working computer and install it.
Step . When you run it, you will be displayed with certain options. Choose “Burn” option. Ensure your USB thumb drive is plugged in at the same time.
Step 3. A new Window will come to sight. Choose here “Create a bootable USB”. Browse your ISO image form the computer directory. keep the “system file” format to its default option.
Step 4. When you are done, click on “Burn” option, and wait till the process finishes.
Eject the bootable drive. You will need it afterwards while booting your locked computer.
Download here:
Method #2: To Create Windows 10 Bootable USB with Command Prompt
Shortly abbreviated as cmd, command prompt is a command line interpreter for Mac. Its not hard to use cmd commands to create bootable Windows USB on Mac, but you need to be cautious with the commands you enter. Even a slightest mistake can pave way to great blunders, like losing data, registry keys andessential plugins, etc.
Step 1. you need to format your USB drive as follows, substituting your disk name for diskN:
diskutil eraseDisk MS-DOS “WINDOWS10” MBR diskN
Step 2. After formatting your USB drive, then try to mount the Windows 10 ISO in Finder, run the following command
ls /Volumes
In my Mac, using the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update, the disk name is /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9.
Check the size of the install.wim file by running the following command:
ls -lh /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9/sources/install.wim
Note: if your Windows 10 ISO is less than 4GB then you can directly copy the ISO files as follows:
rsync -avh — progress /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9/ /Volumes/WINDOWS10
But if the ISO file is more than 4 GB, like macOS Catalina, Mojave or Big sur. Then you’ll need to split the file. Copy all files except install.wim to the USB drive:
rsync -avh — progress — exclude=sources/install.wim /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9/ /Volumes/WINDOWS10
On mac, you can use homebrew to install wimlib, like this:
brew install wimlib
Then you can split the install.wim file by using wimlib tool.
wimlib-imagex split /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9/sources/install.wim /Volumes/WINDOWS10/sources/install.swm 3800
Done! Now you’ve created a Windows 10 bootable USB on Mac with command line.
Install Windows 10 with Bootable USB
After you created a Windows 10 bootable USB on Mac, then it’s not a pesky job to install your Windows computer, if you have prepared USB bootable drive. Since we have it already, follow the step-instructions:
Step 1. Reboot the target computer and insert the USB to the USB port.
Step 2. When the Windows screen starts loading, start hitting F1, F2, Esc, Delete function keys to enter the BIOS configuration page.
Step 3. Here, select the inserted USB drive as the primary disk for the system to load the files the installation from it.
Step 4. Close your BIOS setup page, save your changes when prompted.
The rest of the booting process will be done all by itself. Just wait, and don’t abort the process in the middle.
[Conclusion] Don’t forget to Backup Files
The most vital part of this entire job is to keep creating backup whenever contents are met. Like when you enter the USB, before it gets formatted, make sure all its data are well secured and backed up.
Even after the installation of the Windows, all your Windows 10 installation files should also be backed up for future use. In case of doubts, take expert advice or hand over your device to a technician, but don’t venture to mess up things yourself.
There are many other ways that can be used to create a Windows 10 bootable USB from ISO on Mac OS, like boot camp, UNETbootin. But this article we only select SYSGeeker WonderISO and command because in consideration of Ease of use and success, in my test, we found WonderISO is the stronger!
