This quick step by step will show you how to make a bootable USB stick from a downloaded ISO image file using an Apple Mac OS X.
Note: this procedure requires an .img file that you will be required to create from the .iso file you download.
Tip: Drag and Drop a file from Finder to Terminal to 'paste' the full path without typing and risking typos.
Download the desired file
Open the Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities/ or query Terminal in Spotlight)
Convert the .iso
file to .img
using the convert option of hdiutil:
hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o /path/to/target.img /path/to/source.iso
Note: OS X tends to put the .dmg ending on the output file automatically. Rename the file by typing:
mv /path/to/target.img.dmg /path/to/target.img
- Run
diskutil list
to get the current list of devices - Insert your flash media
- Run
diskutil list
again and determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g./dev/disk2
) - Run
diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN
replace N with the disk number from the last command - in the previous example, N would be 3
sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.img of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m
- Replace
/path/to/downloaded.img
with the path where the image file is located; for example,./ubuntu.img
or./ubuntu.dmg
).
Note: This might take a while... Note: Using /dev/rdisk instead of /dev/disk may be faster.
Note: If you see the error dd: Invalid number '1m', you are using GNU dd. Use the same command but replace bs=1m with bs=1M.
Note: If you see the error dd: /dev/diskN: Resource busy, make sure the disk is not in use.
Start the 'Disk Utility.app' and unmount (don't eject) the drive. p.ex.diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk3
- Run diskutil eject
/dev/diskN
and remove your flash media when the command completes - Now the USB stick is ready.
- Boot the device that you want from the USB stick.
credit to (Lewan Technology)[https://www.lewan.com/blog/2012/02/10/making-a-bootable-usb-stick-on-an-apple-mac-os-x-from-an-iso]