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What I need to achieve is

  1. Create a Bootable USB drive from Windows 7 iso image using a Mac running.
  2. Use the flash drive to boot and install windows on a PC (not Mac)

What I'm looking for is an app like WinToFlash but one that can run from OS X. This app make a bootable flash drive from a Windows iso image. I found a mac alternative to WinToFlash a while ago, but I don't remember the name.

All I can find is questions about making a bootable usb from a mac to a mac. I want to repair a Windows PC that doesn't startup but I have a working Mac computer, the target computer is a PC (not Apple).

A PC can't boot from a USB created with bootcamp which have MBR based BIOS.

UNetbootin doesn't seems to work with Windows iso's just Linux iso's.

P.S. the target PC have BIOS, it doesn't have UEFI.

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2
  • 1
    I ended using a friend's windows computer to user WinToFlash which worked just fine.
    – Vitim.us
    Mar 12, 2014 at 16:42
  • Download and use 'Etcher' ... so simple. etcher.io
    – Aaron Williams
    Dec 30, 2016 at 0:49

4 Answers 4

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17

Bootcamp can create a USB for PC. Just only check the "Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk" checkbox. A similar question from How to create a Windows 7 installation USB from OS X? shows that Bootcamp has the "ability to create install USBs" for Windows.

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6
  • Accordingly to this, it doesn't work apple.stackexchange.com/questions/75817/… or at least isn't straightforward
    – Vitim.us
    Mar 12, 2014 at 16:41
  • 3
    there is no such option on tosemite
    – DataGreed
    May 22, 2015 at 11:55
  • It can but only till windows 7
    – hithwen
    May 25, 2015 at 23:01
  • Just noticed that this does NOT work for x86 ISOs. The Bootcamp wizard detects the bitness and kicks it out as that won't run on your Mac. (Why am I using x86? Older laptop, and the hardware requirements for it are slightly lower.)
    – halr9000
    Jul 25, 2015 at 19:30
  • @hithwen: Not sure why this wouldn't work for win8 and win10. This worked perfectly for me to create a bootable USB drive for Windows 10 (x64) using the latest ISO. (I'm running El Capitan, the USB key boots on a normal PC)
    – HectorMalot
    Jan 5, 2016 at 8:54
7

Have you tried using UNetbootin with the Windows ISO? According to various references online it should work (although that was using the Linux and Windows versions).

Several years ago I created a Windows 7 boot USB using UNetbootin but I can't remember if it was created using OS X or a Windows virtual machine.

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  • 8
    I tried, but the created drive doesn't boot.
    – Vitim.us
    Mar 12, 2014 at 16:40
  • I tried and it only add a few small files to the usb
    – hithwen
    May 25, 2015 at 23:01
  • 1
    Worked fine with the Windows 10 iso.
    – joemaller
    Nov 12, 2015 at 4:07
2

Please use following link, I have successfully created bootable usb for windows from mac.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-mac-osx

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8
  • Welcome to Ask Different! While this link may answer the question, it is better to include the essential parts of the answer here and provide the link for reference. Link-only answers can become invalid if the linked page changes.
    – grg ♦
    Jan 18, 2015 at 16:29
  • What in that link helps Windows? Isn't there more to the story?
    – bmike ♦
    Sep 19, 2015 at 19:07
  • this is a great solution, just use your windows iso, and do the steps. Basically: convert iso to img, unmount usb, use dd to put image on usb. Very simple, all easy command-line stuff.
    – konsumer
    Oct 5, 2015 at 23:13
  • Perhaps I did something wrong: the files are on the USB stick but it's not bootable.
    – Iain
    Oct 24, 2015 at 10:37
  • 1
    I don't understand why this answer has so many down votes. The guide linked has helped me before to create a bootable Windows USB and it helped me now too.
    – Gio
    Mar 26, 2016 at 12:46
1

I found a complete solution which helps solving many issues until you are able to create your bootable usb drive:

http://michael.anastasiou.me/create-windows-7-8-bootable-usb-drive-mac/

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1
  • 1
    Answers on Ask Different need to be more than just a link. It's okay to include a link, but please summarize or excerpt it in the answer. The idea is to make the answer stand alone.
    – nohillside ♦
    Feb 25, 2015 at 22:06

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