This article will help you make the bootable USB pen drive unbootable in Windows or Mac that too with as many methods we know exist. You can choose the easiest one from any of the methods mentioned below and format bootable USB pen drive using cmd.
I'm trying to get my Mac to boot from a USB flash drive. I know the drive works and is bootable, because it works with my friend's Windows PC. Specifically, I was running Windows 7 on my Mac to create the bootable disk, which has Windows Defender Offline on it. I have had the same issue trying to use the Ultimate Boot CD on a USB, various Live USBs for Linux, etc. So, what do I have to do to get my Mac to recognize and boot from another OS on a USB flash drive?
Or maybe a better question, if there isn't a simple answer, would be what does Bootcamp do to allow booting from a Windows install DVD or to allow Windows, once installed, to boot? EDIT: I was able to sort of get results using the bless command in Terminal.
Specifically, I used sudo bless -mount '/Volumes/WDOMedia32/' -legacy -setBoot -nextonly and then did a restart. Boot was slower, but then I was presented with the normal log-in screen. The log in screen, though, was much slower than usual, as if something else was happening in the background. So, I seem to be effecting something with that command, but I still can't boot from my Windows bootable USB drive. Boot Camp has to emulate a BIOS system, as Windows requires this to run. Apple uses something called the bless tool in order to instruct EFI (which Macs are based on) to activate this BIOS system. However, if I recall correctly, emulation of BIOS is not supported on Mac for any device that is not attached via a SATA connection (ie.
Internal drive, DVD drive). So, I believe that you cannot boot from your USB key.
If you want, you could install an alternative bootloader on your Mac that would allow you to do this. I don't think Windows 7 requires a BIOS to run. I'm pretty sure it works with an EFI system as well.
In any case, the boot drive I'm trying to make includes an EFI folder in the root directory. Seems like it should work with EFI. I used to use rEFIt when I had a triple-boot setup with Mac OS, Ubuntu, and Windows XP. Installing Lion seems to have disabled it, and I was afraid to enable it again in case it's not compatible. I'll do some research and see it if still works with Lion, despite not being updated recently. – Jul 29 '12 at 21:25. You can in fact boot Windows from a USB drive on a Mac.
I've done this recently with the Windows 10 Technical Preview, but the software I used should work with Windows 7+, but it does have a disclaimer that says Windows 7 does not support USB 3.0, so if you're trying this on a newer Mac, you'd have to use Windows 8 or higher. I'm booting Windows 10 off of an external USB to SATA hard drive dock. It takes a while for Windows to boot, but it runs okay once it's started. I imagine it'd be much faster if I was running USB 3.0.
I needed another Windows computer to run the utility called 'WinToUSB' here is a link to their site: You will need a Windows installer disk or ISO image to create the bootable image. Do NOT attempt to create or format any of your Mac partitions from within Windows because there is a very high chance you will lose some/all of your Mac data. I've verified this. The only problem I had doing it is that the destination HDD had to be partitioned in a very specific way: GPT partitioning,with EFI boot and System partitions. You'll know if you run into the same problem because WinToUSB won't show a radio box for the System partition when it asks you for the destination for the clone. (I chose the third option, to clone an existing VM to a real HDD so I could boot natively into Windows, rather than run under a VM manager.
Because I wanted Windows to have all of my GPU's RAM available.) – Jun 24 '16 at 20:32. I ran into this issue a while back when I wanted to run Windows off and EHD so it wouldn't take up any space on my Macbook's HD. The issue you are running into is that you need to setup an EFI boot in order to be able to boot and run Windows off a USB drive.
I used this tutorial to do it myself: You'll need a computer running Windows to do this entire process. I didn't have access to one so I just installed a VMware trial version on my Mac and used it for the Windows part of the setup. As always, backup your data beforehand just in case! Hardware I'm using: Macbook Pro, Retina, 13', Early 2015 (120GB SSD, 8GB RAM) Western Digital Ultra SSD 120 GB: USB Enclosure for External SSD: Here is the basic process I followed: It didn't work perfectly for me - but the issues I ran into were solved fairly easy with Google searches.
Create a bootable flash drive for installing Windows To install Windows 10 Education Edition from, or if you have a Windows 8.x or 7 installation disk but do not have an optical (CD/DVD) drive on your computer, you can create a bootable flash drive for the installation. Following the instructions below, you will download a Windows image (a.iso file containing all the files needed to install Windows), and then use a special application that writes the image to a USB drive and makes the USB drive bootable. (You cannot simply copy the image file to a USB drive; you must use special software to write it properly.). The process described below will delete any data currently on your flash drive.
Make sure to back up your flash drive's data to another storage location before proceeding. A valid product key that came with your Windows software. For Windows 10, this will be available on IUWare. For Windows 8.x or 7, this will be on the disc you purchased from IU. Insert your flash drive before beginning.
Create a bootable installation flash drive for Windows 10 Education Edition These instructions use a more updated and secure version of Windows 10 Education than that available on IUware; however, you will still need to visit IUware to get the product key. Go to the IUware page, and then select either the 32-bit or 64-bit version. Review and accept the terms, and then click Get product key. Copy the product key to use later. Download and run the. Accept the license terms, enter the product key, and then click Next.
To have the Microsoft tool create your bootable flash drive, make sure your flash drive is plugged in, select USB flash drive, and click Next. To use Rufus, select ISO file and click Next.
This will save the.iso file to your computer; then, to use Rufus and your.iso file to create a bootable installation flash drive,. Create a bootable installation flash drive for Windows 8.1. Because Windows 8 is no longer supported, you must create a Windows 8.1 bootable flash drive and upgrade to Windows 8.1. Go to Microsoft's page.
Download and run the Install Windows 8.1 tool. Accept the license terms. Enter the Windows 8.x product key from your disc, and then click Next. To have the Microsoft tool create your bootable flash drive, make sure your flash drive is plugged in, select USB flash drive, and click Next. To use Rufus, select ISO file and click Next. This will save the.iso file to your computer; then, to use Rufus and your.iso file to create a bootable installation flash drive,. Create a bootable installation flash drive for Windows 7 At IU, you have two options for creating a bootable installation flash drive:.
UITS will create a bootable installation flash drive for you at the IUB or IUPUI; bring a blank flash drive with at least 4 GB of storage. If you are unable to visit a walk-in location or would prefer to work with the.iso file yourself, you can download the Windows 7.iso from Microsoft's page, and then create the bootable flash drive with either the Windows USB/DVD tool or Rufus. You can now use the.iso file to create a Windows 7 Ultimate bootable installation flash drive using either a Windows tool or Rufus. To use the Windows tool. This method formats the flash drive using the NTFS file system, which is incompatible with UEFI (secure boot). Download and install the. Open the Windows USB/DVD Download tool.
When prompted, browse to your.iso file, select it, and click Next. When asked to select the media type for your backup, make sure your flash drive is plugged in, and then choose USB device. You may be prompted to insert the USB device even if the flash drive is already inserted. Ignore this, and choose the USB device you'll be writing to. Click Begin Copying.
If prompted, confirm that you wish to erase the flash disk. The.iso files will start copying to the flash drive (the process can take several minutes). When finished, close the wizard and eject and remove the flash drive. To use Rufus to create the bootable drive, follow the directions at to write this file to your flash drive. Use Rufus to write an.iso file.
Download. Rufus is a standalone program and does not require installation. Open the Rufus program from where you downloaded it to run it. Select Create a bootable disk using and choose ISO Image from the drop-down menu.
Click the disc icon and browse to your Windows.iso file and select it. To ensure the flash drive is compatible with UEFI, select FAT32 for 'File System'. To create the flash drive with the 'Press any key to boot from USB' prompt, select the Create extended label and icon files option. When you are done selecting options, click Start When prompted, confirm that you want to erase the flash disk. The.iso files will start copying to the flash drive (the process can take several minutes).
When Rufus is done, close the program and eject and remove the flash drive. Create a bootable installation flash drive on an macOS computer. In macOS, the option to create a Windows flash drive appears only when the computer does not have an optical drive.
If your Mac has an optical drive, the option will be either missing or grayed out. From the Finder, open the Applications folder, and then Utilities.
Open the Boot Camp Assistant, and then click Continue. The next screen should give you a list of options. UITS recommends making the USB drive installer first. You don't need to install Windows or download the support software at this time, as it will be easier to do both later. To proceed:.
Verify that the USB drive you will be writing to is plugged in. Uncheck the Install Windows 7 or later version and Download the latest Windows support software from Apple options. Check Create a Windows 7 or later install disk and click Continue.
Your USB drive should be listed in the 'Destination disk' area. Use choose to browse to your.iso file; after selecting it, click Continue. If prompted, confirm your action and/or provide an administrator's password.
The process of writing the.iso file to the USB drive can take 20 minutes or longer. Other resources.