macUSB

The all-in-one bootable USB creator for Mac

macUSB is a guided macOS app for creating bootable USB media on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs using local files or the built-in macOS downloader.

macUSB is and will always remain completely free. Every update and feature is available to everyone.
If the project helps you, you can support ongoing development:

Choose one installation method:

1. GitHub Releases: Download the latest release

2. Homebrew:

   brew install --cask macusb

Creating bootable USB installers for macOS Catalina and older on modern Macs, especially Apple Silicon models, can be challenging because legacy installer workflows often conflict with newer system requirements. macUSB was created to make this process guided and reliable through solutions developed and verified during practical troubleshooting.

Thanks to user feedback, macUSB has grown beyond legacy macOS installer creation to include an integrated macOS downloader and support for creating bootable Linux and Windows media, evolving into an all-in-one tool for bootable USB workflows on Mac.

• Built-in downloader: discover and download macOS installers, including available Public Beta releases, from Apple servers.
• Local source support: create bootable USB media from local installers and disk images.
• Checksum calculation: calculate SHA-256 checksums for supported .dmg, .cdr, and .iso sources, as well as manually selected raw .img images.
• Apple silicon legacy support: automatic compatibility handling for older macOS installers during USB creation.
• Automatic media preparation: validate target capacity and prepare the selected drive for the chosen workflow.
• Linux and Windows support: create bootable USB media from supported Linux and Windows .iso images, with optional Windows setup automation.

1. Install macUSB using one of the methods listed in How to Download macUSB.
2. Open macUSB and either:
   • choose a local source, or
   • use the built-in Downloader to fetch a macOS installer from Apple.
3. Select the target USB drive and review the operation details.
4. Start the process and monitor bootable media creation stage by stage.
5. Review the final result and safely eject the USB drive directly from the final screen.

Allow in the Background General → Login Items & Extensions

Full Disk Access Privacy & Security → Full Disk Access

Click a screenshot to view it at full size.

macOS Installer Review the selected macOS version, target USB drive, and creation steps before starting.

Linux Image The Linux workflow includes guidance for handling the expected unreadable-disk prompt shown by macOS during creation.

Windows Installer The Windows workflow offers optional configuration for selected Windows restrictions and first-run setup choices.

Click a screenshot to view it at full size.

1. Installer List Browse macOS installers available from Apple servers.

2. Download Progress Track download and preparation progress in real time.

3. Download Summary Review the final status, then continue to USB creation with the downloaded installer.

Downloader options can save the completed installer as a read-only DMG in a selected destination folder.

• Architecture: Apple silicon or Intel.
• System: macOS Sonoma 14.6 or later.
• Free disk space:
  • Downloader stage: required free space depends on the selected installer and optional DMG output; macUSB checks the exact requirement before downloading.
  • USB creation stage: additional temporary disk space may be required depending on the selected source and workflow.

• For macOS installers: at least 16 GB, or at least 32 GB for macOS Sequoia 15 and later.
• For Windows/Linux images: 1 GB or more, depending on the size of the selected .iso image.
• Performance: USB 3.0+ is recommended.

Accepted local source formats:

• For macOS: .dmg, .cdr, .iso, and .app
• For Windows/Linux: .iso

macUSB supports creating bootable USB installers across the macOS, OS X, and Mac OS X system families, from macOS Golden Gate 27 through Mac OS X Tiger 10.4. Some systems have additional requirements or limitations.¹

On Macs running macOS Golden Gate, Rosetta is not installed by default. It is required for installers from OS X Yosemite through macOS Catalina that include an Intel-only createinstallmedia tool. macUSB checks for Rosetta automatically and, when needed, offers to install it with one click.

macUSB recognizes original Microsoft Windows .iso images from Windows XP through Windows 11 and Windows Server 2003 through Windows Server 2025, and automatically detects their Windows family, optional Service Pack, and architecture.

Bootable USB creation is supported for Windows Vista through Windows 11 and Windows Server 2008 R2 through Windows Server 2025. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 are recognized but are not supported for media creation.

Available boot modes depend on the Windows version:

• Legacy BIOS only: Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2.
• Legacy BIOS or UEFI: Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows Server 2012 through 2022.
• UEFI only: Windows 11 and Windows Server 2025.

For legacy BIOS support, macUSB installs the macUSBoot bootloader on the prepared media.

For 64-bit Windows 10 and Windows 11 images, macUSB can optionally prepare an Autounattend.xml file. It can automate selected first-run options, including local-account creation, language and region transfer, skipping selected network and privacy steps, bypassing the Microsoft account requirement, and preventing automatic BitLocker device encryption. For Windows 11, it can also bypass supported hardware checks.

Regardless of the selected boot mode, macUSB formats the target as MBR with FAT32. Because FAT32 has a 4 GB limit per file, some modern Windows images may require extra preparation. If install.wim exceeds that limit, macUSB automatically splits it into smaller .swm parts using wimlib.

brew install wimlib

macUSB also supports creating bootable USB media from Linux .iso images.

When a Linux image is recognized, macUSB attempts to detect its distribution, version, and architecture automatically. Images with Linux signals but without a recognized distribution can still use the Linux creation workflow. The detected name explicitly identifies ARM builds, for example Linux - Ubuntu 26.04 (ARM).

macUSB can write .iso and .img files directly to external USB drives using Tools → Write a Raw Image to a Drive….

This method can also be used when a Linux image is not recognized during analysis.

After writing a Linux or raw image, macUSB verifies the written data against the source using SHA-256.

For instructions on booting a USB installer created with macUSB on a PowerPC Mac, see the Open Firmware USB boot guide.

By default, the interface follows the system language automatically. A supported language can also be selected manually from Options → Language:

• 🇵🇱 Polish (pl)
• 🇺🇸 English (en)
• 🇩🇪 German (de)
• 🇯🇵 Japanese (ja)
• 🇫🇷 French (fr)
• 🇪🇸 Spanish (es)
• 🇧🇷 Portuguese (pt-BR)
• 🇨🇳 Simplified Chinese (zh-Hans)
• 🇷🇺 Russian (ru)
• 🇮🇹 Italian (it)
• 🇺🇦 Ukrainian (uk)
• 🇻🇳 Vietnamese (vi)
• 🇹🇷 Turkish (tr)

If you encounter a problem or have a question, please open an issue.

Licensed under the MIT License.

Copyright © 2025-2026 Krystian Pierz