Forum Discussion
How can I create windows 11 bootable usb on Mac?
I recently bought a Mac and need to create a Windows 11 bootable USB drive on Mac. I tried using BootCamp but it kept saying there was not enough space, which was giving me a headache. I searched a lot online but still couldn't figure out how to do it. Can anyone explain in detail how to make a bootable USB drive with Windows 11 on a Mac? It would be best if you could recommend some useful software and specific steps. Thank you very much for your help!
I've had this problem on my Mac before, and it was really annoying that BootCamp kept saying there was not enough space. I tried a few things, like cleaning up some large files and infrequently used apps on the disk, and resizing the partitions. It took some time, but I eventually freed up enough space to successfully create a Windows 11 bootable USB on macOS. It's a little cumbersome, but it works. I hope this helps!
I totally agree with that! Creating a Windows 11 bootable USB on a Mac using UTM can be a bit of a hassle. I mean, running a virtual machine can eat up a lot of your Mac's resources, which can make everything feel sluggish. If you’ve got a good amount of RAM and CPU to spare, it might work fine, but if you’re like me and usually juggle a bunch of apps at once, you could end up frustrated while waiting for everything to load.
Honestly, I’ve tried using virtualization software in the past to set things up, and it just felt overly complicated for what I needed. You have to go through a bunch of steps—install the VM, configure it, and then install Windows on top of that. It’s way more than what’s necessary just to create a bootable USB.
- Thanks for your reply, but I am a novice and I have tried the command line tool to make a Windows bootable USB on my macOS Sonoma. but it is unsuccessful and keeps reporting errors. It is too troublesome. I wish there was a tool with a graphical interface!
I remember having to create a Windows 11 bootable USB drive on a Mac before, and I decided to use Terminal to do it. Although I was a little worried at first because I wasn't familiar with the command line, the process was actually not as complicated as I thought. I found some tutorials online and followed the steps to enter the command to write the Windows 11 ISO file to the USB drive.
Although I encountered some minor problems along the way, such as typos, I was able to solve them with a little patience. In the end, I successfully created a bootable USB drive, and the whole process also gave me a better understanding of Terminal.
I'd like to share my experience, steps as below:
Step 1. Insert the USB drive: Insert your USB drive and open Terminal.
Step 2. Find the USB drive identifier: Enter the following command to find the identifier of your USB drive (such as /dev/disk2):
diskutil list
Step 3. Format the USB drive: Replace diskX in the command below with the identifier of your USB drive and run the command to format the USB drive:
diskutil eraseDisk MS-DOS "WIN11" MBR /dev/diskX
Step 4. Mount Windows 11 ISO file: Locate your Windows 11 ISO file and mount it by double-clicking it.
Step 5. Copy the contents of the ISO file to the USB drive:
sudo dd if=/path/to/Windows11.iso of=/dev/rdifskX bs=1m
Note: Replace /path/to/Windows11.iso with the path to your Windows 11 ISO file and /dev/rdiskX with the identifier of your USB drive.
Step 6. Wait for the copy to complete: This process may take some time, so be patient. Once the copy is complete, your USB drive should be a bootable Windows 11 installation disk.
BrianWilson what to do if I get a "resource is busy" message?
That's because the device is being used by the Utility Disk
To make it available you have to unmount it using this command line then try again:
> sudo diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk12
- Creating a Windows 11 bootable USB drive on a Mac using Terminal can be a bit of a wild ride. If you're using a Mac, the default file system might not be compatible with Windows. You'll need to format your USB drive in exFAT or NTFS to ensure Windows can recognize it. If you're new to the command line, you might get stuck on some steps or encounter errors.
- My personal experience was a bit of a headache, to be honest. I had to spend hours cleaning up my disk and resizing partitions just to get BootCamp to recognize the space.
- Back up your important files and data before creating windows 11 bootable usb on Mac, and free up sufficient disk space on your Mac. Ensure your Mac's firmware is up-to-date, be cautious when resizing partitions or adjusting disk settings
I have encountered similar problems before. It was really annoying to always get the message "not enough space" when using BootCamp. Later, I tried a software called WonderISO, which is especially suitable for making a Windows 11 boot USB drive on Mac.
I followed this tutorial (works for me):
https://www.howtogeeker.com/create-windows-11-bootable-usb-on-mac
It is easy to download and install, and it can be done in a few clicks, unlike BootCamp. After using this software, I feel very smooth and there is no problem of insufficient space. You can try it. I hope this recommendation is useful to you!
