The best way to burn iso to usb on MAC for windows iso?

I had to do the same thing a while back when my mom’s old PC completely refused to boot, and all I had was my MacBook. What ended up saving me was WonderISO — it’s honestly the easiest way to burn ISO to USB on Mac without fighting Terminal commands.

Here are two practical, real-world methods to burn ISO to USB on Mac, explained in a simple way (perfect if you’re not tech-savvy):

(1) The easiest option is WonderISO — it’s a full GUI app that lets you burn ISO to USB on Mac in just a few clicks.

1. Open WonderISO → choose Burn to USB → select your Windows 10 ISO → pick the USB drive → click Start.
2. It automatically sets up the partitions and makes the USB bootable on both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs.
3. If you’re in a rush or don’t like commands, WonderISO is hands down the fastest and safest way to burn ISO to USB on Mac.

After the boot disk is created, insert it into the computer and set it to boot from USB. Generally, press and hold F2, F11 or Del key during startup. At this time, you will enter the installation interface of the Windows system like below.

(2) If you prefer using built-in macOS tools, do it manually with Terminal.

First, erase the USB using Disk Utility as MS-DOS (FAT) + GUID (Apple’s official guide: support.apple.com/guide/disk-utility).

Then open Terminal and run:

hdiutil mount /path/Windows10.iso
diskutil list
cp -R /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9/* /Volumes/WINUSB/
diskutil eject /Volumes/WINUSB/

This command-line way also burns ISO to USB on Mac, but make sure the ISO doesn’t have files larger than 4GB (FAT32 limit).

If it does, you’ll need to use the first method.

Either way, both work perfectly to burn ISO to USB on Mac and get your mom’s PC ready for a clean Windows 10 install.

In the past on an Intel Mac, you can burn Windows 10 ISO to USB with the built-in Bootcamp app but this approached was discontinued and no longer available on Apple Silicon Mac. In 2025, there are still two reliable methods to get this done. One is using the command line in Terminal and the other is using a third-party app.

For tech savvy and advanced users, you can use the built-in diskutil command to burn ISO to USB on Mac. for latest Windows 11 and Windows 10 ISO.

diskutil list
diskutil eraseDisk MS-DOS "WIN10" MBR /dev/disk2
hdiutil mount ~/Downloads/Win10.iso
rsync -avh --progress /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9/ /Volumes/WIN10/

For beginners, third-party iso burning apps are more recommended as the command line approach takes a lot of time on setup and many people are not comfortable with it. You can use a GUI app like WinBootMate to easily create a Windows 10 bootable USN on Mac in a few minutes.

Steps to Burn ISO to USB on Mac (Intel and Apple Silicon):

1. Plug your USB flash drive into your Mac. Make sure it has at least 8 GB of space and that you’ve backed up any important files, as it will be erased.
2. Launch the app from Applications. You may need to grant permission when macOS asks if you want to open the app from an unidentified developer.
3. Click "Browse" and choose the ISO image you want to burn and choose the USB drive from the list of connected devices.
4. Click "Burn" to begin writing the ISO file to the USB. Enter your Mac's administrator password if prompted.
5. The app will verify the write process automatically to ensure there are no errors.
6. Once finished, you'll see a confirmation message. Safely eject the USB drive from Finder. Your bootable USB is now ready to use.

P.S. You can also create a Windows 10 bootable USB inside a virtual machine on your Mac. Simply install a virtualization tool such as UTM, VirtualBox, or Parallels Desktop, then set up a temporary Windows 10 or Windows 11 VM. Once the VM is running, connect your USB drive to it and use tools like Rufus or the Windows Media Creation Tool to make the USB bootable directly from the Windows environment.

1. Install a virtual machine app like UTM, VirtualBox, or Parallels Desktop on your Mac.
2. Create and run a Windows 10 VM using your Windows ISO file.
3. Plug in your USB drive and connect it to the VM.
4. Inside Windows, open Rufus or the Media Creation Tool.
5. Select your USB drive and Windows ISO, then click Start to create the bootable USB.

This method is especially convenient if you prefer a fully Windows-based setup process but don’t have access to a separate PC. The virtual machine approach ensures maximum compatibility with the Windows installer files and supports both UEFI and Legacy BIOS formats automatically.

If you want a simple and reliable way to burn ISO to USB on your Mac, Balena Etcher is one of the best tools available. It supports macOS, Windows, and Linux, and makes the ISO-to-USB process fast, safe, and beginner-friendly. Etcher can write operating system images such as Windows, Linux, or macOS installers to USB drives or SD cards with just a few clicks.

You can definitely create a bootable Windows 10 USB using your Macs, even without Boot Camp. Since both are Macs (including the newer M1 and M3), the easiest way is to use Terminal with the diskutil and dd commands, or a free app called BalenaEtcher that works on macOS.

How to burn ISO to USB on mac via Terminal commands:

1. Download the Windows ISO.
2. Convert it to a format suitable for creating bootable media.
3. Use dd to burn ISO to USB.

On M1/M3 Macs, creating bootable Windows media directly for Intel-based PCs sometimes has compatibility quirks, but generally, the USB created with Etcher should work fine. After creating the USB, you might need to connect it to the PC, restart, and boot from USB (often by pressing F12, F10, or Esc during startup — check your PC’s boot menu).

molanz11 wrote:

If you want a simple and reliable way to burn ISO to USB on your Mac, Balena Etcher is one of the best tools available. It supports macOS, Windows, and Linux, and makes the ISO-to-USB process fast, safe, and beginner-friendly. Etcher can write operating system images such as Windows, Linux, or macOS installers to USB drives or SD cards with just a few clicks.

The Etcher app works for old Windows ISO, such as Windows XP, Windows 7 and Windows 8.1. But it does not support Windows 10 and Windows 11 ISO. It will report Missing partition table error if you try to burn Windows 10/11 ISO on Mac with this app. It is a known bug.

If you still look for a valid solution, then you can try the command line method (diskutil + wimlib). wimlib is an open source, cross-platform library for creating, extracting, and modifying Windows Imaging (WIM) archives.

Or use a GUI app like UUByte ISO Editor or UNetBootin.

[Edited by Moderator]

There is some discussion of the issues involved with this here:

Create windows 10 bootable usb on macos 2… - Apple Community