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balenaForums
forums.balena.io › product support
Balena Etcher - Question about creating a bootable usb for Windows 11, using MacOs - Product support - balenaForums
August 21, 2024 - I have a macbook pro M1 Max and ... to install windows 11 on the freedos pc. The easiest solution I found was the Etcher iso flasher app....
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Dell
dell.com › dell community › desktops › optiplex desktops
Is it possible to create Windows 11 bootable usb on mac? | DELL Technologies
October 9, 2025 - Here's a step-by-step guide to ... drive (at least 8GB; 16GB recommended). 4. Create Bootable USB with Balena Etcher Launch Balena Etcher....
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/framework › creating windows 11 install usb on mac
r/framework on Reddit: Creating Windows 11 Install USB on Mac
October 18, 2023 -

Will be receiving my AMD Framework 13 in the next week and will be transitioning from Mac

Unfortunately this means I only have a Mac to hand and need to create a windows 11 USB boot drive which seems overly convoluted.

My Mac is an Intel based Mac and I did try to use Boot Camp Assistant but it is trying to make me partition my hard drive before doing so which I do not have space to feasibly do so

Does anyone have any recommendations?

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SYSGeeker
sysgeeker.com › how-to-create-windows-11-bootable-usb-on-mac.html
How to Create Windows 11 Bootable USB Installer on macOS
However, in my test, this program ... burn a bootable Windows 11 ISO file to a USB 2.0, although it didn't prompt any errors when writing ISO, but it says "the disk is unreadable" when verifying and force me to format it every time. Download and install the Etcher tool on your Mac...
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Level1Techs
forum.level1techs.com › operating systems & open source › windows
How do I create Windows 11 bootable usb on Mac? - Windows - Level1Techs Forums
October 13, 2025 - Hey guys, I’m on a Mac (M2 actually) and I need to create a Windows 11 bootable USB for my old PC that completely crashed. I know it’s super easy on Windows with Rufus, but I don’t have access to a Windows machine rig…
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Microsoft Learn
learn.microsoft.com › en-us › answers › questions › 4007390 › usb-bootable-from-macbook
USB Bootable From Macbook - Microsoft Q&A
Install Etcher on your Mac. Open Etcher, select your Windows ISO file, choose your USB drive, and click "Flash!".
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/bootcamp › balena etcher - question about creating a bootable usb for windows 11, using macos
r/bootcamp on Reddit: Balena Etcher - Question about creating a bootable usb for Windows 11, using MacOs
August 21, 2024 -

Hello everyone. I have a macbook pro M1 Max and I'm going to build a PC rig to play games on the side in near future. I did a lot of research about how to create a bootable usb drive in order to install windows 11 on the freedos pc. The easiest solution I found was the Etcher iso flasher app. I followed the instructions on youtube and I believe I have successfully created a bootable drive...

However, I'm a little skeptical because the usb drive's file format turned out as "UDF" instead of "FAT32" (Please see the image l've attached). Do you guys think this will be a problem during the installation process, or would it even work at all?

Thanks you.

Top answer
1 of 4
21

This answer is summarized below.

  • MBR partition a 16 GB or larger flash drive to contain a FAT32 volume and an ExFAT volume.
  • Copy all the files, except sources/install.wim, from the mounted Windows ISO file to the FAT32 volume on the flash drive.
  • Copy sources/install.wim from the mounted Windows ISO file to the ExFAT volume on the flash drive.
  • Boot from the flash drive and enter a command to split the install.wim on the ExFAT volume to two files placed on the FAT32 volume.
  • The result is an USB flash drive which can be used to install Windows 11.

The steps are given next.

  1. Goto Microsoft's Download Windows 11 website and download the Windows 11 disk image (ISO) for x64 devices. In my case, the Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso file was downloaded to my Downloads folder. If your file name is different, then make the appropriate substitutions when entering the commands below.

    Insert a 16 GB or larger flash drive in an USB port on or connected to the Mac.

  2. Open a Terminal application window.

    Use the command below to determine the identifier for the USB flash drive. I my case, this was disk2. If your identifier is different, the make the appropriate substitutions in the following commands.

    diskutil list external
    

    Enter the command below to format the flash drive.

    diskutil partitiondisk disk2 mbr fat32 MYFAT32 8G exfat MyExFAT R
    

    Enter the command below to remove all extended attributes from the Windows ISO file. This will remove the quarantine placed on the file when it was downloaded.

    xattr -c ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
    

    Enter the command below to mount the Windows 11 ISO file. In my case, the output from the command shows the file was mounted on /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9. If your folder name is different, then make the appropriate substitutions when entering the commands below.

    hdiutil attach ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
    

    Enter the command below to change the current directory to /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9.

    cd /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9
    

    Enter the commands below to copy the files from the mounted ISO to the flash drive. Note: Since the install.wim file is very large, the cp command can take a while to complete.

    rsync -r -t --exclude=sources/install.wim . /Volumes/MYFAT32
    cp sources/install.wim /Volumes/MyExFAT
    

    Enter the commands below to unmount the Windows 11 ISO file.

    cd ~
    hdiutil detach /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9 
    

    Enter the command below to eject the flash drive. Afterwards, you can remove the flash drive.

    diskutil eject disk2
    

    You can quit the Terminal application.

  3. Using the computer where Windows is to be installed, UEFI boot from the flash drive. You should get a window similar to the one shown below. You can ignore the contents of this window.

  4. Press the shift+F10 key combination to open Command Prompt window.

    Enter the command below. From the output, determine the drive letters for the MYFAT32 and MyExFAT volumes. In my case, the was C and D respectively. If your letters are different, the make the appropriate substitutions for c:\ and d:\ when entering the dism command given below.

    echo list volume | diskpart
    

    Enter the command below to create the install.swm and install2.swm files in the c:\sources folder. Note: This command will take a while to complete.

    dism /split-image /imagefile:d:\install.wim /swmfile:c:\sources\install.swm /filesize:4000
    

    Enter the command below to close the Command Prompt window.

    exit
    
  5. Close the window. When the popup shown below appears, select "Yes". The computer will reboot.

    The next time you UEFI boot from this USB flash drive, you should encounter the following window. You then can proceed and install Windows 11.


Example of Using the Terminal Window

Last login: Sun Mar  9 09:16:57 on console
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil list external
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *15.9 GB    disk2
   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 ⁨MYFLASHDRV⁩              15.9 GB    disk2s1

davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil partitiondisk disk2 mbr fat32 MYFAT32 8G exfat MyExFAT R
Started partitioning on disk2
Unmounting disk
Creating the partition map
Waiting for partitions to activate
Formatting disk2s1 as MS-DOS (FAT32) with name MYFAT32
512 bytes per physical sector
/dev/rdisk2s1: 15594504 sectors in 1949313 FAT32 clusters (4096 bytes/cluster)
bps=512 spc=8 res=32 nft=2 mid=0xf8 spt=32 hds=255 hid=2048 drv=0x80 bsec=15625000 bspf=15230 rdcl=2 infs=1 bkbs=6
Mounting disk
Formatting disk2s2 as ExFAT with name MyExFAT
Volume name      : MyExFAT
Partition offset : 15628288 sectors (8001683456 bytes)
Volume size      : 15370240 sectors (7869562880 bytes)
Bytes per sector : 512
Bytes per cluster: 32768
FAT offset       : 2048 sectors (1048576 bytes)
# FAT sectors    : 2048
Number of FATs   : 1
Cluster offset   : 4096 sectors (2097152 bytes)
# Clusters       : 240096
Volume Serial #  : 67cdc143
Bitmap start     : 2
Bitmap file size : 30012
Upcase start     : 3
Upcase file size : 5836
Root start       : 4
Mounting disk
Finished partitioning on disk2
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % xattr -c ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % hdiutil attach ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
/dev/disk3                                              /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % cd /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9 
davidanderson@Davids-Mac CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9 % rsync -r -t --exclude=sources/install.wim . /Volumes/MYFAT32
davidanderson@Davids-Mac CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9 % cp sources/install.wim /Volumes/MyExFAT
davidanderson@Davids-Mac CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9 % cd ~
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % hdiutil detach /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9
"disk3" ejected.
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil eject disk2
Disk disk2 ejected
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % 

Example of Using the Command Prompt Window

Microsoft Windows [Version 10.0.26100.1742]
(c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

X:\sources>echo list volume | diskpart

Microsoft DiskPart version 10.0.26100.1150

Copyright (C) Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: MININT-NBNQP5I

DISKPART>
  Volume ###  Ltr  Label        Fs     Type        Size     Status     Info
  ----------  ---  -----------  -----  ----------  -------  ---------  --------
  Volume 0     E                       DVD-ROM         0 B  No Media
  Volume 1     C   MYFAT32      FAT32  Removable   7629 MB  Healthy
  Volume 2     D   MyExFAT      exFAT  Removable   7505 MB  Healthy

DISKPART>
X:\sources>dism /split-image /imagefile:d:\install.wim /swmfile:c:\sources\install.swm /filesize=4000

Deployment Image Servicing and Management tool
Version: 10.0.26100.1150

The operation completed successfully.

X:\sources>exit
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3

User Dan Is Fiddling By Firelight posted the following comment.

I'm leaving this as a comment since without access to a Mac I don't feel I could write a complete answer. Instead of directly creating a bootable windows installer USB, create a Ventoy bootable USB. Once you do that you can copy bootable drive images in all the major formats on as ordinary files, and then start them from a basic menu system that Ventoy shows when it boots. It's slightly more work the first time, but as long as you don't reformat the USB it'll make any future uses much easier since it reduces the operation to a simple copy/paste. ventoy.net/en/index.html

I decided to post this answer in response to the above comment. Note that the question does not explicitly rule out posting a solution which uses third party tools.

This answer is summarized below.

  • Download Ventoy live CD image (ISO) file, then copy this file to an 8 GB or larger flash drive.
  • Boot from the flash drive and install Ventoy to the same flash drive.
  • Download the Windows 11 ISO file and copy to the flash drive.
  • Boot from the flash drive and install Windows 11. If necessary, first enroll the key in MOK manager.

The steps are given next.

  1. Goto SourceForge's Ventoy project files website and download the Ventoy live CD image (ISO) for x64 devices. In my case, the ventoy-1.1.05-livecd.iso file was downloaded to my Downloads folder. If your file name is different, then make the appropriate substitutions when entering the commands below.

    Insert an 8 GB or larger flash drive in an USB port on or connected to the Mac.

  2. Open a Terminal application window.

    Enter the command below to remove all extended attributes from the Ventoy live CD image (ISO) file. This will remove the quarantine placed on the file when it was downloaded.

    xattr -c ~/Downloads/ventoy-1.1.05-livecd.iso
    

    Use the command below to determine the identifier for the USB flash drive. I my case, this was disk2. If your identifier is different, the make the appropriate substitutions in the following commands.

    diskutil list external
    

    Enter the commands below to copy the Ventoy live CD image (ISO) file to the flash drive. Note: Using rdisk2 instead of disk2 usually results in a quicker copy.

    diskutil unmountdisk disk2
    sudo dd if=$HOME/Downloads/ventoy-1.1.05-livecd.iso bs=1m of=/dev/rdisk2
    

    Enter the command below to eject the flash drive. Afterwards, you can remove the flash drive.

    diskutil eject disk2
    
  3. Using the computer where Windows is to be installed, UEFI boot from the flash drive.

    Note
    You will need to disable Secure Boot.

    When the following Grub menu appeared, I choose the first entry, which is the default.

    Ventoy2Disk is loading completely into RAM disk. This allows the flash drive to be overwritten. In my case, to install to the same flash drive, I just needed to select "Install" button shown below, then the "OK" button in the following popups.

    After installation to the flash drive has successfully completed, the following is displayed.

    At this point, either manually shutdown the computer or reboot by closing the window. If you choose to reboot and are successful, then the following will appear.

    Shutdown the computer by pressing the F5 key, then selecting "Power" and finally selecting "Halt".

    Remove the flash drive.

  4. Goto Microsoft's Download Windows 11 website and download the Windows 11 disk image (ISO) for x64 devices. In my case, the Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso file was downloaded to my Downloads folder. If your file name is different, then make the appropriate substitutions when entering the commands below.

    Insert the same flash drive in an USB port on or connected to the Mac.

  5. Use the same or a new Terminal application window to enter the following commands.

    Enter the command below to remove all extended attributes from the Windows ISO file. This will remove the quarantine placed on the file when it was downloaded.

    xattr -c ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
    

    Use the command below to determine the identifier for the USB flash drive. I my case, this was disk2. If your identifier is different, the make the appropriate substitutions in the following commands.

    diskutil list external
    

    Enter the command below to copy the Windows ISO file to the ExFAT formatted volume named Ventoy on the flash drive.

    cp ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso /Volumes/Ventoy
    

    Enter the command below to eject the flash drive. Afterwards, you can remove the flash drive.

    diskutil eject disk2
    
  6. If necessary, enroll key in MOK manager as described in this step.

    Using the computer where Windows is to be installed, UEFI boot from the flash drive.

    Note
    You should have Secure Boot enabled before UEFI booting from the flash drive.

    If you encounter the following display, select OK, otherwise proceed to the step 7.

    The next display should appear as shown below. Before the timer expires, press any key.

    Select Enroll key from disk, as shown below.

    Select VTOYEFI, as shown below.

    Select ENROOL_THIS_KEY_IN_MOKMANAGER.cer, as shown below.

    Select Continue, as shown below.

    Select Yes, as shown below.

    Select Reboot, as shown below.

  7. Install Windows 11.

    If you have not already done so, UEFI boot the computer where Windows is to be installed from the flash drive.

    Note
    You should have Secure Boot enabled before UEFI booting from the flash drive.

    When the display below appears, press the F5 key.

    Select Temporary Control Settings, as shown below.

    This answer assume Windows 11 is being installed on supported hardware. Normally, when booting from the Windows 11 installer, the following would be set to 0, as shown in the image below. You need to decided whether the following need to be set to 0 or 1.

    • Bypass CPU/TPM/SecureBoot check when installing Windows 11 This allows includes bypassing the 4 GB RAM check.
    • Bypass online account requirement when installing Windows 11

    When finished, press the esckey twice.

    Select Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso, as shown below.

    Select Boot in normal mode, as shown below.

    Note
    When message Press any key to boot from CD or DVD. appears, you may need to press any key.

    When the display shown below appears, proceed with the installation of Windows 11.


Example of Using the Terminal Window

Last login: Thu Mar 13 17:46:02 on ttys001
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % xattr -c ~/Downloads/ventoy-1.1.05-livecd.iso
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil list external
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *15.9 GB    disk2
   1:                 DOS_FAT_32 MYFLASHDRV              15.9 GB    disk2s1

davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil unmountdisk disk2                                               
Unmount of all volumes on disk2 was successful
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % sudo dd if=$HOME/Downloads/ventoy-1.1.05-livecd.iso bs=1m of=/dev/rdisk2 
186+1 records in
186+1 records out
195702784 bytes transferred in 4.038241 secs (48462383 bytes/sec)
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil eject disk2
Disk disk2 ejected
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % xattr -c ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil list external
/dev/disk2 (external, physical):
   #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
   0:     FDisk_partition_scheme                        *15.9 GB    disk2
   1:               Windows_NTFS Ventoy                  15.8 GB    disk2s1
   2:                       0xEF                         33.6 MB    disk2s2

davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % cp ~/Downloads/Win11_24H2_English_x64.iso /Volumes/Ventoy 
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % diskutil eject disk2
Disk disk2 ejected
davidanderson@Davids-Mac ~ % 
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EliteMacx86
elitemacx86.com › home › guides › macos sequoia
How Can I Make a Windows 11 Bootable USB on Mac Sequoia? | EliteMacx86 Forum
September 27, 2024 - The app I have been using for creating Windows 11 bootable USB no longer works for macOS 15. The developer is currently working on the fix. Does anyone know how to make a Windows 11 bootable USB on macOS Sequoia? I know the Bootcamp assistant app but it is discontinued on Apple Silicon Mac. Kindly share your expertise if you how to do this on Sequoia. Thanks · Click to expand... USE Balena Etcher https://etcher.balena.io/#download-etcher or MeowUSB https://toolboxforweb.xyz/
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Apple Community
discussions.apple.com › thread › 255200443
Best Way to Make a Windows 11 Bootable USB on Mac ...
As far as I know, UUByte iso editor is the best app to make Windows bootable USB on Mac. This is largely true after Apple removed the Bootcamp app from Apple Silicon Mac. I have been using this app for more than one year and helped me created a couple of Windows 10 and Windows 11 bootable USB ...
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Microsoft Community Hub
techcommunity.microsoft.com › microsoft community hub › communities › products › windows › windows insider program
How do you burn Windows 11 ISO to USB on Mac? | Microsoft Community Hub
Here is a step-by-step tutorial with screenshots that shows you how to burn Windows 11 ISO to USB on any Mac: https://www.smartpcguide.com/create-windows-bootable-usb-on-mac
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MakeUseOf
makeuseof.com › home › mac › 2 ways to create a bootable windows 11 usb with a mac
2 Ways to Create a Bootable Windows 11 USB With a Mac
August 24, 2024 - Just connect your flash drive to your Mac and follow these steps to create a bootable Windows 11 disk with WinDiskWriter. Head over to WinDiskWriter's GitHub page and download the latest available build.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r › WindowsHelp › comments › 1exjmmb › balena_etcher_question_about_creating_a_bootable
Question about creating a bootable usb for Windows 11 ...
August 21, 2024 - Hello everyone. I have a macbook pro M1 Max and I'm going to build a PC rig to play games on the side in near future. I did a lot of research about how to create a bootable usb drive in order to install windows 11 on the freedos pc. The easiest solution I found was the Etcher iso flasher app.
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GitHub
github.com › TechUnRestricted › WinDiskWriter
GitHub - TechUnRestricted/WinDiskWriter: 🖥 Windows Bootable USB creator for macOS. 🛠 Patches Windows 11 to bypass TPM and Secure Boot requirements. 👾 UEFI & Legacy Support
🖥 Windows Bootable USB creator for macOS. 🛠 Patches Windows 11 to bypass TPM and Secure Boot requirements. 👾 UEFI & Legacy Support - TechUnRestricted/WinDiskWriter
Starred by 3.6K users
Forked by 89 users
Languages   C 85.5% | Objective-C 14.3% | C++ 0.2%
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MacHow2
machow2.com › home › how to › how to create a bootable usb drive on a mac for free
How To Create A Bootable USB Drive on a Mac For Free
July 15, 2024 - Select the Windows 11 ISO file. Then click on the “Flash to” button and choose the target USB drive. Click on the “Flash!” button to begin the flashing process. Etcher may prompt you to enter your administrator password at this point ...
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UUByte
uubyte.com › home › 2 best ways to make a windows 11 bootable usb on m1 or m2 mac
2 Best Ways to Make a Windows 11 Bootable USB on M1 or M2 Mac
April 12, 2024 - You should format the USB to FAT32 when you are trying to make a Windows 11 bootable USB. NTFS is not supported by macOS naturally. No. Balena Etcher can’t make Windows USB for Windows 11 because it does supports Windows partition table.
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UMA Technology
umatechnology.org › home › how to create windows 11 bootable usb on mac: step-by-step guide
How to Create Windows 11 Bootable USB on Mac: Step-by-Step Guide - UMA Technology
June 27, 2025 - BalenaEtcher is a free, open-source application that simplifies creating bootable USBs. ... Download the Mac version. Install the application by dragging it into the Applications folder. Launch BalenaEtcher. Open BalenaEtcher. Click Flash from file. Browse to the Windows 11 ISO you downloaded ...
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H2S Media
how2shout.com › home › bootable › create a windows 11 usb on macos — works on intel & apple silicon
Create a Windows 11 USB on macOS — Works on Intel & Apple Silicon
August 15, 2025 - The interface presents three straightforward steps: “Flash from file” to select your Windows 11 ISO, “Select target” to choose your USB drive, and “Flash!” to begin the flashing process.
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UUByte
uubyte.com › create-windows-11-bootable-usb-on-mac.html
How to Create Windows 11 Bootable USB on Mac | UUByte Tips
Virtual Machine Software: There ... create bootable USB, such as Media Creation Tool, Rufus or Etcher. This is a great alternative solution if you have a Windows virtual machine set up on your Mac. If not, then it is easy to create one with virtual machine apps, such as Parallels Desktop. No matter which method you are going to use , you will see Windows 11 setup screen ...
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Samliu
samliu.github.io › 2022 › 03 › 07 › bootable-windows-11-usb-from-macos.html
Make a bootable Windows 11 USB on MacOS
The only other functional machine ... USB drive from MacOS. I really thought burning the Windows 11 ISO to a bootable USB would be straightforward, but it was trickier than expected. Here I will document how to do it correctly! I used Balena Etcher....