Publisher's Description. With this tool, you can download Windows 10 for a new clean install or to update your existing Windows platform. If you choose the former, You can either create an ISO file to burn to DVD later, or a USB stick. Apple stripped the ability to make Windows 10 install media from a flash drive or external SSD in Sierra, but sometimes, you still need to be able to do it from a Microsoft-provided download.
We previously showed you how to create a Windows 10 USB installation media when performing a clean install of Windows 10, but there might be an instance where the only machine you have available is a Mac. We'll show you to create a bootable USB flash drive with the Windows 10 installer from a Mac. It's easier than you think, thanks to the built-in Boot Camp Assistant from Apple.
Download Windows 10 Disc Image
First, you need to download the Windows 10 ISO file. Go to the download page and select the proper edition of Windows 10 in the dropdown menu. If you don't know what K, KN, or Single Language edition stands for, just select Windows 10 in the list.
Create USB installer with Boot Camp Assistant
Media Creation Tool Microsoft Mac Download
After downloading the ISO file, you'll need to use Boot Camp Assistant to move it to a bootable USB drive.
- Insert a USB flash drive to your Mac. Make sure it's at least 8GB, which is usually marked on the USB stick. You can also check by right-clicking the USB drive on your desktop and clicking Get Info. Check if the number next to Capacity is at least 8GB. All the files in the drive will be deleted, so make sure there are no important documents inside.
- Open Boot Camp Assistant. The easiest way to launch it is through Spotlight Search, which you can bring up by pressing Command and Spacebar. Press Enter to launch the app.
- Check the box for 'Create a Windows 7 or later version install disk' and deselect 'Install Windows 7 or later version.'
Click Continue to proceed.
Boot Camp Assistant will automatically locate the ISO file from your downloads folder, but make sure it is the right file. Click the 'Choose…' button and locate the ISO file. Make sure the destination disk is the USB thumb drive you've inserted.
Click Continue. It can take about 20 minutes to format and set up the USB installer on the Mac.
When Boot Camp Assistant is done, the USB drive will be renamed to WININSTALL. Click Quit to close the app and then Eject the USB drive.
That's it! You now have a bootable USB drive with the Windows 10 installer. You can use it to configure new Windows 10 PCs from scratch. We told you it was easy!
Have you tried creating a Windows 10 installer USB drive from a Mac before? Did you encounter any issues? Let us know your experience in the comments!
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Thursday, January 18, 2018, 07:22 am PT (10:22 am ET)
First, get the .ISO file from Microsoft here. Importantly, this doesn't contain a license code, so you'll need to get one of those yourself.
We implore you —get the .ISO from Microsoft. Don't use a shady source.
Making a Windows 10 install disk from macOS High Sierra isn't as simple as formatting a drive in Disk Utility and copying over files in the Finder —you need to use the Terminal. So, mount the disk you want to make install media, and open up the Terminal.
Find the name of the drive that you want to install the media on. Be sure that you've got this right —because in later steps you can do massive damage to your boot drive if you're not careful.
Type
Windows 10 Creation
diskutil list in the Terminal window to get a list of your drives. In our case here, it's 'disk2.' We'll use 'disk2' going forward with this tip, but in the place of 'disk2' use which disk identifier is appropriate for you.Next, we'll format the disk in Terminal. Enter
Microsoft Media Creation Tool
diskutil eraseDisk ExFat 'WINDOWS10' MBR disk2
This will format the drive suitable for a UEFI boot, name it 'WINDOWS10,' and mount it.
Windows 10 Media Creation Tools
Your Windows 10 .ISO file download is probably in your Downloads folder. Mount the .ISO by double-clicking on it. It is probably called 'CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9' but double-check.
A Finder copy doesn't work. In the Terminal enter:
cp -rp /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9/* /Volumes/WINDOWS10/
The Terminal will sit there for a minute, seemingly unfazed by your command. However, it is working, and after a period of time depending on the speed of your media it will complete unceremoniously —but your data will be copied, and your media will be bootable.