How to Create Bootable USB Installer for Mac OSX on Windows 10?

Create Bootable USB Installer for Mac OS X on Windows

In our previous topics, we have told you that how you can create a bootable USB flash drive for Mac OS Using Unibest & DiskMakerX, perform a clean installation of Mac OS, and upgrading Mac OS Yosemite to the newest and update to date version El Capitan. In this article, you are going to learn how to create bootable USB for Mac OS in case you don’t have a Mac computer. If you don’t have a Mac computer, so don’t worry about it because we will show you how to create bootable USB Installer for Mac OSX on Windows 7, 8, and Windows 10.

Also, you’ll get some information about “TransMac” software. What is “TransMac Software”? From where to download? How does it work? You need the following materials to create bootable USB Installer for Mac OSX on Windows 10 operating system.

  1. Download TransMac
  2. Download OSX El Capitan
  3. USB Flash Drive

What is TransMac Software?

TransMac from Acute Systems is Windows software that can copy and manage files and folders on Apple drives and devices, including Mac-formatted hard drives, flash drives, and other storage devices, as well as open and burn disc images and .dmg and .sparseimage files. It’s shareware that you can try for free for 15 days. Recent updates include an improved open file dialogue, speed enhancements, and Windows 8 compatibility.

TransMac for Windows can open Macintosh format disk drives, flash drives, CD/DVD/Blu-ray media, dmg, dmgpart, sparsebundle and sparseimage files. Features: create, compress and expand Mac dmg disk images, built-in CD/DVD burner to burn ISO and dmg files. The new version is also compatible with Windows 10.

Create Bootable USB Installer for Mac OSX Using TransMac

To create bootable USB installer for Mac to Install Mac OS X El Capitan on Windows, on Mac or VirtualBox, you have to create bootable USB flash drive. Let’s get started on how to do it.

Step #1. First, you have to download TransMac software for Windows and install it on your computer. The Installation process is straightforward, and everyone can do it without any problem. Once you’ve installed, then you will see the screenshot below. Right-click on the flash that you want to create bootable for Mac with TransMac software then choose “Restore with disk image“.

Choose Restore with Disk Image

Choose Restore with Disk Image

Step #2. Now, a warning message will be shown to you. Click “Yes“.

Create Bootable USB Installer for Mac OSX with TransMac

Create Bootable USB for Mac OSX with TransMac

Step #3. A new dialogue box will pop up, click on the three dots then choose your Mac operating system .dmg file.

Choose Mac OSX El Capitan dmg file

Choose Mac OSX El Capitan dmg file

Step #4. After choosing the Mac OS dmg file, click “OK” button. This is going to take around 20 to 35 minutes.

Restoring OSX File into USB Flash

Restoring OSX File into USB Flash

Conclusion

It’s done now! Your USB Flash drive is ready for installing Mac operating system on Windows or on Mac itself. If you have any question regarding this article or our previous topics, feel free to put a comment on this post. Thanks for being with us.

Mukhtar Jafari is the founder and CEO of wikigain.com. He is CISCO CCENT & CCNA Certified and has got his diploma in IT Networking from North Metro TAFE PERTH. He is currently working as a Help Desk Technician at DEEPTECH Perth Western Australia. In addition, he loves helping other tech enthusiasts so he is working part-time on wikigain.com. He shares his experience through this website for IT beginners.

176 Comments

  1. SurvingFella Reply

    Thanks, yesterday I was able to recover my ‘old’ iMac from Late 2009 to El Capitan (10.11) with a bootable USB stick that I created with the instructions in this article (had to change the system date before installation). Afterwards, I upgraded to High Sierra (10.13) via the App Store using this article.
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT211683

  2. Liam Kirk Reply

    This is working but when i plugged my usb into my mac it opens it loads but it says “cannot open OS X installer” I don’t know why but please give me a solution as soon as possible thank you

  3. Alex Reply

    Thanks I was able to install El Capitan on my Mac Mini 2009, for who will try this tutorial in 2020, you can download the last TransMac version on Acusystem website and I only finish the installation unplugging my Mac from internet and changing the system date to 2016 via terminal.

    1. Maria Rowena Refesada Reply

      Changing the system date in the terminal by typing date 0711141516 worked for me. You may refer to this link to learn more about the date format here: https://www.filiotech.com/blog/support/change-date-recovery-mode/

      Thanks so much guys!!! More power to wikigain.com.

  4. Kondorito Reply

    Dude, you are a savior! I am running El Capitan on a MBP 5,1 and tried dosdude1 hack to reach High Sierra but got an issue during the installation and my machine did not work anymore. With your dmg I was able to reinstall El Capitan over my crippled version and all is good again.
    Thank you a thousand times!

  5. Pedro Reply

    I did everything like you said, I reboot my mac pressing option key but nothing appears, i can’t select the usb drive
    I have tried with to different usb 8GB drive

  6. amir kazemi Reply

    i want to create a bootable usb for high sierra and i cant use my mac os because of hard replacement.i did exactly what this article says and everything went find and bootable flash created successfully but after trying to boot from it by holding option key i have only macintosh HD and recovery HD there and flash doesnt show up.

  7. Vladales Reply

    Hi, I had made my usb boot using El pwn. So when I boot into setup, I am using nv_disable=1 -v flag (without it I didn’t had graphics-black screen). My graphic card is Nvidia 9600. It boots into setup, I choose language, and setup says that mac can’t be installed, because I allready have installed it on this drive. And it offers me to restart it. But I didn’t even started. Is there is a fix for this? Or I did something wrong?

  8. michael Reply

    Thanks. I tried to made a bootable usb and download el capitan from several sites but only with your file my usb become bootable and i succeeded to install it

  9. shittymac Reply

    So, here’s the thing. I wiped ssd from previous owner on my macbook pro mid 2009 and now i have no way to install os x on it. When I try installing it from OS X Utilities via Reinstall OS X it keeps telling me “Item is temporary unavailable” so I made a bootable usb via Transmac and it can’t recognize it when I press alt at boot. But when Mac is on then I can see it in startup manager? What’s the deal. Can someone pls explain?

  10. dhruv Reply

    Hi there,
    just yesterday I bought a used MacBook Pro 2007 and it came with Mac OS X Lion.
    Unfortunately I erase the disk with the system and now when I try to download a new copy of lion through Mac OS X Utilities I always get “Item temporarily unavailable” (I tried different apple accounts, one of then with lion in history purchase, I tried to correct the date on terminal and even did an reset nvram).
    My next step was Internet Recovery Mod, but once again no results, option+command+r didn’t work.
    Already getting crazy I was hopping to make an bootable usb disk and install from there. I started by preparing my usb 3.0 disk with diskapart command in windows terminal and fallow all the steps in TransMac with different mac os versions but the final result was always the same, when I plug the usb pen in my mac, I turn on pressing option key and I select usb but it always go to Mac OS X Utilities.

    Any ideas what to do now?
    Please someone help! Tanks a lot!
    email : dhurv.malhotra@gmail.com

  11. Krisha Reply

    Thank you very much !!!
    First time it stuck in apple logo progress bar. then I tried with different usb drive and it worked!
    Can we add a new apple ID to the device (Macbook pro mid 2009) I don’t have the previously used apple ID or account details.

  12. George Reply

    After I did everything downloaded El Pwn, used transmac to put it into my USB, went to the Mac to install and says it needs 15.6 of more space and won’t let me install it

  13. Seemanta Reply

    It worked well for first time installations. But when i tried to install the OS on new macbook air I made a mistake. Don’t know what. Mac is not turning on properly. When i try to turn on it is just making the start up sound again and again. Waited for long time. Tried many times but same results. I know my problem is not related to this topic. But i am helpless as there are no servicing centre of apple in Bangladesh. I wish you will provide a way to fix these issue. Thank you.

  14. Jess Reply

    Hello, I’m trying to download the El pwn dmg to make a bootable USB from transmac, but my PC doesn’t have enough space. I have a 32gb sd card installed on it. I also made a copy to my goodle drive. Is there anyway I can download it to the SD card?

  15. Chris Foote Reply

    You are awesome! We received a used Mac and I tried to do an Install but received the “the item is temporarily unavailable” message since its Apple ID was registered to the original owner. With this I was able to perform the install! You seriously saved us some cash and made it super easy to understand. Thank you a millions times over.

  16. world of warships blitz cheats Reply

    As the admin of this site is working, no doubt very rapidly it will be well-known, due to its quality contents.

    1. Mukhtar Jafari Post author Reply

      The only way to install Mac Operating system on None Apple Devices is to create a config.plist file for that device. So there is a lot of config.plist file already created on the internet that is used for Hackintoshing. If this method doesn’t work for you it’s a good idea to change your config.plist file.
      If you’ve another question please let me know.
      Also, check this guide to change your config.plist file.
      The video is removed from YouTube 'Sorry guys'

    1. Faiz Orz Reply

      Hello dear, The problem is not with the link you have used the trial version( 14-15 Days), and it’s expired now. Delete the program and reinstall it then you might get another 14 days in my opinion, but I am not sure it works or not.

      Also, if you are unable to get another trial version then I suggest you try this method it also works on Windows 10: The video is removed from YouTube 'Sorry guys'

      1. Seriously

        No actually, the link you posted is for a very outdated version of TransMac. It is literally an outdated beta version.

        You should change the link to redirect to the official TransMac download page.

  17. AV Reply

    Hello… great article… I have one issue. On a macbook pro mid 2009, I was able to boot to the usb drive using your steps. Its been stuck at the apple logo with a solid black status bar for awhile now. Does it usually take a long time to load? Thoughts? thanks!

  18. Nathan Adamson Reply

    Hello again,
    When I boot from USB on my Dell Inspiron 1100 running Windows XP, there is a blinking white cursor, and then for a brief moment writes, “6”, then it restarts and does the same thing over and over again. But when I boot from my HP, I think I get a System Update in Nanoseconds error. Any Ideas????

  19. Nathan Adamson Reply

    The whole reason I’m doing this is not to boot it on a HP, but on a Dell running Windows XP Home edition. This Dell computer has 512 MB of storage but planning on keeping it on a (separate) USB. I’m just testing on a HP. But for Windows XP Home Edition, do you have any advice for booting without TransMac? And, can you solve my No sign issue?

    1. Faiz Orz Reply

      Yeah, If you want to boot without TransMac then you have to install a Bootloader. Watch and follow these guide: The video is removed from YouTube 'Sorry guys' (Watch from 13:30)

  20. Nathan Adamson Reply

    Hi,
    When I try to boot from USB, the Apple logo shows up for a minute, and then a white “” sign appears. What’s wrong?

    HP envy
    Windows 10
    Intel core i5

  21. slosh001 Reply

    I’m getting a common error that says “still waiting for root device.” I think it has something to do with the USB. I booted using transmac and in verbose mode. About half way through the installation I get that error.

    I’m on a Dell Inspiron 15
    i7 6500u
    12 GB Ram
    intel graphics 520

  22. Joshua Reply

    Hello. I’m able to get halfway through the osx installation and I boot it in verbose mode so I can see whats happening. I get the error that says Still waiting on root device. I assume that has something to do with the USB. How do I get past that?

    I’m Using a Dell Inspiron 15
    i7 6500u
    intel 520 graphics
    12 GB RAM
    2 USB 2.0
    1 USB 3.o

  23. Rutvik Reply

    Hello…!!!
    When I start up my mac I press down the option key and select my usb drive to install el capitan but after some time it shows the apple logo with the progress bar and some black lines along with some codes written in it…
    Is this the correct way to install or not …..?????

  24. kadhim-pc-88 Reply

    hi man can you help me please i end with error
    AppleUSBXHCI :: RaseOnePowerState
    AppleUSBXHCI :: RaseOnePowerState
    AppleUSBXHCI :: RaseOnePowerState
    etc.
    on my Hp pavilion DV6-6c45se
    Intel core i5 2450 chips HM65 sandy bridge
    4GB + 4G ram
    amd Radeon HD 7690M XT 2GB DDR5 +
    Intel HD Graphics 3000
    2 USB2.0
    2 USB3.0

  25. Muhammad Wajahat Reply

    Dear Mukhtar Jafari Can we make a bootable usb on Transmac without registration.This can effect on my process or not.?

  26. Johansen Reply

    ok, tried with 32gb flashdrive and image restored without error. however, when from it, grey progress bar seems to be too slow to reach the end. and after the progress bar reached the end, i waited for an hour without anymore progress. it seems to be stuck on something. (macbook pro with erased/clean hdd, first aid found no error)

      1. Johansen

        hi Faiz Orz. i have a macbook pro early 2011. well it seems that the dmg i downloaded the first time was corrupt. so the installation doesn’t go smoothly for me. out of curiousity i trie download it again and now am currently installing a fresh el capitan on to my macbook. thanks bro.

      2. Johansen

        now that my macbook is running fine, maybe later i will try installing sierra on it. thanks again Faiz.

  27. Jeanno Reply

    Hello,

    I succefull create usb boot loader, but when i try to load EL Pwn after 5 minutes the PC reboot alone.

    Any ideas what to do now?

    regards

  28. Johansen Reply

    Hi. When i tried to “Restore with disk image” with El Pwn Version.dmg from your link, i get something like this “This disk image file El Pwn Version.dmg (7.8 GB) appears too large to fit on the selected disk xxxx (7.5 GB). Do you want to continue anyway?”. My usb flashdrive is an 8 GB Sandisk Cruzer, why doesn’t it fit? The image size is only 6.2 GB, so why is it expanded to 7.8 GB? Thank you

    1. Faiz Orz Reply

      Hey dear, That somehow Compressed it’s why it become 7.8 GB or might be higher. Now Continue anyway to complete the restoring process. If the USB Installer didn’t work then use a 16 GB USB Flash Drive.

  29. Aditya from Solo Indonesia Reply

    Can Mukhtar Javari give me a download link for macOS Sierra 10.12 that i can install with TransMac? How to check it that is work properly before i proceed?

    1. Aditya from Solo Indonesia Reply

      Or please give me some reason or solution why i can’t use my macOS Sierra .dmg in EFI bootable usb? Or am i make mistakes? Please make it step by step

  30. Guedes Reply

    Hi there,
    just yesterday I bought a used MacBook Pro 2007 and it came with Mac OS X Lion.
    Unfortunately I erase the disk with the system and now when I try to download a new copy of lion through Mac OS X Utilities I always get “Item temporarily unavailable” (I tried different apple accounts, one of then with lion in history purchase, I tried to correct the date on terminal and even did an reset nvram).
    My next step was Internet Recovery Mod, but once again no results, option+command+r didn’t work.
    Already getting crazy I was hopping to make an bootable usb disk and install from there. I started by preparing my usb 3.0 disk with diskapart command in windows terminal and fallow all the steps in TransMac with different mac os versions but the final result was always the same, when I plug the usb pen in my mac, I turn on pressing option key and I select usb but it always go to Mac OS X Utilities.

    Any ideas what to do now?
    Please someone help! Tanks a lot!

  31. Sharad Verma Reply

    At the end of restore, it will create a partition of 196 Mb, but nothing found in it. I try to boot from USB, it is giving error ad saying press any key to reboot the system.

    Under 196 MB partition, i guess soem boot files must be there, but it is showing 196 MB free of 196 MB.

    Please suggest!!

  32. Suminda Reply

    Thanks Faiz. Forgot to mention, I’m trying to install this in Mac book pro late 2011 with new HDD and I’m new to Mac world. Thanks

  33. suminda Reply

    Thanks Faiz. Successfully created the bootable USB. Now I’ve a different issue. When I boot from USB this error came
    Panic (cpu 4 caller 0xffffff80075d6a9a: kernel trap at 0xffffff80075c9997…..
    AppleMUController: smcGetkeyInfo error: received error 0x84 when getting key info for ‘RMde’
    AppleMUController : Error: SMC mode check failed…..
    Kernel Extension in backtrace
    com.apple.driver.AppleSMC(3.1.9)……
    dependency: com.apple.iokit……
    Please help. Thanks

  34. Suminda Reply

    I downloaded the EL Pwn Version and I tried to extract No: 5 archive (hfs) usinf 7-zip and there was a error saying ” can not open the file as HFS archive. I tried to find the installESD.dmg fille to make the bootable USB in windows 10. Please help me. Thanks

  35. Sonet Reply

    Hi Mukhtar:

    I cant download OSX El Capitan via IDM. Its downloading with browser and after sometime it gets session timeout.

  36. Dante Reply

    I tried 5 times and transmac does not make a booteable USB.. when i start in my mac and hit alt option, it only shows one option that is internet…. not usb

  37. Piyush Reply

    I have aacer aspire 4736 with intel centrino 4th series mobile chipset family
    3 GB ram… I created this bootable usb and configured the bios but still the usb boot is skipped.
    How do I slove this? Will Mac os El capitan run on my device? And what about bootloader… is it required?

  38. Frederick Jenks Reply

    Will this only restore Apple computers that originally came with El Capitan like the gray restore discs? Or will it work with any macintosh?

    1. Faiz Orz Reply

      Try to boot into USB by going to boot Menu or manager and then from there select the USB Installer. If it didn’t work then you have to change your USB and do the steps once again.

  39. Ibrahim Reply

    I checked the USB on another laptop it is bootable but my laptop won’t boot from it, I have Asus rog G751j gaming laptop.
    I have configured the bios accordingly but still not working.

  40. Ibrahim Reply

    I formatted the USB with transMac and restored the dmg file to it using transMac but my laptop won’t boot from the USB.
    I wan’t to know how can we make an OS X bootable usb for PC not Mac.

  41. Ibrahim Reply

    I followed the steps but the PC won’t boot from the USB, I chose USB from boot options, but I think the USB is not bootable.

      1. Longo

        How create bootable? I try several times , but it makes NOT Bootable USB. In DISK Utility this USB Stick has status Bootable – NO. What i did wrong?

      2. Longo

        no boot 🙁
        Program Startup Disk not recognized USB. If I press option after power on its not boot too 🙁
        I used El Capitan 11.6 image and Transcend USB 3.0

      3. Faiz Orz

        Try to boot with the USB Installer and before that apply this recommended settings. If again you are unable to Boot into USB installer then Create a Bootable Installer again with a different USB drive. Or you can also try the UBibeast way also.

        1: Load Optimized Defaults
        2: Set The SATA Controller Mode to AHCI
        3: Set the Boot Priority to UEFI
        4: Set OS Type to Other OS
        5: If your CPU supports VT-d, disable it
        6: If your system has CFG-Lock, disable it
        7: If your system has Secure Boot Mode, disable it
        8: If you have a six series or x58 system with AWARD BIOS, disable USB 3.0
        9: Save and exit.
        10: If your system didn’t boot automatically then go to Boot Manger and select the Bootable USB Installer that you create in step 1, Manually.

  42. Cuinio Viloria Reply

    Hello Guys! I’m performing this installation on an iMac Aluminium (current OS X 10.6.4) tomorrow and was wondering if El Capitan is compatible with this iMac generation. Let me know whether more details are needed for this case.

    Thanks for the tutorial. I really hope it will be useful.

  43. yusuf Reply

    I want to install el captain but when I boot dmg file using transmac after boot pendrive convert in three part one unallocated one about 200mb and one unnamed drive which not appear

  44. Blaine Reply

    Help i accedentally deleted the boot parition when i was trying to install windows 10 but i didnt understand and i messed up does this works if i use transmac to create a bootable usb and use it to make recocery but tapping option and selet the usb???

  45. priyadilsha Reply

    Hi,

    First of all, This is a great article.
    I’m gonna install mac os x on my PC. I’m currently running windows 10. so, I’m gonna install mac on my D: drive. but I have a little question. Is Installing dual operating systems will affects my current PC performance ?

    Thanks

    1. Faiz Orz Reply

      No dear, if you failed to dual boot then after install windows 10 back, you get the same performance. Also, depends on the drivers, it must be installed to have an excellent performance.

  46. Yohannes Reply

    Hi Mukthar,

    I managed to get into the bootscreen of apple logo, after going through half line, then it stopped working and showing a stop sign (a circle with cross in the center).

    Anything wrong? Or any clues to fix this?

    thanks

  47. Youssef Reply

    Hi i have a problem When i finish transmac step i turn off the pc and after trying to boot in usb it said BOOT0: error_

  48. Amad Reply

    it does not works for me… I applied all the steps of transmac but it does not boot up on the start up of my laptop..
    any suggestion/help ?

  49. siddharth choubisa Reply

    Hello mukhtar,

    it will work on any pc like intel gigabyte ? uefi mode and legacy mode both ??

    thanks

    1. Mukhtar Jafari Post author Reply

      Yeah, dear Siddharth Choubisa
      If you wanna create bootable USB flash drive for Mac OS X El Capitan on Windows PC. You need a TransMac Software.
      That’s not a problem if you use a computer that supports legacy or UEFI. Just you need TransMac and El Capitan dmg file.

      1. siddharth choubisa

        hello mukhtar ,

        i installed with same step but after installation this os not booting from directly from hdd i need to boot this from bootable usb drive and then select to hdd then its work any idea boot from hdd directly.

        Thanks

      2. Denis

        Mukhtar, if I leave it disable I don’t see my USB driver in the menu, but if it’s enable I can see and when I select it, it starts to run than I get a message of loading for 5 seconds, the Apple logo starts to load and then I get a message of kernel problem when loading all the numbers and it freezes and nothing else working, I have to do a hard reboot to get out of it, so what I’m I missing here ? is it an isseu with config.plist ?

    1. Faiz Orz Reply

      Hello dear
      No that is the DMG file of El Capitan that named as El Pwn
      It won’t create problem for you while installing Mac OS X El Capitan, if you successfully boot in to the USB installer then you will know that it’s working.

  50. Rashid Reply

    I have problem with installing El Capitan from bootable usb ..its goes to apple logo and load half line under apple logo then screen turn black and stop

    1. Faiz Orz Reply

      Hello Dear Rashid
      Use HDMI Cable and connect to your TV until you didn’t complete the installation of Mac OS X El Captian and when you are done then info I and I will tell you the next step. until that time, or if get time then I will manage the article for it.
      After this, please Comment us the Related article about your problem.

      1. Denis Chevalier

        I have the same issue here, but why connecting this to the tv ? And what is the next step if it works ? Thank in advance!

      1. Arif Zaheer

        please say me the easy way to install mac to our pc without using mac or virtualbox.
        is there a programs which can make a bootable mac os from DMG file for installing mac OS on PC
        MY PC Information:
        system model:latitude E5520
        BIOS:default system BIOS
        memory:4GB
        DirectX Version:directX 12
        Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-2520M CPU @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.50Hz

  51. Ghulam Abbas Reply

    Hi Dear Mukhtar:
    Unfortunately the download link of Download OSX El Capitan is not working well.
    Because it is not able to resume for second time.
    Would you please check it?

    1. Mukhtar Jafari Post author Reply

      The link is working but sometimes it gives an error don’t pay attention to that error. Just try it until you download the OSX El Capitan VM image.
      It doesn’t have any problem just try it one more time. IF again you did not do that, let us know.

      Note: OS X El Capitan VM Image will download with browser download manager. If you want to download via IDM
      Right click on the link then select download via IDM (internet download manager)

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