It is now safe to remove the USB drive from the Mac. Test the Ubuntu USB Drive. The newly created Ubuntu USB drive is now ready to be inserted into a PC as a live-drive from which you can run the Ubuntu operating system. The USB drive can also be used to install Ubuntu, alongside or in place of, Windows on a PC.
If you select 'USB' and 'Mac' on, it gives a series of command line instructions to make a USB key which the MacBook will boot into Ubuntu from. I've followed them to the letter two or three times on different USB keys, and it doesn't work. There's a very great deal of technical discussion about EFI etc. But this set of instructions seems to suggest it should just work, but it doesn't. I'm increasingly unhappy with the more locked-down approach Apple is taking, and I'd quite like to start using Linux with a view to transitioning over to using it as my main operating system, but booting from the CD takes forever, runs slowly and I'm really hoping to get it moving off USB.
Can anybody help me? Short answer: You can't. Apple doesn't want you to boot an OS other than OS X off USB. If your Mac has a working optical drive, use it. It will save you pain. If you have a newer Mac (64 bit), just remember to use the ( amd64+mac), not the regular amd64 iso. (See for an explanation of the difference) Longer answer: (Ok, I lied above.) You can, but 'it's complicated'.
One method that has worked for a number of people is to dd the bootable USB key to its own partition on your hard drive and then boot off that partition. The basic method is explained nicely. This doesn't always work, even on the same hardware. In particular, if you have a MacBook Air, which doesn't have an optical drive, then the forums are filled with posts of trying the dd-to-a-partition trick and failing. For MacBook Air owners, it is strongly advised to obtain a MacBook Air SuperDrive (no, a regular USB CD/DVD drive ) and then use that to install through the usual CD route (using the Mac iso for a 64 bit install). Lastly, actually worked(!) to install 11.10 onto my MacBook Air 3,1 (late 2010 model).
However, I expect some modification is needed to work on other versions of the Air, not to mention other Macs. How to create a bootable USB stick on OS X/macOS This procedure requires that you create an.img file from the.iso file you download. It will also change the filesystem that is on the USB stick to make it bootable, so backup all data before continuing. Open the Terminal (in /Applications/Utilities/ or query Terminal in Spotlight).
Insert your USB flash media, which must be 2GB or larger and has only 1 partition on the USB flash drive. For Ubuntu 18.04 and later the USB flash drive should be 4GB or larger. Launch the Disk Utility app which is located in Applications - Utilities or Spotlight search. In the lefthand pane, click on the USB drive to select it. Click the Partition tab. Select 1 Partition from the dropdown menu.
Enter a name for the drive. Change the Format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Click the Options button. Ensure that the GUID Partition Table radio button is selected and click OK. Click Apply. Warning: Disk Utility needs to be used with caution as selecting the wrong device or partition can result in data loss. Convert the.iso file to.img using the convert option of hdiutil e.g., hdiutil convert -format UDRW -o /path/to/target.img /path/to/ubuntu.iso Note: OS X tends to put the.dmg ending on the output file automatically.
Run: diskutil list to get the current list of devices. Run: diskutil list again and determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g. Run: diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskN (replace N with the disk number from the last command; in the previous example, N would be 2). Execute: sudo dd if=/path/to/downloaded.img of=/dev/rdiskN bs=1m (replace /path/to/downloaded.img with the path where the image file is located; for example,./ubuntu.img or./ubuntu.dmg). Using /dev/rdisk instead of /dev/disk may be faster. Give the dd command enough time to finish.
It could take 3-5 minutes to finish executing. When dd is finished, you should see a confirmation that the process has completed. If you see the error dd: Invalid number '1m', you are using GNU dd. Use the same command but replace bs=1m with bs=1M. If you see the error dd: /dev/diskN: Resource busy, make sure the disk is not in use. Start the 'Disk Utility.app' and unmount (don't eject) the drive.
Run: diskutil eject /dev/diskN and remove your flash media when the command completes. Booting Ubuntu on a Mac from the USB drive The newly created Ubuntu live USB drive is now ready to be inserted into a Mac. Booting Ubuntu from the USB drive To test the Ubuntu live USB on a Mac:. Insert the USB drive into an available USB port. Reboot or turn on the Mac.
Immediately after the startup chime, press the Option key (sometimes marked Alt). Select the USB drive from which to boot by using the left and right arrow and Enter keys.
If you can't see the USB drive in step 4, download boot manager to get a screen where you can choose from the available devices to boot from. After a LOT of trouble with various methods i finally got ubuntu 13.04 32bits working on a macbook 2,1 (mid 2007). My DVD drive is broken so i really needed a live USB.
(DISCLAIMER:)I´m no programmer but after setting things up the following way it worked like charm. Install the latest version of rEFIt. Download Mac Linux USB Loader from this page:. Download the source code from the same link. You will need the bootlA32.efi file located in the 'EFI' folder. Insert your USB flash drive, and format it to FAT 32 using disk utility.
Open Mac Linux USB Loader and select the.iso file you want to boot. Click on Create Live USB and follow the instructions, it's a pretty straight forward process. My macbook model just refused to boot on efi64, so i had to do some tweaking here:. Go ahead and open the USB drive. Go to the 'efi' folder and then the 'boot' folder.
Inside you should see a file named bootX64.efi. Erase it and place the bootlA32.efi file instead.
Now just reboot and from the rEFIt menu choose to boot from the USB drive. I Hope it helps somebody out there!
Advertisement Linux has long been synonymous with bootable flash drives, whether it’s to fix some sort of problem with your primary OS, or for trialling and installing USB drives are great, not just for installing portable versions of Linux but for protecting your computer when things go awry. Here are the 5 most useful Linux distributions for installing on a USB drive. There are a few ways to get a create live USB sticks that will boot on your Mac. You can go the freeware route for an easy option, or put a little bit of time into creating the drive yourself using Terminal. Today we’ll cover both these methods! First: Prepare Your USB Drive Make sure you choose the right USB drive for the job, and that it’s formatted correctly to avoid any problems. Some Linux variants may require larger volumes, so pay attention to the requirements when downloading. Others don’t have any strict requirements, but formatting to FAT beforehand is a good idea: Warning: Everything on your drive will be erased if you do this!. Insert your USB drive into your Mac and launch Disk Utility (under Applications Utilities, or Today we're going to share our favourite good Mac habits, while desperately trying to forget the bad ones.).
Select your USB device in the menu on the left, then click Erase. Give it a name (or not) and choose MS-DOS (FAT) under “Format” and GUID Partition Map under “Scheme.”. Hit Erase to apply the changes. If it fails, try again — sometimes the system doesn’t unmount the volume in time and the process will be unable to complete. Generally speaking anything above 4GB will do the job (I used an 8GB Lexar for this tutorial). If you have persistent problems, try another USB drive.
Method 1: Create a Live USB Using Etcher (Easy) is a free open source tool for burning disc images onto USB and SD drives. It’s a relatively recent addition to the When most people think open source, they think Linux.
But Mac OS X has its share of quality open source programs as well — and a bunch of them aren't available for Linux or Windows., and it makes creating bootable devices completely foolproof:. Grab your desired Linux image, then and install it. Insert your USB stick, then launch Etcher. Click Select image and find the Linux image you downloaded — Etcher supports.IMG,.ISO and.ZIP among others. Ensure the correct USB device is selected — hit Change to see a list of connected devices.
Finalize the process by clicking Flash! And wait for the process to complete.
You’ll likely see an error message warning you that your USB drive isn’t compatible with your Mac. That’s normal — simply eject and go. Your bootable Linux USB drive is now ready, you can now skip to the Booting Your USB Drive section below. Method 2: Create a Live USB Using the Terminal (Moderate) If for some reason you don’t want to use Etcher (maybe you’re on an incompatible version of macOS), you can accomplish this task using the command line. This is possible using Terminal, your Mac’s built-in command line interface.
While this method requires a little more thought and patience on your part, it’s actually pretty straightforward. You might even learn a thing or two, plus you’ll feel smart afterwards. Assuming you’ve formatted your drive as per the instructions at the start of this tutorial, here’s how it works: 1.
Convert Your.ISO Launch Terminal and take note of where your Linux disc image is stored in Finder. Convert your image (usually an.ISO) to an.IMG file using the hdiutil convert command: hdiutil convert /path/to/downloaded.iso -format UDRW -o /path/to/newimage Replace /path/to/downloaded.iso with the location of your own.ISO (you can drag and drop directly into the Terminal window if you want) and /path/to/newimage to wherever you want the new image file to be created. You’ll likely be able to identify the drive by its name, it’s format, and its size using a process of elimination. Take a note of the listing under the IDENTIFIER column, then unmount the drive using the following command: diskutil unmountDisk /dev/diskX You’ll need to replace diskX with the corresponding number, e.g. Disk3 — if successful Terminal will report that the disk was unmounted.
If you’re having trouble unmounting a drive, you can launch Disk Utility, right click on a drive, then choose Unmount (don’t eject the drive, though). The final step is to write the image to your USB stick, using the dd command: sudo dd if=/path/to/newimage.dmg of=/dev/diskN bs=1m Replace /path/to/newimage.dmg with the path to the file we created in step 1 (again, drag and drop works best), and diskN with the location we identified earlier. You’ll need to authorize with your administrator password immediately afterwards, since we used the sudo command. You’re done, and your drive is ready for booting. Booting Your USB Drive Assuming all went well, you’ll now have a USB drive that will let you boot Linux. You can plug it into the Mac you want to use it on, then shut down the computer. In order to access your Mac’s boot menu, you’ll need to hold the option (alt) key while it boots.
The best way to do this is to shut down, hold the option key, start your Mac, and wait. If you did it correctly you’ll see a few options including your built-in hard drive, and the USB device we created earlier titled “EFI Boot.” To boot into Linux, select the USB device and click the arrow (or double click). Depending on what you’re using, you may get another menu which acts as a bootloader for your particular flavor of Linux. If you have problems, or your USB drive won’t show up, try running the process again, try using an alternative method above, try a different USB stick or port, and consult your respective distro’s help documentation. The Best Way to Try Linux on Your Mac Assuming all went well, you now have Linux running on your Mac and you can test it out or install it outright if you’re tired of macOS. You still have an If you are looking to ditch macOS, you may want to delete your recovery partition for some extra disk space. Later you also may want to restore it.
Here's how to do both. which can be accessed by holding command+r while your machine boots. This can Need to restore your Mac to factory settings?
Here's how to install a fresh copy of macOS and erase everything. Among other things if you decide to go back.
There are other tools that claim to help you do this, but not all of them work, and some cost money. Is still a popular choice for Linux and Windows users, but it hasn’t been able to create Mac-bootable USB drives for years. I tested it again for this article, it failed miserably and was generally unpleasant to use.
There’s also our old favorite, which is open source and actively maintained. It’ll cost you $5 for a pre-compiled binary, assuming you don’t want to download and compile it yourself. This low entry fee helps keep the project maintained, but it’s hard to justify paying for something Etcher or Terminal can do for free. And, if you need help Want to install macOS from a USB drive? We'll walk you through this alternative method for installing macOS., we have you covered there as well. Explore more about:,.