Almost any user can make a boot disk, regardless of their knowledge and experience. You just need to download the ISO image and burn it to a CD or DVD. But if we want to make a bootable USB flash drive, then the procedure has its own nuances, depending on the operating system.
If we copy an ISO image or the files it contains to a USB drive, we will not get anything good. We need to turn the flash drive into a boot partition. Typically, this process deletes all information from the USB drive or SD card.
For those who want to make a bootable USB flash drive with Ubuntu from Windows, it is recommended to use Universal USB Installer. It allows you to work with almost any Linux distribution. An alternative option is UNetbootin.
To create a bootable Linux flash drive, download an ISO image of the selected distribution from the Internet. Launch one of the programs mentioned above, point it to the location of the .ISO file, and then select the USB drive that you want to make bootable. Everything else will be done without your direct participation.
Under Linux, you can use programs with similar functions. For example, Ubuntu has Startup Disk Creator, which can create flash drives with this operating system. There is also UNetbootin, which runs on Linux. Therefore, you can use this utility.
Some operating system distributions are distributed as an IMG file rather than an ISO. IMG is an image designed to be written not to an optical disk, but directly to a flash drive.
To transfer it to a USB drive or SD card, use the Win32 Disk Imager program. You just need to download the IMG file, tell this tool where it is located, and select the desired flash drive. All files on the media, when IMG is written to it, are destroyed. Using this tool, you can also create IMG images using a bootable USB flash drive or SD card as a basis.
More experienced Linux users can use the dd command to write an IMG image to any removable media. Insert the removable media and run the following command (on Ubuntu):
Sudo dd if=/home/user/file.img of=/dev/sdX bs=1M
Instead of /home/user/file.img, specify the path to the IMG file, and instead of /dev/sdX, specify the path to the SD card or flash drive. Be careful when specifying the path to removable media. If instead you specify a disk with the system or data, you will erase it completely.
You can use a Microsoft tool that allows you to download an image of Windows 7 and create a bootable disk or flash drive. To run this tool, you will need an ISO installation file from Windows 7. I hope you have the license key to install this operating system? 
If you have a Windows 8 or 8.1 license key, you can download the operating system image from the Microsoft website and immediately create an installation flash drive. First, you need to download the appropriate tool from the Windows update page. Naturally, you will need a license key for this. Launch the tool, enter the key, and choose to create a USB installation media. 
Please note that Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 have different keys. Therefore, if you want to create a Windows 8.1 installation flash drive with a key for Windows 8, you will have to go through a roundabout route. The easiest way is to install Windows 8 first and then upgrade to Windows 8.1 for free. There's nothing complicated about it.
If you already have an ISO file with Windows 8 or 8.1, you can use the tool I mentioned in the Windows 7 section to create bootable media. This eliminates the need to download a large file.
Just “feed” it an ISO image with Windows 8 or 8.1.
If you need to boot your computer with good old DOS (for example, sometimes this is the only way to update the BIOS or use special low-level utilities), you can use Rufus to create bootable media.
This tool will write FreeDOS to a flash drive - a free, open-source analogue of MS DOS. It can run all programs created for DOS.
To create a bootable USB flash drive in Mac OS X, first update the operating system to the latest version. To do this, use the App Store on your computer. Next, run Apple's “createinstallmedia” utility or the third-party program DiskMaker X.
Removable media with an OS X image can be used to “clean” install the operating system on a computer or update other machines, without downloading files from the Internet to them.
If you plan to install Windows on your Mac, then use Boot Camp to burn the installation media. This program walks you through the process of creating a USB flash drive to install Windows with drivers for Apple computers and integrated Boot Camp utilities. 
This USB stick will allow you to install Windows on Mac computers, but don't try to use it on computers that don't have the apple in its mouth.
In this article I have mentioned only the most popular solutions. But there are other ways to create a bootable USB flash drive for a particular operating system.
The Mac OS operating system is a more stable system than Windows, but still sometimes, even this OS needs to be installed from scratch. For example, you replaced your hard drive or want to install a different version, or you updated to the latest version over the old one and now you are faced with problems: the Wi-Fi network is unstable, constant problems with the operation of programs - they slow down, crash, and the like. This may be fixed with the next system update, or maybe not. Therefore, if you want Mac OS to work correctly and stably, you need to install it on a clean disk, completely deleting the old one.
There are several options:
All methods are free and quite simple. To work, we will need a flash drive of 8 GB or larger in size and an image of the operating system that you are going to install - this could be Mountain Lion (10.8), Mavericks (10.9), Yosemite (10.10), El Capitan (10.11), Sierra (10.12), High Sierra (10.13) or Mojave (10.14). All of them can be downloaded on the Internet, and the latest version of the macOS system can always be downloaded from the official Mac App Store, and for free. You can also download previous versions of the OS from the store, of course, if you bought them before.
And so, let's assume that you have a flash drive and you downloaded the operating system image. Let's start directly with the process of creating a bootable USB flash drive with Mac OS X on board.
This method is the simplest and requires the least effort. Program DiskMaker X is multifunctional and completely free, with its help you can create a USB flash drive with absolutely different systems, from OS X Lion to macOS Mojave. You can download the latest version of DiskMaker X on the official website of the program developers.
All the steps to create a flash drive with Mac OS: Mountain Lion, Mavericks, Yosemite, El Capitan and higher are the same and no different from each other. We will be making a bootable USB flash drive for Yosemite, so we download the DiskMakerX4b4 version.
Run the downloaded DiskMakerX4b4.dmg file and move the application to the Programs folder
Launch the copied program and click Open
Next, we will have a window with a choice of operating system, which we can load onto the USB flash drive. Depending on the version of DiskMaker X, the choice of systems may vary. In our version, these are Mountain Lion (10.8), Mavericks (10.9) and Yosemite (10.10). Choosing Yosemite (10.10)
Now you need to indicate where the system image itself is located, if you downloaded it from the Mac App Store, like we did, then it will be in your “Programs” folder and DiskMaker X will find it itself and you will only need to click Use this copy
and if OS X was downloaded from the Internet, then you need to indicate the location where it is located by clicking on the Select an Install file... button.
Before selecting, do not forget to mount the .dmg file and copy the file from OS X from it, since if you try to select a system image in .dmg format, the program simply will not select it
And directly select the flash drive on which we are going to record by clicking the Choose this disk button
We agree that our disk will be completely erased
After this, the process of creating a bootable USB flash drive will begin, which will take from 10 to 20 minutes, after which you will be notified with a message
Congratulations. Bootable USB flash drive for Mac OS X is ready!
Compared to the previous method, this one is even simpler, since all operations are performed in one program window:
Step 1 Launch the program Install Disk Creator, you can download it from the official website, developed by MacDaddy
Step 2 Select the USB drive that should become bootable
Step 3 Specify the location on the disk where the installer with the macOS (OS X) system is located. If the image was downloaded from the Mac App Store (it is in the “Programs” folder), then the program will find it itself, if not, then you need to click the Select the OS X Installer button and specify the path
Step 4 Click Create Installer and enter our administrator password to get started
Then you just have to wait a little while the Mac OS X bootable USB flash drive is created.
This option is a little more complicated. Here we will do everything ourselves, without the help of third-party programs.
First we need to prepare a USB flash drive for recording.
Step 1 Open the program Disk Utility, to do this, go to the Programs → Utilities folder. Connect the USB flash drive and select it in the left panel of the program
Step 2 In the right menu, select the Disk Partition tab, where you need to format the flash drive. For this on the left Partition scheme in the drop-down menu select “Partition 1”, and on the right specify the format for the USB flash drive "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)", name it as you wish
Step 3 Now at the bottom of the window, click on the Options button and select GUID Partition Scheme and click OK
Step 4 Having selected the partition scheme, in the lower right corner of the program click on the Apply button
Disk Utility will display a warning window that all data on the flash drive will be erased, agree to this and click Partition Disk
Step 1 Connect the USB flash drive and open the program Disk Utility, and then select it in the left panel of the program
Step 2 In the top menu, click Erase to redistribute the flash drive to the Mac OS system
Step 3 Now in the field Name give the flash drive a name of your choice in the field Format select file system format "OS X Extended (Journaled)", and in the field Scheme — "GUID Partition Scheme" and click Erase
When we have prepared the USB flash drive, we will start copying the OS X operating system files onto it. Before doing this, do not forget to copy the installation file from the OS to the “Programs” folder
Launch Terminal, also from the “Utilities” folder and enter the following command (don’t forget to change the name of your flash drive):
for OS X Mavericks
sudo "/Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume "/Volumes/ name of your flash drive" --applicationpath "/Applications/Install OS X Mavericks.app" --nointeraction
for OS X Yosemite
sudo "/Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume "/Volumes/ name of your flash drive" --applicationpath "/Applications/Install OS X Yosemite.app" --nointeraction
for OS X El Capitan
sudo "/Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume "/Volumes/ name of your flash drive" --applicationpath "/Applications/Install OS X El Capitan.app" --nointeraction
for macOS Sierra
sudo "/Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume "/Volumes/ name of your flash drive" --applicationpath "/Applications/Install macOS Sierra.app" --nointeraction
for macOS High Sierra
sudo "/Applications/Install macOS High Sierra.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume "/Volumes/ name of your flash drive"
for macOS Mojave
sudo "/Applications/Install macOS Mojave.app/Contents/Resources/createinstallmedia" --volume "/Volumes/ name of your flash drive"
Press Enter and enter our account password, after which the process of creating a bootable USB flash drive will begin
Erasing Disk: 0%... 10%... 20%... 30%...100%...
Copying installer files to disk…
Copy complete.
Making disk bootable...
Copying boot files...
Copy complete.
Done.
After 10-15 minutes, the bootable USB flash drive with Mac OS is ready for use
This method is the last and most labor-intensive, since here you need to do much more operations than in the previous ones. Plus, this method cannot be used in all macOS - starting from El Capitan and higher, this is no longer possible, since Apple has cut down the capabilities of the Disk Utility program.
As in method 3, we need to prepare our USB flash drive for copying the operating system onto it. Therefore, we prepare it as described above. (cm. )
Go to the Contents → SharedSupport folder and mount the InstallESD.dmg file by double-clicking on it
defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles true;killall Finder
To again disable showing hidden files, you need to specify “false” instead of “true”
Now we see hidden files, open the InstallESD.dmg disk we mounted. We need the BaseSystem.dmg file, mount it by double-clicking on it
We return to the open disk utility and go to the Recover tab, where in the Source field we drag BaseSystem.dmg, and in the Destination field we drag the previously created section of our flash drive. Now click on the Restore button and enter the computer administrator password. The procedure for creating a boot disk takes about 10 minutes, after which we close the disk utility
As soon as the files are copied, the flash drive will be mounted automatically. Open it in Finder and go to the System → Installation folder, where we need to delete the alias (shortcut) to the Packages folder
After this, all we have to do is copy the original Packages folder, which is located on the previously mounted OS X Install ESD image; we deleted the alias (shortcut) of the same name into that folder from there. Once copying is complete, our bootable USB flash drive with Mac OS X is ready!
If for some reason you were unable to create a bootable USB flash drive with the system in macOS, then you can do it from under Windows. You will need the TransMac program; you can download it from the developer’s official website. The program is paid, but it has a trial period of 15 days!
Step 1 Run the TransMac program as Administrator (click on the program icon with the right mouse button and select Run as administrator) and click the Run button. If using a trial period, you will have to wait 10 seconds for the button to appear
Step 2 In the left pane, select the flash drive that you want to make bootable, right-click on it and select Format Disk for Mac, then click Yes to erase all data on it
As you can see, creating a bootable USB flash drive with the macOS (OS X) operating system can be done in different ways, from easy: by pressing a couple of keys, to more difficult. You can use the method convenient for you.
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A bootable MAC OS flash drive is created quite simply and quickly. This can be done using the same operating system or any other.
In all cases, to complete the task we will need an empty flash drive with a capacity of at least 8 GB, as well as an Internet connection. If you use MAC OS, you also need an Apple ID account.
The step-by-step process for creating a boot drive is as follows:
Clue: To boot from the resulting media, connect it to your computer while holding down the Alt button. Then simply follow the installer's instructions.
As you can see, everything here is extremely simple. Difficulties arise if you are not able to use MAC OS to complete the task. Then you will have to resort to “workarounds”.
In this case, the installation image from the App Store will not work. You need to search on torrent trackers or regular sites. And then there are two options - either you will find the image in .dmg format, or in .iso format.
In the first case, you need to do this:
In the future, use the flash drive in the same way as when creating one in MAC OS, that is, insert it into the computer and hold down “Alt”. The corresponding menu will appear and the OS can be easily installed.
If you managed to find an image in .iso format (which is most likely), then you have a lot of options for creating a bootable drive with it. And they are all absolutely free. For example, you can use Rufus.
To do this, do this:
In the same way, you can use the following programs:
Some of them are paid, so be careful.
In Linux and Ubuntu everything is much simpler. There is no need to use any additional programs here. All you need is a terminal, the same empty flash drive and the downloaded image.
Important! To complete the task from Linux, you must have an image in .iso format. Others may not be suitable. However, some of the .iso files may not be suitable, but if you download the images in other formats, they definitely cannot be used.
If all this is there, insert the USB flash drive, launch the terminal and do the following:
As you can see, in Linux it is easiest to complete the task.
It all started with the fact that I needed to install Windows 7 as a second system.
The options with Parallel and VMW were not suitable; a separate download was needed.
I won’t describe what pitfalls I encountered; I’ll get straight to the point. There are essentially two ways. Moreover, one of them will not suit everyone.
Now in Bootcamp Assistant we have the opportunity to make bootable USBs and partition the disk without installation disks. At your discretion, allocate space for the Windows partition (the data will not be lost anywhere, but just in case, it is better to save the necessary ones in a safe place)
Now all that remains is to boot from the flash drive and install Windows as usual. If a regular bootloader does not see your flash drive, you can try an alternative one - . If you can’t boot from it either (No Bootable Device errors or messages appear that the Mac’s firmware does not allow booting), then you should say goodbye to this method and not waste any more time.
So, for this method we will use VMWare Fusion (the free version will suffice) and an ISO image of the Windows installation disk.
The first thing we need to do is make sure that the disk will not be used during our operations. To do this, I temporarily transferred the user folder from it (Settings - Users and groups - open the lock - right-click on the user - Additional options - change the "User folder" field - reboot). I also installed VMWare on another drive. If there is no second disk, then you can use an external one - for example a flash drive. ISO image there too. After all these preparations, we will begin the installation.
First, you need to open Disk Utility, select the disk (the entire disk, not a separate partition) and look at its number in Info. In my case it's disk1.
Open a terminal and enter the commands:
cd "/Applications/VMware Fusion.app/Contents/Library/"
./vmware-rawdiskCreator create /dev/disk1 fullDevice ~/external-hdd ide
where /Applications/VMWare Fusion.app is the path to the installed VMWare, and disk1 is our future Windows disk.
Many people who are used to working with Windows find it quite difficult to switch to a new operating system after purchasing a computer from Apple. In addition to non-standard controls and many functional differences, they are also not satisfied with the fact that the number of programs, games and various utilities developed for macOS is significantly smaller. For this reason, some users install Windows on Mac.
As a rule, the question about the possibility of installing Windows on a Mac computer appears in the first few days after purchasing it. Few people are interested in this issue before purchasing. But habits left over from the days of using Windows and a noticeable shortage of software force us to think about the possibility of using a more familiar and familiar operating system.
Fortunately, such an opportunity exists. Owners of Apple computers can install almost any Windows OS, and without the help of qualified specialists.
The Windows operating system does not replace the installed macOS; it is an additional independent program.
To install Windows on Mac devices, the Boot Camp utility is most often used; virtualization programs are used less frequently. But first you need to choose the appropriate OS version and upgrade macOS, if necessary. Many users do not attach much importance to the issue of choice, which creates additional difficulties for themselves both at the stage of installing an additional OS and after it.
For example, Windows 10 cannot be installed on Mac computers released before 2012. This is due to higher system requirements and other features of the program. If you don't follow this rule, you will simply waste time. Here is a list of Mac computers that support Windows 10:
As for earlier versions of Windows, they can also be installed on Mac computers released before 2012, but there are also some restrictions. Here is a small list of operating systems supported by Apple devices, indicating the appropriate version of the Boot Camp program:
Before purchasing an operating system, make sure it is suitable for your computer.
Many users from Russia and post-Soviet countries prefer to download unlicensed operating systems instead of buying original boot disks. This is a gross violation of copyright law.
In terms of installation requirements, all Windows OS releases can be divided into three categories:
Requirements for the first category:
The external drive must support the method of storing and transferring data in FAT (MS-DOS) format.
Requirements for the second category (Windows 8):
If all the requirements are met, the Boot Camp utility will automatically install additional software to adapt Windows 8 to the technical features of your Mac.
To find out the version of your operating system, you need to go to the menu (the button with the Apple logo in the lower left corner of the keyboard) and select “About This Mac.”
The requirements for the third category are similar, except for one condition: the version of the OS used must be Mac OS X Yosemite or higher.
Due to differences between different Windows operating systems, we will describe installation instructions for each category separately.
To install Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7 on an Apple computer, you must:
You can create a Windows boot disk image using Nero Express
In the window that appears, check the box next to “Create a Windows 7 installation disk”
Confirming that you have downloaded the latest Windows support software from the Apple website
Set the required virtual disk size for Windows OS
Further actions must be performed based on the prompts of the installer program.
Installing Windows 8 is easier and faster than earlier versions of operating systems:
Boot Camp will install the necessary software and drivers on its own. No external USB storage required. This also applies to the latest release from Microsoft - Windows 10. All you need to do is install a boot disk or flash drive, launch Boot Camp Assistant, divide the disk space and follow the instructions.
In fact, the process of installing an additional OS using a flash drive is the same as in the case of a DVD, the only difference is that you need to prepare a USB drive in advance so that it becomes bootable. If you simply burn the image to a USB drive, nothing will work; you need an additional program called UltraISO or similar.
In order to install Windows from a flash drive, you need to make it bootable
This program is shareware - there is a test period, which is quite enough to install Windows from a flash drive. Here are brief instructions for preparing a USB drive for installing an OS from Microsoft:
You can buy an operating system already stored on a USB drive. In this case, no additional actions need to be taken.
Using the instructions described above, you can install Windows OS as an additional and, importantly, independent program. Before each start of your computer, you will have a choice which of the installed operating systems to use.
In addition to installing via Boot Camp, there is another method to use Windows on Apple computers - virtualization. It differs in that the Microsoft operating system is installed and used as an application running directly on macOS. In this case, it looks more like a regular program that opens in a small window than a full-fledged operating system.
When installed in virtualization mode, Windows operates more like a regular application
At the moment, the most popular virtualization programs are:
The difference in cost is dictated solely by the pricing policy of the development companies, since all programs work equally well. The only difference between a free virtualization program and its paid counterparts is that it cannot be used together with Boot Camp.
Installing virtualization programs is almost identical, so as an example, let's consider installing only one of them - Parallels Desktop:
When you start the program, a Windows window will open in front of you, which can be expanded to full-screen mode.
Some users have gone even further, developing a mechanism for combining the capabilities of Boot Camp and virtualization. Thus, they solved the problem of excessive consumption of computer resources with two operating systems running simultaneously.
To achieve the correct operation of the above circuit, you need to perform the following steps:
Boot Camp was created by Apple developers to give users the ability to change operating systems at will. Moreover, databases have been created in the form of drivers and additional software designed to simplify the process of adapting Windows to Apple computers as much as possible. It is for this reason that Boot Camp is so popular among MacBook owners of various modifications.
Benefits of using Boot Camp:
As for the disadvantages, there is only one: not all versions of Windows are supported by Mac computers.
If we talk about the benefits of Windows virtualization on Mac, we can highlight the following points:
Disadvantages of virtualization:
With utilities like Boot Camp and virtualization programs, users can work on familiar Windows operating systems while using high-performance, high-quality Mac computers. This is an excellent example of how two once-warring giant IT corporations are meeting each other halfway for the sake of the interests of their clients.
