Having problems with your Mac not booting and looking for a solution to create a bootable installer on your Mac system? If so, you’ve come to the right place here! We strongly recommend UNetbootin, a free and easy-to-use tool to create a live bootable USB drive without burning a CD on Mac OS X, Windows, or Linux. In this article, we will show you how to use UNetbootin for Mac. We will also provide solutions to fix some of the problems you may encounter.
What is Unetbootin?
UNetbootin is known as a Universal Netboot Installer. It is an open-source application that allows users to create a bootable USB drive from an ISO file. Such a drive allows the user to install a fresh copy of the modern operating system on the target machine. This cross-platform utility is very effective for creating live Linux USB drives from different Linux distributions.
While many ISO-burning tools can create bootable USBs, UNetbootin for Mac is special. The main reason is file security, which means all your files will be safe on the USB drive while making a bootable USB drive. Now let’s see some outstanding features of UNetbootin and how it differs from other tools.
Why should we use this tool?
- Security – UNetbootin has been tested and is free of vulnerabilities.
- Compatibility – It is compatible with all major Linux distributions. You can also use it to create bootable USB drives for many other operating systems, such as Windows and UNetbootin Mac OS X.
- Price – It is a free and open-source tool. There is no cost for its use or any of its features. However, it accepts donations through PayPal, Bitcoin, or Venmo.
- Success rate – It has a success rate of about 90%, so you can create a live USB with this software successfully.
- Ease of use – UNetbootin software has a simple and easy-to-use interface, so you don’t have to spend hours searching for or using certain features or tools.
Explore the outstanding features of UNetbootin for Mac
The first UNetbootin was introduced for the Linux operating system, allowing users to create a Live Linux USB drive from an ISO file. But over time, this tool also supports other operating systems. For example, Mac users can use UNetbootin for Mac to access the Linux operating system on the Mac platform. The same applies to Windows users.
So, what’s more, does this trendy tool offer you?
- The smooth user interface helps you easily access UNetbootin.
- Open source and completely free.
- Quickly burn an ISO image to a USB flash drive.
- Directly download the Linux ISO from the Internet.
- Supports different Linux distributions like Ubuntu, Mint, Debian, Arch, etc.
Where to download UNetbootin on Mac computers?
To create a bootable USB key and access the main features of UNetbootin, you need to download it first. Most users wonder where to get the UNetbootin download file because many websites provide this file but it can be dangerous for the computer. So, for security reasons, it is recommended to download the file from the official website. See a brief guide on how to download and install UNetbootin.
- Open your browser and visit our official UNetbootin website. On the homepage, you will get download buttons for different operating systems including Windows, Linux, and macOS.
- Click the download button marked for UNetbootin for Mac. You can repeat the task depending on your computer’s operating system.
- After downloading, navigate to the download folder and double-click the file to install it on your computer.
How to create a bootable USB drive with UNetbootin
If you need to use UNetbootin to create a bootable USB on Mac, you will first need a USB drive with 16-32 GB, a DMG or iOS file, and UNetbootin software download on your system. Once you have come up with the requirements in your hand, do the following steps to start the procedure.
- Turn on your Mac computer, insert your USB drive, now go to Finder > GO > Utilities, and launch the Disk Utility.
- Next, choose your drive beneath the External header and select the “Info” option to check the path name of your drive.
- Get UNetbootin and choose the following three features from the main interface:
- Select the Disk Image and ISO options.
- Import the DMG/IOS file to the UNetbootin using the “…” option.
- Select the Type USB Drive and select your USB name.
- Now click “OK,” and UNetbootin will begin designing your bootable USB.
- Once the procedure is complete, you use the bootable USB to install the operating system on your crashed Mac system.
Troubleshooting Tips to UNetbootin for Mac
If you experience some issues when using UNetbootin on your Mac computer, don’t worry. We’ve got you protected.
- USB not found: The solution is quite simple and all you need is to keep your USB drive in FAT32 format.
- USB Not recognized as a bootable device: Check the compatibility of your USB flash drive.
Supported distributions
UNetbootin for Mac has built-in authorization for automatically downloading and loading the given distributions. It also supports installing other distributions. Here we give you the list of Linux versions that are compatible with free UNetbootin.
- Ubuntu
- Gentoo
- openSUSE
- Sabayon Linux
- Elive
- NetBSD
- 3CX
- Linux Mint
- Kubuntu
- Puppy Linux
- SliTaz
- Xubuntu
- Linux console
- CentOS
- Zenwalk
- Arch Linux
- Frugalware Linux
Difference between UNetbootin and its alternatives
Do you ever think about the UNetbootin Mac alternative? Rufus is one of the best alternatives for UNetbootin. So if you are looking for an easy and fast way to create a bootable USB drive, both UNetbootin and Rufus are the most reasonable choices. Because they are completely free to download and use.
But the thing is, there is some difference between those applications. UNetbootin can be utilized to create bootable USB drivers for various Linux distributions and works with both Mac and Windows OS. While Rufus supports creating bootable USB drivers for Windows only.
Final Thoughts
In this article, we have explained how to use UNetbootin for Mac with simple and easy-to-follow instructions. We also discussed some troubleshooting steps to fix the problem users are facing when creating a bootable USB using UNetbootin.
Moreover, we have provided a solution to recover your data from a failed Mac using Recovery software before creating a bootable USB drive. I hope we found this guide informative and helpful, and now you can decide if UNetbootin is worthy of your attention.