How can I install a Windows 7 into BootCamp via USB

I have a MacBook and I'd like to install Windows 7 via USB. I've created the partition using Boot Camp and I've got an .ISO of my Windows 7 install disk. Is it possible to install this via USB, instead of burning a DVD?

Tom

Posted 2011-02-18T23:28:18.980

Reputation: 341

Answers

Through Disk Utility you can restore the Windows 7 ISO onto the flash drive.
When you hold option at startup to access the boot options the disc will appear.

Note: When you do the restore through Disk Utlity make sure your flash drive is partitioned correctly.

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It needs to be partitioned as Mac OS X journaled (HFS+) - this will enable the GUID partition map (so the boot menu can read the ISO). Next, click source and within the finder locate the ISO and you're set.

Alexander Webber

Posted 2011-02-18T23:28:18.980

Reputation: 156

11This doesn't work for me. I'm partitioning my disk with 1 partition as 'Max OS Extended (Journaled)', but when I try to select the ISO in the Source: field, the iso file is greyed out by Finder, and attempting to do it by drag-and-drop gives 'Could not validate source - Invalid argument'. Also, I'm on Mac OS X Mountain Lion. – JeremyKun – 2012-07-16T04:39:19.940

With Lion, Apple has added an option to BootCamp that will create a bootable USB Windows 7 install disk, this option is only enabled in Mac models which don't have an optical drive. To enable this option just follow this guide.

Aviel

Posted 2011-02-18T23:28:18.980

Reputation: 97

@Aviel - Please include the relevant information from your link.. This is an excellent chance for somebody, to find the content that was at that link, and submit a new proper answer. – Ramhound – 2016-09-17T12:18:08.393

It looks like that link is dead. Or at least it's going to a very sketchy looking site with no obvious link to the information. – Sean McMillan – 2018-11-13T01:51:46.293

Welcome to Super User! Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference.

– slhck – 2012-05-23T07:41:14.783

Thanks for the comment! I'll take it into consideration for my following answers. – Aviel – 2012-06-10T12:43:17.967

I don't know if it's a Mountain Lion thing, but I cannot modify the plist file. Even sudo won't cut it as the file is "locked". – Maciej Trybiło – 2013-05-18T19:16:43.150

This worked for me:

Burn ISO to bootable USB flash drive in Mac OSX terminal (via command line Diskutil)

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

Insert your flash media

Run diskutil list again and determine the device node assigned to your flash media (e.g. /dev/disk2)

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 N with your disk number)

Run diskutil eject /dev/diskN and remove your flash media when the command completes

FFish

Posted 2011-02-18T23:28:18.980

Reputation: 161

Make sure to run the Bootcamp assistant before you try to boot off the flash drive. Follow the instructions in How to install Windows 7 from USB, then see if the computer will recognize the flash drive when you boot up. To choose different boot media when a Mac starts, press Option, then select the flash drive if it appears.

If that doesn't work, post in the comments; there may be more steps required to get it to boot off of the external drive.

nhinkle

Posted 2011-02-18T23:28:18.980

Reputation: 35 057