How to Make a Linux Bootable USB on macOS

Make a Linux Bootable USB on macOS

Here’s the simple way to flash a Linux ISO onto a USB drive using macOS built-in tools. No extra software, just terminal.

⚠️ This will completely erase the USB drive. Double-check the disk identifier before running anything destructive.

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1. Plug in the USB

Insert your USB stick.

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2. Find the Disk

List all connected drives:

sudo diskutil list

Look for your USB in the output. It’ll look something like:

/dev/disk4

Make sure you identify the correct one.

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3. Erase and Format

sudo diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 USB /dev/disk4

Replace /dev/disk4 with your actual disk.

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4. Unmount the Disk

sudo diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk4

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5. Write the ISO

sudo dd if=./linuxmint-21.3-xfce-64bit.iso of=/dev/disk4 bs=1m

This can take several minutes. There’s no progress bar. Just wait until it finishes.

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6. Eject

sudo diskutil eject /dev/disk4

That’s it. The USB should now be bootable.

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Notes

• Works reliably for ISO files 4GB or smaller when using FAT32.
• For larger ISOs, consider using a tool like balenaEtcher instead.