u/Comfortable_Lake3550

Hey!

I'm back with another update. Thanks again for all the feedback on my last post!

macUSB is a free and open-source native Mac app for creating bootable USB installers for macOS, Linux, and Windows. It can also download macOS installers directly from Apple’s servers, including older releases.

A few of you called it Rufus for Mac in the comments. That’s a bold comparison, but I’ll happily take it!

v2.4 adds support for macOS 27 Golden Gate. The app now runs on the beta and can create bootable installation media for it. The built-in downloader can also fetch public betas and checks /Applications for an existing installer before downloading it again.

macUSB can now create installers for Windows Vista and Windows 7. For Windows 8, 8.1, and 10, you can choose between UEFI and legacy BIOS. In legacy BIOS mode, macUSB installs the macUSBoot bootloader, allowing the installer to boot on older PCs.

PROBLEM

Creating bootable USB installers on a Mac can still be a pain. On Apple Silicon Macs, creating installation media for Catalina and older macOS releases can fail because of architecture and code-signing issues.

Windows installers are not much easier, since macOS has no native Rufus equivalent and usually requires extra tools or manual workarounds.

macUSB started as a way to create bootable media for older macOS releases on Apple Silicon. Thanks to your feedback, it now handles Windows and Linux media too.

COMPARISON

Mist is excellent for downloading macOS installers, while macUSB also focuses on creating the bootable installation media, including Catalina and older releases on Apple Silicon.

balenaEtcher is great for flashing raw images, particularly Linux ones, but it does not create macOS or Windows installers.

Rufus is excellent, but it is only available on Windows. Its workflow inspired macUSB, which brings a similar experience to the Mac.

PRICE

macUSB is free and open source.

Repository

Download

Website