Install Bootcamp On Mac Catalina
Bootcamp has long been the default way to run Windows on a Mac. We've covered it before, and you can use the MacOS tool to partition your Mac's hard drive to install Windows in its own space.
The Boot Camp Control Panel in Windows does not show/see a drive formatted with the APFS file system that High Sierra, Mojave and Catalina use. But if you select Reboot in OS X from the menu bar tool your Mac Pro will reboot into OS X. Parallels Desktop for Mac vs Boot Camp With Parallels Desktop for Mac, easily switch between the most popular OSes and never worry about rebooting. Optimized for the latest Windows 10 updates, macOS Catalina and macOS Big Sur 11; Run thousands of Windows programs on your Mac; Moving from PC to Mac is easier than ever. Install Windows 10 in one. Step 4: Install Boot Camp on Windows. After installing Windows, Boot Camp drivers that support your Mac hardware start installing. Note: If the support software doesn’t install automatically, you need to install it manually. For instructions, see the Apple Support article If the Boot Camp installer doesn't open after using Boot Camp Assistant. Windows 10 ISO download: Introduction00:22 Download Windows 10 ISO01:07 Boot Camp Assista.
How to create a Windows 10 bootable USB on macOS Catalina? If that question has been bothering you for a while, we've got a couple of great solutions. Just because ISO is not a native format for macOS computers, that doesn't mean there are no tools to get the job done on a Mac. In fact, we've showcased the best two methods to create Windows 10 bootable USB media on macOS Catalina, the latest version of the Mac operating system for iMacs, MacBook Pro and other desktop-based devices.
Advantages of Upgrading to macOS Catalina
The latest iteration of Apple's desktop software offers several advantages over previous versions like Mojave and High Sierra. Although macOS Catalina will forever be known as the iTunes killer, it did bring a whole new set of features apart from decimating the famous media manager and breaking it up into three parts. Here are some of the key advantages it brings to Mac users worldwide:
● The sidecar feature allows you to use an iPad in tandem with your Mac computer as a secondary screen. This creates a seamless transition between the touch and pen-enabled iPad and the keyboard and mouse-restricted Mac interface, allowing you a great deal of flexibility in the process.
● The Screen Time app makes it easy to manage how long your kids or even you use the computer, allowing you to manage computer and mobile addiction in a safe and convenient way.
● The Photos app now does a better job of curating the best images in your collection, and the integration of artificial intelligence elements makes it more intuitive when you're searching for specific memory moments.
macOS Catalina is also great for making Windows 10 bootable USB, as long as you have the right tools and know the right methods to get the task done. Here are the three best methods to create Windows 10 bootable USB on mac Catalina with detailed instructions.
Create Windows 10 Bootable USB on Mac Catalina #1:UUByte ISO Editor
Creating Windows 10 bootable USB on Mac Catalina is much more challenging than doing it with a Windows PC, which has many tools to complete the task. Actually, you can use Terminal app on Mac for this task but it involves complex commands and this is very hard for beginners. So our first recommendation is a beautiful GUI-based app called UUByte ISO Editor.
UUByte ISO Editor is a great tool to manage your ISO files on Mac, including the one to create Windows bootable USB for installation. In addition, you can edit ISOs, extract content, add or remove files, and even copy CDs to ISO. The interface is user-friendly, and you won't have to do all the complicated work of verifying your ISO after burning, messing around with complicated settings, and so on.
Highlights of ISO Editor
- Simplified and elegant user interface.
- Support large Windows 10 ISO file (> 5GB).
- Easily create Windows bootable USB and DVD.
- Edit ISO files and repack into a new one.
- Extract content from ISO image to local hard drive.
- Support latest macOS Catalina and Windows 10.
Step 1: Download and Install UUByte ISO Editor App on Mac Catalina
Download and Install UUByte ISO Editor for Mac. Make sure you download an authentic copy of the DMG file from the official website.
Step 2: Download Windows 10 ISO and Insert USB
Download the ISO file for Windows 10 from the official Microsoft website. Since you're on a Mac, you'll get to bypass the Media Creation Tool and download the ISO file directly to your computer. Insert your USB pen drive with at least 6 to 8GB of free space. If you have anything on it, take a backup because it will be formatted when creating the Windows 10 installer.
Step 3: Start Creating Windows 10 Bootable USB on Mac Catalina
In the UUByte interface, you'll see several modules, including Burn; click on it. On the next page, you'll see your USB drive automatically detected. Import the downloaded Windows 10 ISO to the app and hit the Burn button and wait for your Windows 10 bootable USB to be ready in less than 10 minutes.
[Edit]: Old version of UUByte ISO Editor is unable to handle latest Windows 10 ISO image and we fixed the issue. Please download the latest version of UUByte ISO Editor from our website and burn large Windows 10 ISO to USB. A new pop-up message will show up, telling you it is currently in process to split install.wim file contained in ISO image. Please wait 3- 10 minutes for that.
This is the easy way to create a Windows 10 bootable USB on Mac Catalina, but there's also another way if you're familiar with setting up a virtual machine on your Mac.
Create Windows 10 Bootable USB on Mac Catalina #2: Boot Camp Assistant
Boot Camp Assistant is pre-built app of macOS that essentially run Windows OS on a Mac. Fortunately, you can piggyback on it to get the Windows 10 ISO file and write it to a USB drive. Here are the steps you need to replicate to use Boot Camp Assistant app for creating Windows 10 bootable USB on Mac Catalina.
Step 1: Launch Boot Camp Assistant and then insert your USB drive into an available and working port. The will need to be of 6GB capacity for the 32-bit version and 8GB for the 64-bit version of ISO, depending on which one you downloaded.
Step 2: In Boot Camp, choose the option for creating an install disk. Be sure not to choose the Install option because you're not doing an installation right now, just creating the bootable media so you can install Windows 10 on a different machine.
Step 3: When you hit Continue, the software will automatically pick up the ISO file and display the location in the ISO Image section. Make sure it's the right one and also make sure that your USB is correctly displayed in the section below it.
Step 4: When you see the name of your USB drive change to WININSTALL in Finder, that means it's ready to be used as an installer. Eject it in Finder and remove it from your Mac.
This method is easy and doesn't require additional tools, but Boot Camp Assistant has known issues when working with Windows 10 ISO for that reason, we recommend UUByte ISO Editor for Mac since you won't have any of those problems. If you're technically adept, you can also try creating a virtual machine, as explained in the following section.
Cons:
- No enough disk error.
- Not recognizing USB drive .
- No USB option available .
Create Windows 10 Bootable USB on Mac Catalina #3: Virtual Machine
Virtual machine is now widely known to most of us, especially in tech field. The virtual machine software are able to run a guest operating system along side with the host operating system. It means you can run a Windows 10 instance on a Mac. This can be done with the help of VirtualBox software, a free and open source tool.
The process is a little complicated if you don't know what you're up against, so we're not covering it in this article. You can head over to the WikiBooks web page for that. Once you've done that, you will need to set up Windows 10 in VirtualBox to create the installer. Once you've done that using this resource, you can now use the media creation tool to get the ISO and create the Windows 10 USB installer. The process is explained below:
Step 1: Download VirtualBox Mac DMG file and create a new virtual machine in VirtualBox.
Step 2: In the Windows environment that you've set up on your Mac, open a browser window and head over to the Windows 10 ISO download page.
Step 3: Follow the process to download the ISO file. Make sure you choose the option to download the media creation tool and then to download the ISO file so you can use the tool to create the installer without any additional software.
Step 4: Insert a blank USB into Mac and use Media Creation Tool to download and burn the ISO file to the USB drive.
Cons:
- Complex setup for non-technicians.
- Operations in Virtual machine is limited.
- USB may not be recognized in Virtual machine.
Conclusion:
Obviously, this is a roundabout method to create Windows 10 bootable USB on Mac Catalina that you should only consider if you're comfortable with setting up the virtual machine in the first place. The better option is to use UUByte ISO Editor for Mac because you won't have to mess about with complex tasks. All you need is a USB drive, an authentic Windows 10 ISO, and the software itself. In just a few minutes after that, you'll have a reliable USB installer for Windows 10 that you can use any number of times to set up a PC running the latest version of Microsoft's operating system.
Bootcamp (Boot Camp Assistant) is essentially Apple's way of welcoming Microsoft into its walled garden in a roundabout way. In other words, it allows you to install Windows on a Mac computer by partitioning the disk and letting you dual-boot a laptop or desktop. You will need to specify the amount of disk space for Windows installation, as well as get all the drivers required to run Windows on your Mac OS X or macOS computer. Once installed, it will be exactly the same as working in Windows. A lot of users prefer this over switching between Mac and PC, so you can imagine why Boot Camp Assistant has been so popular for so many years.
Part 1: Problems with Bootcamp Assistant on Mac
That being said, there are a lot of problems in using Bootcamp Assistant on latest macOS such as Mojave or High Serria. One of the errors is the 'Boot Camp installation failed' error. Apple suggests that you move to macOS Mojave and try installing Windows 10 again, but the issue doesn't always go away. Another common error is when trying to copy the Windows installation files. In still other cases, you'll notice that several Mac features don't work when running Windows, such as Apple Software Update stopping, no audio from built-in speakers, mic or webcam not recognized by Windows and so on.
To avoid such errors and issues, which can often take quite a lot of your time to figure out and fix, you can use alternative solutions to install Windows on a Mac from USB. Though you will still need to use Boot Camp Assistant for part of the process, but you're not likely to come across major installation errors when doing this. You can also use Terminal in Mac to help you install Windows. The next two sections describe these methods in detail.
Part 2: Make a Bootable Windows 10/8/7 USB Installer on Mac
Boot Camp Assistant is the official recommendation for creating bootable Windows USB. In case it does not work, we will suggest two alternative software in this section. Both are working fine on latest macOS and we tested three USB drives without running into any issue.
Method 1: Create Windows Bootable USB Using ISO Editor (without Bootcamp)
UUByte ISO Editor can work as a great alternative to Bootcamp for installing Windows OS on Mac. You can easily fetch all the required drivers using Bootcamp, but the installation process for putting Windows on your Mac is different from how Bootcamp does it. UUbyte is one of the most robust Windows 10 bootable USB creator for Mac that you'll ever find. It can do a lot more than just create bootable media, such as creating ISO files, editing them, copying from disc to ISO and so on. For this process, you will need to use the Burn module, which is explained below:
Step 1: Get the Windows 10 ISO from Microsoft's website and install the Mac version of UUbytes ISO Editor.
Step 2: Launch Boot Camp Assistant, go to Action and click on Download Windows Support Software. When the dialog appears, click Save and specify a location for the files.
Step 3: Open the UUbytes program and click on the module that says Burn. Insert a USB flash drive and burn ISO to USB drive. Select the ISO image and click on Burn. This will create a bootable USB drive for the Windows installation.
UUByte is the best alternative to BootCamp for creating bootable Windows USB installer. It is simple to use and has less errors.
Method 2: Create Windows Bootable USB Using Terminal App (without Bootcamp)
Does Bootcamp Work On Catalina
This method uses Terminal application to create the bootable media for Windows 10. You will still need Boot Camp Assistant for the support software, but if you're comfortable with command line work, you try this approach. You will first need to download the Windows 10 ISO file. You will also need to use Boot Camp Assistant to get the support files, for which you can follow Step 3 from Method 1.
Step 1: Launch an instance of Terminal. Type the following command and then Enter to list out your drives:
diskutil list external
Step 2: Scroll down the name of the USB drive listed in Terminal. You will be using this in the next command. For now, let's call it disk2. The next step is to format your USB drive for Windows 10. Use the following command, then hit Enter:

diskutil eraseDisk ExFat 'WINDOWS10' MBR disk2
Step 3: You will be able to see a mounted disk called Windows 10. Mount the downloaded Windows 10 ISO file by double-clicking it in Finder. The name will be CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9. You can also run the following command:
cp -rp /Volumes/CCCOMA_X64FRE_EN-US_DV9/* /Volumes/WINDOWS10/
Step 4: Unfortunately, there's no progress bar to indicate that the bootable media is being created. However, after a sufficient amount of time has passed, the USB drive will contain bootable media for a Windows 10 installation.
Part 3: Create a New Partition for Windows OS on Mac
Windows OS can be only installed on a FAT/ExFAT or NTFS partition. You have to create a new partition on Mac for storing Windows OS files as the default partition on Mac is HFS+ or APFS. This can be done with the help of built-in Disk Utility app. However, this is a highly risky task. Please backup your important data to iCloud or external drive with Time Machine.
To create a new partition for Windows OS, please open Disk Utility app on your Mac. Click the internal disk name on the left sidebar. Now, click the Partition tab on top menu. From the pop-up window, type a name for this new partition and select ExFAT for Windows 10 and MS-DOS (FAT) for Windows 7 from Format drop-down menu. At the end, set a size for the new partition. Finally, click Apply button to take this into effect.
Part 4: Boot Mac from Windows Installation USB
Mac will boot from internal hard drive or SSD in default. To install Windows OS on Mac without Boot Camp, you should let your Mac booting from USB drive to start the installation process. However, this is an easy task.
Make sure you disconnect all USB devices except a wired keyboard and the USB drive containing the Windows ISO files. Now restart your computer and hold down the Option (Alt) key at the same time. Wait for about 10 seconds, Apple logo shows up and you will be presented with several boot options. Pick up the drive you have set in Part 2. If you did not do that, the default name is EFI Boot.
Part 5: Start Installing Windows 10/8/7 on Mac without Bootcamp
When Mac boots from the bootable Windows 10 USB, wait about 30 seconds and Windows installation wizard appears. At this time, the window is much small because graphics driver are not installed yet. Now, you have to follow the screen prompt to choose language, region and most importantly the partition to install Windows OS files.
Part 6: Download and Install Windows Support Software (Drivers)
The Windows ISO image file only has the basic drivers for running Windows OS. Some of the hardware on Mac won't work in Windows, suchas Apple Mouse, trackpad or speaker. You have to install addition drivers to use Windows seamlessly as it is on a PC. To do this, you should download and install Windows Support Software with the help of Boot Camp Assistant.
As usual, launch Boot Camp Assistant app on your Mac and click Action tab on menu bar, where you can see an option named Download Windows Support Software. Now, choose your Windows Installer USB as the target location to store the driver files. It will take 5-10 minutes for the downloading task.
Now, boot your Mac into Windows partition. You will see a pop-up from Boot Camp installer. Just follow the prompt to install Windows Support Software. If it does not appear, then plug the USB drive and navigate to USB drive in File Explorer; then go to WindowsSupport -> BootCamp, and click setup.exe to start installing Windows drivers for this Mac.
Part 7: How to Switch Between Windows and macOS
Now, you have everything set up properly for both Windows and macOS. You may be wondering how can you switch OS between Windows and macOS? The trick is a bit different depending on which OS you are currentlt in.
If you are in macOS now and want to restart into Windows, then reboot your Mac and hold Option key untill you see the Startup Manager, where you can choose a booting device like we mentioned in Part 4, something like this:
You can also do this in Startup Disk from System Preferences. Choose th Windows partition and click Restart... button to boot Mac into Windows OS.
If you are in Windows OS and want to switch to Mac, click the Up Carat icon and select Restart in macOS. If this option does not show up, then reboot Windows as normal and press Option key to bring up Startup Manager and pick up Macintosh HD this time.
Install Bootcamp On Mac Catalina Os
Conclusion
Install Bootcamp On Mac Catalina
It is absolutely not an easy journey for installing Windows on Mac without BootCamp. Fortunately, we have put everything together to help you complete this task smoothly. The key part is how to partition the Mac internal drive and create bootable Windows USB. If you are not comfortable using Terminal, UUByte ISO Editor is the recommended way to install Windows on a Mac without Boot Camp Assistant. It's reliable, quick and doesn't require any special technical knowledge.