Creating a Windows 7 64bit bootable USB from OS X

[Nesh108]

Hello,

I am new here and I am seeking advice.

Background:
I have, mistakenly, removed the MBR on my PC (another machine) after several attempts I solved the issue with the partitions not showing up, now the last part is to recover the MBR using either the Windows 7 recovery disk or Windows 7 Installation Disk.
I have the iso of them both, and here is my issue:

I only have a working Mac OS X SL (10.6.8), I have 1 pen drive and no DVD/CD's.
I have tried several ways to create a bootable USB from mac and I managed to do it only for Linux distro's.

I used:

sudo -s
dd if=/path/to/img.iso of=/dev/rdisk1 bs=1m [the pen is disk1]

it works, the contents are copied, but when I put it on the PC and try to run it, it does not work.

I also tried to first convert the iso to .dmg, and then changing the extension to .img, to do the same [this is the way it WORKS for UBUNTU bootable usb]

I also tried to check out BootCamp Assistant (as I read that it should have an option for creating bootable usb's) but I couldnt find the option.

So, since nothing works both for the iso with Windows 7 nor for the one with Windows 7 Recovery Disk, I wonder if the issue is related on the way I do the bootable usb.

Maybe you need to do something else for Windows bootable USB's. As if I use the same exact procedure for Linux distro's (I tried 3 of them) it works.

I also tried unetbootin and selecting the iso, but nothing changed...

I have googled and worked for 1 days now.

I also tried to use 'testDisk' and that fixed the partition issue but not the MBR one.

Thanks in advace, I hope I gave enough information.

Cheers,
N.

 

[-tWv-]

Have you tried to use disk utility to just restore the .iso image of the windows disk to the USB drive? Using disk utility, select the usb drive you want to use and then got to the "restore" tab. Then click the button that says "image.." and then find your image. After selecting the image, drag the usb drive you want to restore over the the target box and click "restore." Your terminal command might be doing the same thing, but you could give it a try.

This is the way I have made mac bootable usb drives in the past, I would assume it would be similar for windows.

If not, I'm not sure how to do it on the mac, you might have to borrow a windows pc in order to do it, or burn the iso to a dvd and use the dvd instead of a bootable usb.

 

[mrCham]

Have you tried to use disk utility to just restore the .iso image of the windows disk to the USB drive? Using disk utility, select the usb drive you want to use and then got to the "restore" tab. Then click the button that says "image.." and then find your image. After selecting the image, drag the usb drive you want to restore over the the target box and click "restore." Your terminal command might be doing the same thing, but you could give it a try.

This is the way I have made mac bootable usb drives in the past, I would assume it would be similar for windows.

If not, I'm not sure how to do it on the mac, you might have to borrow a windows pc in order to do it, or burn the iso to a dvd and use the dvd instead of a bootable usb.

Doesn't work with ISO files you know

 

[jsuaggie]

Did you get an answer, I am trying to do the same.