How to Make a macOS Recovery USB Drive from Your Windows PC

Are you in a situation where your Mac won't boot, and you need to create a bootable macOS recovery USB drive? While it's ideal to have a Mac for this purpose, we understand that sometimes you may not have access to one. This is why we've put together a step-by-step guide on how to make a macOS recovery USB drive from your Windows PC.

Step 1: Download macOS Catalina for Windows

The first step is to download the full installer of macOS Catalina from the App Store. Note that you'll need a Mac to do this, but we'll get around that later. For now, just make sure you have a valid copy of macOS Catalina downloaded.

Step 2: Prepare Your USB Drive

Next, prepare your USB drive by formatting it. You can use any disk management tool like Disk Management or third-party software to erase the data on the drive and format it as FAT32 or MS-DOS (FAT).

Step 3: Create a macOS Recovery USB Installer

Once your USB drive is ready, you'll need to create a macOS recovery USB installer. To do this, download and install TransMac from the official website. This software allows you to write the macOS installer to your USB drive.

Step 4: Write the macOS Installer to Your USB Drive

Launch TransMac and select the macOS Catalina installer file that you downloaded earlier. Then, select the USB drive as the destination and click 'Write' to start the process. The software will take a few minutes to complete the task.

Step 5: Verify the Installation

Once the installation is complete, verify that your USB drive now contains a bootable macOS recovery installer. You can do this by inserting the USB drive into another Mac or PC and restarting it while holding down the 'Option' key (or 'Alt' on Windows). This should bring up a list of available boot options, including your newly created macOS recovery USB installer.

Making a macOS recovery USB drive from your Windows PC is a relatively simple process. With these steps, you should be able to create a bootable installer that can help you recover your Mac in the event of a startup failure or system corruption. Remember to always have a backup of your important files and data to prevent any potential losses.

Alternative: Make a Bootable Catalina USB Installer on macOS

If you do have access to a Mac, making a bootable Catalina USB installer is a straightforward process. Apple provides clear instructions for this purpose, which can be found in the App Store or online. This method saves time when installing the OS offline on multiple Macs.

Make a Bootable Catalina USB Installer on Windows PC

In this article, we've explored two methods for making a bootable macOS recovery USB drive: one using a Mac and another using a Windows PC. While it's ideal to have a Mac for this purpose, we understand that sometimes you may not have access to one. By following these steps, you should be able to create a bootable macOS recovery installer from your Windows PC.

Make macos recovery usb