How to create a Windows 7 installation USB from OS X?

I'm trying to create a Windows 7 installation USB (for use on a PC) from OS X.

I've tried following these instructions from a similar question on superuser:

  • Insert the USB flash drive and run the command diskutil list to find out the disk name, we'll use /dev/disk1 as an example
  • Now unmount the disk using diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk1
  • dd if=/path/to/Win7.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=8192

But the instructions don't work. When I insert the created USB drive into my PC and try to boot from it, I get this message:

Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media in selected Boot device and press a key

What am I missing?


Turns out OS X Lion ships with Boot Camp 4.0, the coolest feature of which appears to be the ability to create install USBs.


I hope I am not offending you, but this issue may have something to do with your level of understanding of what that terminal command actually does.

You can't just copy and paste the command :

dd if=/path/to/Win7.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=8192

.. and expect that to work.

You need to change the above command to point to the actual location of your "Win7.iso" file (if that is what it's named).

eg.

Say I have a file called "windo7.iso" and it's currently located on my desktop, then the command that you should be using is :

dd if=~/Desktop/windo7.iso of=/dev/disk1 bs=8192

Hope this helps.