A DMG disk image file is Apple's container format for capturing entire drives or disks, similar to ISO for other platforms like Windows. It consists of data blocks that represent a physical disc. If you're on a Windows machine, you're limited in what you can do with DMG files. That's why you need third-party utilities to create a bootable DVD from DMG on Windows. This article explains two different methods to burn DMG files to amake bootable macOS installation DVD in Windows.
It's a pretty straight forward process, finding the bootable portion of the installer, making temporary files, calling asr to restore to the temporary image, convert to ISO, and then name the files with the version of the OS. With all the changes from 10.7 to 10.12 - there are some special cases in the script, but it's quite general in that it. The DMG file can be burned to a CD or mount as a normal volume on Macintosh computers. Usually, the data in DMG file is stored in compressed format. On a Windows PC, AnyBurn can convert DMG file to ISO format, or burn it to a blank CD / DVD disc. To convert DMG file to ISO format, please follow the steps, 1.
Method 1: How to Create Bootable DVD from DMG (Command Prompt)
This approach utilizes a tool called DMG2IMG, which converts DMG file into ISO, the universally more compatible archive format. This ISO file is then burned using a command line execution in Command Prompt. You don't really need any experience with disk images or command line work, but it will certainly help should something go wrong. If you're not comfortable with any of this, you can skip to Method 2, which showcases a powerful but user-friendly tool that does it all for you. But first, let's see how the Command Prompt method of creating a bootable DVD from DMG works.
Note: The older version of DMG2IMG is called DMG2ISO. Although the download is available in the link provided in Step 1 below, it is recommended that you use DMG2IMG instead. The utility has the ability to convert DMG into both ISO and IMG, based on your needs.
Step 1. Install DMG2IMG on a Windows PC after downloading the zipped win32 binary from this website. Unzip the file and run the .exe to install the program. You can also download DMG2ISO, but DMG2IMG is the recommended software to use.
Step 2. Open Command Prompt on your PC and execute the following command to convert your DMG into ISO. Be sure to change the file names as appropriate, and include the whole file path from the main directory:
dmg2img.exe c:downloadsexample.dmg c:downloadsexampleconverted.iso
Mac Dmg To Iso
Step 3. Now that your ISO file is ready, you can use the Windows ISO burning utility or a free application like FreeISOBurner to create a bootable DVD.
This DVD can be used to install macOS in virtual Windows environments with tools like Virtualbox. You can't use ISO files to install software in Mac, so if this is intended for a computer running Mac OS X or macOS, you will need to convert it back to DMG before you can install the program in question. If you're not confident that you can carry out the steps properly, then continue to Method 2.
Method 2: How to Make a Bootable DVD for Mac on Windows (DMGGeeker)
Conversion processes aren't always accurate and success rate is low for the first method. Many DVD are not able to be used to install macOS due to boot errors. Although DMG2IMG is a great tool, you may find that your resulting ISO file is corrupted and therefore useless. That means doing it all over again. Instead, you can try using DMGGeeker, which allows you to directly burn DMG to a DVD in Windows without having to convert the file. Such a disk can be used to boot a Mac computer.
DMGGeeker is an emerging star in the world of disk image file management software. It allows you to edit, add files to, delete content from, rename and do a lot more with DMG files on Windows without any conversion necessary. If you've been searching for the ideal DMG handling tool for Windows, your search has just ended. Let's see how the process works for creating a bootable media from DMG in Windows. It works with all recent versions of Windows.
Step 1Prepare for Installation
You can download it from the official site here. And then install DMGGeeker on a Windows PC.
Step 2Open DMGGeeker in Windows
Launch the application and click on the 'Burn' option. You'll see the other tools available for DMG files.
Step 3Create Bootable USB from macOS Install Image
Click 'Load DMG' to import your DMG file into the program. Insert a blank DVD and click Burn against the DVD option to write the DMG to the disk.
In three simple steps, your bootable DVD is ready. You won't find that many tools that are so easy to operate. DMGGeeker also has one of the highest burn success rates in its class, which means no wasted DVDs and no wasted time.
Summary
How to choose the rignt tool depends on what the purpose is. If you want to use a DMG file in Windows to mount a version of Mac OS X, then Method 1 will work. However, most of the time, you'll need a DMG to install an OS version on a Mac computer. In those cases, if all you have to work with is a Windows PC, DMGGeeker is the perfect application. It's simple enough for a novice yet robust enough for a professional, it contains all the tools you need to manage DMG files, and it's a life-saver if you only have a Windows PC to work with.
Related Articles & Tips
If you want to convert DMG to ISO, it's good to learn a little about disk image file types and what they're meant for. Essentially, a disk image is a snapshot of the content on a DVD, CD, BRD or even a hard drive. It could be just a set of media files, but it can also contain software installation files. In the second case, the disk image will also need to contain boot information in order to boot from the media.
Specifically, DMG is what Apple uses for the macOS environment, while ISO is more widely used in Windows-based and Linux environment. At times, you may need to convert DMG to ISO so you can mount it as a virtual drive on a Windows machine to extract the contents, view them or burn them to create bootable media. The process to convert DMG to ISO is different based on which operating system you're using for the conversion. This article shows you how to convert DMG files to ISO files on Windows, Mac and Linux.
Method 1: How to Convert DMG to ISO on Windows 10 (DMG2IMG)
DMG2IMG is a software utility that converts DMG files into Apple's older IMG format as well as the universally used ISO format. The process is simple, but it requires some command line work. The steps to use DMG2IMG to convert DMG to ISO have been detailed below:
Step 1. Download and install DMG2IMG on your Windows computer. Once the installation is done, open File Explorer and go to the location where you downloaded the application.
Step 2. Right-click on the folder where the software has been downloaded, and select 'Open command window here…' to launch Command Prompt.
Step 3. In Command Prompt, execute the following command (click Enter after typing in the command):
dmg2img 'C:UsersSample UserDesktopsample.dmg' 'C:UsersSample UserDocumentsConvertedRandom.iso'
Step 4. Please note that the double-quotes are required only if you have a space in your file path. In this example, there's a space between Sample and User, so the quotes are needed. If there are no spaces, you can do away with the quotes.
This method only works in 32-bit Windows versions. The conversion is usually done accurately, but you may come across errors that can corrupt the output ISO file. If you're going to be doing a lot of such conversions from DMG to ISO, we recommend getting a proper software utility.
Method 2: How to Convert DMG to ISO on macOS (Disk Utility)
Mac OS X and macOS offer an easier way to convert DMG to ISO, which is only natural because DMG is the native disk image format used by Apple. The Disk Utility that's built into Mac will help you do the conversion from DMG to ISO. Follow the steps below to convert your disk image files:
Step 1. Launch Disk Utility in Mac from Applications > Utilities.
Step 2. Open a Finder window and double-click on the DMG file to mount it. You should be able to see it on the left panel in Disk Utility.
Step 3. Right-click the DMG file in the left panel and select 'Convert'. In the new window that appears, select 'DVD/CD Master' as your output and click on Save. This will save your DMG file in a format with the extension .cdr.
Step 4. Rename the file by replacing .cdr with .iso. The file is now in the ISO format.
The exported ISO file can now be burned to a disk, or mounted within Mac as a virtual drive so you can view or extract the contents. The conversion process is quick, and it's convenient because it does not require any additional software.
Method 3: How to Convert DMG Files to ISO on Linux
In a Linux machine, you can use Terminal to convert DMG to ISO. For this, you will first need the Linux version of DMG2IMG. You can get it using a Terminal command, as shown below:
Step 1. Execute the following command in Terminal:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install dmg2img
Step 2. You can now proceed with the conversion command: dmg2img example.dmg example.iso
Step 3. You can also define a specific file path for the output (converted) file, but this basic command is what you need to use for the conversion.
As with any file conversion, the process to convert DMG to ISO could present some hurdles, such as corrupted files at output. If you see this happening multiple times, it's possible that the source file itself is corrupted. In such cases, it's better to try and get an authentic download rather than struggle with a corrupt file. In any case, if you're sure the DMG file is verified, these methods to convert DMG to ISO in Windows, macOS and Linux should work for you.