How to Download a Mac OS ISO to USB for VirtualBox

If you're looking to create a bootable USB drive for VirtualBox, you've come to the right place. This article will walk you through the process of downloading a Mac OS ISO to USB and configuring it for use with VirtualBox.

First things first, make sure you have a bootable USB disk attached to your computer. This is crucial because we'll need to find out the disk path later on. Once you've got the USB disk attached, open up Terminal (you can find it in Go – Utilities – Terminal) and type `mount`. Note down the disk path as we'll be using it in a subsequent command.

Next, we need to enable VirtualBox's hidden feature that allows us to boot from a USB drive. Essentially, what we're going to do is create a VMDK file based on the attached USB disk and mount it as the virtual machine's first bootable disk. This will allow us to boot our virtual machine directly from the USB drive.

As you may know, many PC utilities and operating systems come with the ability to create portable and bootable USB drives. Oracle VirtualBox is one such software that allows you to run multiple operating systems on a single computer. If you have a bootable Live Linux on USB and want to try it out in VirtualBox, this method will be very useful.

The steps outlined below are based on my own experience of booting a VirtualBox virtual machine from USB on both macOS and Windows host computers. Unfortunately, this feature is not yet built into most desktop virtualization software.

There may come a time when you need to boot a virtual machine from USB, such as when installing an operating system as a guest on VirtualBox but do not have the ISO file. In these situations, having a bootable USB drive can be a lifesaver.

By following the steps outlined in this article, you should be able to successfully download a Mac OS ISO to USB and configure it for use with VirtualBox.

Download a mac os iso to usb for virtualbox