Howto: Create a Manjaro Linux USB Boot Drive on MacOS

manjaro-boot-drive-usb-mac.md

Create a Manjaro Linux USB Boot Drive on MacOS

1. Download Manjaro Distribution

   Download page

2. Format USB Drive

   To find the volume identifier of our USB stick, we run

   $ diskutil list
   # ...
   /dev/disk4 (external, physical):
      #:                       TYPE NAME                    SIZE       IDENTIFIER
      0:                                                   *31.7 GB    disk4

   Erase disk (e.g. volume_identifier=disk4)

   $ diskutil secureErase 1 ${volume_identifier}
   Started erase on disk4
   Finished erase on disk4

3. Convert ISO to IMG

   $ hdiutil convert ${input_path} -format UDRW -o ${output_path}

   Note: input_path and output_path are the locations of the downloaded Manjaro ISO file respectively the output path for the image (latter without file suffix).

   Example:

   $ input_path=~/Downloads/manjaro-xfce-18.1.5-191229-linux54.iso
   $ output_path=~/Desktop/manjaro-xfce-18.1.5-191229-linux54
   $ hdiutil convert ${input_path} -format UDRW -o ${output_path}
   # ...
   created: /Users/main/Desktop/manjaro-xfce-18.1.5-191229-linux54.dmg

4. Burn to USB Drive

   $ diskutil unmountDisk /dev/${volume_identifier}
   Unmount of all volumes on disk4 was successful

   Then

   sudo dd if=${output_path}.dmg of=/dev/${volume_identifier} bs=1m 

5. Restart Mac and hold alt key after startup chime to select boot drive. Choose the USB Drive.

6. Enjoy Manjaro!