How to install without bootable usb and just iso on Mac mini

Installing Zorin OS
1

Hello. I have a 2014 Mac Mini and i downloaded the iso and mac os says it can't open it because "no mountable file system". I look online for help and I keep hearing about "bootable usb" that I do not have. how do I install? the 2014 Mac Mini doesn't have a dvd drive btw.

2

Welcome to the forum!

To create a bootable usb and install Zorin, you can follow the instructions Zorin have here:

You do not need a dvd drive, this would use any USB you have laying around at least 8 gb or more. Which realistically if it's any USB you've gotten recently, would probably be at least 8 or 16 gigs at this point.

3

Can i boot straight from the USB or do I need to do more work.

(what i mean is that do I have to do things like rufus or whatever is the mac equivelant)

4

Unfortunately there is no way to boot directly from the iso present in your drive. You have to create the bootable usb first and then boot from it.

And it's not a big task, just follow the instructions linked in the above post.

5

Ok. I have a usb. I installed balenaEtcher and I tried to use it to make it bootable but I kept getting a "error starting flasher sidecar process". I erased and reformated it. Tell me if I need to use a different one

6

While for some users BalenaEtcher works fine, it has a reputation of ruining the usb drive.

Since I don't use Mac OS I don't know what other alternative is available for it. You may need to search on the web.

7

Here are help sites for mac:

For Zorin it is similar to Ubuntu.

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8

I have very less knowledge about Mac OS, but I know that it includes the dd command line tool. Which can be used to create the bootable usb drive. For this you have to use the terminal.

(Note: The exacts steps below are generated with Perplexity AI)

Overview of the Process

The dd command is pre-installed on macOS and works reliably for writing ISO images to USB drives, making them bootable.

The general workflow is:

  • Insert the USB drive and identify its device path using diskutil list (it will appear as something like /dev/disk2).

  • Unmount the USB drive using diskutil unmountDisk /dev/disk2.

  • Run the dd command, for example:

sudo dd if=/path/to/zorin.iso of=/dev/rdisk2 bs=4m status=progress

  • Note: Using /dev/rdisk2 (with an “r”) gives better write speeds.

    • Important: replace /path/to/zorin.iso with the actual path to your iso. And /dev/rdisk2 with the usb path you got from the step 1. It might be different for you so check these carefully.

  • Wait for the process to complete, then safely eject the USB stick.

Hope this helps, if any errors feel free to report with screenshots.

9

Unetbootin is also a tool you can use with mac to create a bootstick.

10

I tried your command but it says I am not an admin: "(user) is not in the sudoers file"

11

You maybe need root access to perform those.

Try one of these first to get root privilages

sudo su -

Or

sudo -s
12

I'll try that.

Meanwhile balenaEtcher drove me insane and wasted me 1.5 hours. I looked online and saw people with similar issues. I'll see if rufus or Unetbootin is any better. It's 1:40 AM where I live. I'll try those 2 when I wake up

14

Wait a second.

Although the mac mini doesn't have a dvd drive, is that another option? (having an external dvd drive) if so do I simply get a dvd drive then put a dvd in the external drive, wipe the dvd's contents then burn the Zorin iso to the dvd?

The reason why i am asking is because most usb drive installers require admin which I do not have admin rights.

15

You can install directly from hard drive but not sure about Macs:

16

I just tried Unetbootin on my Windows PC, but I don't have admin rights on that computer neither.

17

Have you tried these:

Once get the root privilages, on the same terminal window try with the dd command.

18

I have an very old Windows 7 computer which I used rufus. it succeded since I have admin on it.

I put the USB now with Zorin on my mac. had it go to boot options.

The 3 boot options it shows was "Macintosh HD", "EFI boot", and "Windows". which one do i select to boot from the usb?

Edit: "Windows" did not work but "EFI" did.

19

Ok. now I am in the Installation type section. I wanna make sure I am installing Zorin OS in the right section.

The Mac I am installing this on has 1 terabyte of storage.

"sda2 unknown" is stated to have 999 GB here.

Where it says "Device for bootloader information", do i select "dev/sda1" or "dev/sda ATA Apple HDD (1 TB)?"

Is all this the correct way to install it?

20

Actually I got it

1 Like
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