Create bootable Windows, Linux, and other USB installers from your Mac. Single-ISO writing, Ventoy-style multiboot, Linux persistence, automatic checksum verification, and a built-in Windows 11 TPM / Secure Boot / online-account bypass — wrapped in Apple's native Liquid Glass design.
A single-window, native Liquid Glass app — mode switcher, live USB detection, drag-and-drop ISO, and a one-tap START. Grab it from Releases to see it in motion.
Why? Rufus is the gold standard for making bootable USBs — but it's Windows-only. On macOS you're stuck juggling
balenaEtcher(Linux only),WinDiskWriter(Windows only), andVentoy(Terminal-heavy). And almost every Mac tool struggles with Windows 11 installers. RufusMac brings it all together in one beautiful, native app.
🤖 RufusMac was designed and built with the help of Claude Code, Anthropic's agentic coding tool.
- 🔌 Smart device detection — external/removable USB drives only; your internal disk is never listed.
- 💿 Write any image — ISO / IMG / DMG, Windows or Linux, auto-detected.
- 🧩 Partition scheme — MBR or GPT.
- 🖥️ Target system — UEFI or BIOS/UEFI.
- 🗂️ File systems — FAT32 / exFAT / NTFS.
- 🏷️ Volume label, quick format, and advanced options.
- 🔁 Auto-defaults — RufusMac picks sensible settings from the ISO you choose.
- 🪟 Windows 11 bypass, built in — skip the TPM 2.0, Secure Boot, RAM/CPU checks and the online-account requirement, automatically.
- 🧱 Large
install.wimhandling — auto-splitsinstall.wim> 4 GB into.swmso Windows boots from FAT32 (no NTFS gymnastics). - 🗃️ Ventoy-style Multiboot (experimental) — set up the drive once, then drag many ISOs onto it and boot any one from a menu.
- 💾 Linux persistence — keep your changes between live-USB sessions.
- ✅ Automatic checksum verification — verify the image before writing and the drive after (SHA-256).
- 📚 Built-in ISO catalog — jump straight to official downloads for Ubuntu, Fedora, Debian, Mint, Arch, Kali, Tails, Windows, and more.
- ♻️ Reclaim drive — one click to turn a bootable USB back into a normal, usable disk.
- 🖱️ Drag-and-drop ISO selection.
- 🛡️ Safety first — every destructive action shows a full command preview and requires explicit confirmation. A dry-run "Preview only" mode runs nothing.
- 🧰
rmctlCLI — list drives, preview command pipelines, browse the catalog, and verify checksums from the terminal. - 🎨 Native Liquid Glass UI — built in SwiftUI for macOS 26 (Tahoe). Adaptive light/dark, Apple-silicon native.
| RufusMac | Rufus | balenaEtcher | Ventoy | WinDiskWriter | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runs on macOS | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Native Liquid Glass UI | ✅ | — | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Windows ISO → USB | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | |
| Linux ISO → USB | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Windows 11 TPM/Secure Boot bypass | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | |
| Multiboot (many ISOs) | ⚗️ exp. | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Linux persistence | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Checksum verification | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Command preview / dry-run | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |
| Built-in ISO catalog | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | |
| CLI companion | ✅ | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Open source | ✅ GPLv3 | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
- Download
RufusMac.dmgfrom the latest release. - Open it and drag RufusMac to Applications.
- First launch: right-click → Open (the app is unsigned open-source software, so Gatekeeper asks once).
Verify your download: shasum -a 256 RufusMac.dmg and compare with the published .sha256.
Requires macOS 26 (Tahoe) or later on Apple silicon.
- Plug in a USB drive and pick it under Device.
- Choose a mode: Single ISO, Multiboot, DD Image, or Reclaim.
- Drag in an ISO (or click Browse catalog to download one).
- Tweak options if you like — RufusMac pre-fills sensible defaults.
- Press START, review the plan + warnings, then Preview only (safe dry-run) or Erase & Write.
rmctl list # show external/removable drives (read-only)
rmctl preview windows X.iso # dry-run the exact command pipeline (nothing runs)
rmctl catalog # browse the bundled ISO catalog
rmctl verify file.iso <sha256>git clone git@github.com:h4rithd/RufusMac.git
cd RufusMac
swift build -c release # builds with the Command Line Tools (no full Xcode needed)
scripts/make_dmg.sh # produces dist/RufusMac.dmg
scripts/fetch_thirdparty.sh # (optional) bundle wimlib/ventoy/e2fsprogs for Windows + MultibootRun the tests (requires Xcode for the Swift Testing framework):
swift testRufusMac is built to never touch your internal disk:
- Only external, physical, removable disks are ever listed (verified against
diskutil). - Every write shows the exact commands and a red, explicit confirmation.
- A dry-run mode prints the plan without executing anything.
- All privileged work runs through a single macOS administrator prompt.
Writing to a USB erases everything on it — double-check the device you select.
A clean two-layer design: a pure-Swift engine (RufusMacKit) handles disk enumeration, image inspection, and command planning; the SwiftUI app renders it on Liquid Glass. Destructive work is assembled into one auditable shell pipeline using diskutil / hdiutil / dd plus bundled wimlib-imagex / mke2fs / Ventoy. See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md.
- ✅ Liquid Glass UI, live device detection, dd/Linux writer, Windows writer + Win11 bypass, reclaim, ISO catalog, checksum verify, dry-run preview,
rmctlCLI, portable.dmg. - ⚗️ Experimental: Ventoy-style multiboot, Linux persistence (need real-hardware validation).
- 🔜 In-app downloader with live progress, real-time write progress bar, presets & recents, signing + notarization, localization.
Status: functional preview (
v0.1). Linux and Reclaim use only built-in macOS tools; Windows/Multiboot need the bundled third-party tools (scripts/fetch_thirdparty.sh). Real bootable-media testing on target hardware is recommended before relying on it.
- Rufus by Pete Batard — the inspiration and the gold standard.
- Ventoy — the multiboot engine concept.
- wimlib — WIM splitting.
- Built with the help of Claude Code.
GPLv3 © Harith Dilshan — consistent with the Rufus/Ventoy open-source lineage.
Developed by Harith Dilshan · h4rithd.com