In the event that you’ve at any point needed to attempt Linux distros, for example, Ubuntu, you more likely than not saw that you can utilize a USB drive to make a bootable “Live USB” for it. This basically suggests you don’t need to introduce the distro on your framework, and you can simply boot into it from the Live USB, and test it out. In the event that you like the distro, you can essentially introduce it from the USB itself. The way toward doing this is simple, and should be possible on any Mac (and Windows PC). Along these lines, in case you’re thinking about how to make a Live USB, and boot into live Linux USB on Mac, here is given below you can do it:

Creating a Bootable Live USB for Linux Distros

To live boot into Linux on Mac, you will first need to make a Live USB for the distro you want. We’re showing this utilizing Ubuntu 14.10 “Yakkety Yak”, on a MacBook Air running the latest version of macOS Sierra. Now you can download Ubuntu from the official website, for free. Once you have done that, you can download with this guide. Ensure you have a USB drive with at least 8 GB limit, within reach.

Note: This USB drive will be formatted, and all the data on it will be erased. Ensure you take a backup of any important data you may have on this USB drive.

To create a Bootable Live USB for Ubuntu on macOS, just follow the steps below:

STEP 1:

Download UNetbootin, and install it on your Mac. Once you’ve done this, launch the app, and click on the radio button next to “Disk Image“.

How to Boot a Live Linux USB on Mac (Guide)

STEP 2:

Click on the button labelled with “…”, and select the ISO file you downloaded from Ubuntu’s website.

How to Boot a Live Linux USB on Mac (Guide)

STEP 3:

Now, connect the USB drive that you want to use as the Live USB, launch Terminal, and type “diskutil list”. Check the “identifier” for your USB drive.

How to Boot a Live Linux USB on Mac (Guide)

STEP 4:

In UNetbootin, select this identifier in the drop down menu that says “Drive”.

How to Boot a Live Linux USB on Mac (Guide)

Note: Ensure that you have chosen the identifier for your USB drive, because the chosen drive will be formatted.

STEP 5:

Once you’re sure that you have selected the correct drive, just click on “OK”.

How to Boot a Live Linux USB on Mac (Guide)

UNetbootin will now work thru a couple of steps, and create a bootable Live USB that you can use to boot into Linux, on your Mac.

Note: By default, when you shut down a Live Session, any changes you create are deleted. So, if you install apps, and create documents in Ubuntu while it is in Live mode, they will not be obtainable the next time you fire up the OS with its Live USB. If you need any changes you create to continue between reboots, you can do that by setting a value under “space used to preserve files across reboots (Ubuntu only)“.

Live Boot Linux in Mac

Now that the Live USB has been created, let’s see how we can boot into it, using the Mac Startup Manager. If you don’t know how to open Startup Manager on Mac, just follow the steps given below:

STEP 1:

Keep the Live USB plugged in to your Mac, and shut it down. Then, press the power button, and press and hold the “option” key, till you reach the “Startup Manager“.

STEP 2:

Now, you will see all of the drives that your Mac can be booted up from, contains the “Macintosh HD” which including macOS Sierra. Maybe, you will only have two options obtainable, one of which will be “Macintosh HD” and other will be the Linux USB drive dubbed “Windows or EFI“. Use the arrow keys to highlight the Linux drive, and press “Return/Enter“.

How to Boot a Live Linux USB on Mac (Guide)

Now your Mac use the bootable USB drive to boot into Ubuntu. When you see a blue screen with some options, choose the one that says “Try Ubuntu without Installing“, and press “Return/Enter“. Your Mac will boot up in Ubuntu.