How to Convert DMG File to ISO Using Terminal on Mac

If you want to convert a Mac disk image file DMG to ISO format than its not much a difficult task. This conversion could be done through Mac Terminal easily.

The reason behind this conversion is that DMG is a file format which works on Mac only but if you want to transfer any DMG file to Windows system then first you have to convert it to Windows compatible file format ISO, otherwise the DMG file is useless for Windows.

So, follow the instructions written below to convert DMG file to ISO format.

Step 1

Click on Finder

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Step 2

Click on Applications, and then click Utilities

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Step 3

Double click on Terminal to launch

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Step 4

In Terminal window type the following command and hit Enter button from keyboard. Here trickyways.dmg is our provided file name

hdiutil convert ~/Desktop/’trickyways.dmg’ -format UDTO -o ~/Desktop/’trickyways.iso’

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Step 5

When Terminal completes process, you’ll find a file with .iso.cdr extension, as here is trickyways.iso.cdr besides the trickyways.dmg

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Step 6

Click on trickyways.iso.cdr file & press enter to rename it. Delete .cdr extension

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When you’ll try to delete .cdr the following Window will pop up, click on Use .iso option
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Step 7

Now the extension of file is trickyways.iso

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10 comments… add one
rapidninja November 22, 2009, 4:54 pm

Hey. Great hack, but I got an error:
hdiutil: convert failed – No such file or directory
Why would I be getting this?

trickYguY November 23, 2009, 10:04 pm

Make sure you are giving correct file path of DMG file

WindUnderMyWings April 28, 2010, 8:55 am

Trying to convert according to the above mentioned process, this is the result I get on the terminal:

hdiutil: convert: only a single input file can be specified
Usage: hdiutil convert -format -o [options]
hdiutil convert -help

trickYguY April 28, 2010, 2:26 pm

Tell me the terminal command that you are typing to convert DMG to ISO

dwhitey May 28, 2010, 9:46 pm

Im getting the same problem all I am doing is what you say to do. pressing enter gives me that same error.

Nono May 29, 2010, 2:36 pm

Hi! I’ve used the same command to convert dmg to iso as written above and its absolutely working. Send me your command what you are using, possibly I can help you?

ji May 17, 2012, 7:07 am

I don’t know why it always says my permission denied when I attempted

Cactusq September 8, 2012, 12:29 am

You’re a babe! It worked, unlike all the other codes I tried 🙂

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