--- title: OS X Ubuntu USB Creator description: I’ve spent some time attempting to make a Cocoa that lets you burn an Ubuntu ISO to a USB memory stick on OS X.I think I’ve got as far as I’m gonna get with it now, sadly.How far I got…The UI is pretty conciseA USB stick gets detected when pl […] url: https://canonical.com/blog/os-x-ubuntu-usb-creator --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Canonical](https://canonical.com/blog/author/canonical "More about Canonical") 9 March 2010 # OS X Ubuntu USB Creator [Design](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/design) [programming](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/programming) --- Share the article I've spent some time attempting to make a Cocoa that lets you burn an Ubuntu ISO to a USB memory stick on OS X. I think I've got as far as I'm gonna get with it now, sadly. How far I got... * The UI is pretty concise * A USB stick gets detected when plugged in * The right signal is sent to the dd process and parses the progress for the progress bar Major outstanding issues * It's really *SLOW*. I'm not familiar with how the dd command line utility works -- people keep talking about 'eraseblocks' and suchlike and my eyes glaze over.. * It doesn't detect and inform the user when the write is complete * It doesn't seem to create a bootable device * I can't see how to automatically remount a device after I've unmounted it with diskutil * I'm not amazingly confident that once I've detected the device a volume resides on I'm not then going to end up destroying all the data on the wrong drive The project is on Launchpad here:  It would be pretty awesome if you were able to help out. [source: mikebuntu.blogger.com](http://mikebuntu.blogspot.com) [Get in touch Interested in running Ubuntu in your organization?](https://ubuntu.com/about/contact-us/form) ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. In submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Notice](https://canonical.com/legal/data-privacy/contact) and [Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/data-privacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### Challenges designers face in open source (and how to fix them)](https://canonical.com/blog/challenges-designers-face-in-open-source-and-how-to-fix-them) Open source powers up to 90% of modern software, yet many projects lack usability. Canonical’s Design team surveyed 115 cross-functional professionals to uncover the 4 core... [Kola Ojoodide](https://canonical.com/blog/author/kola-ojoodide) 26 June 2026 [### Template: Streamlining open source design contributions](https://canonical.com/blog/template-streamlining-open-source-design-contributions) As designers working at Canonical, we’re always thinking about open source. We believe that encouraging more designers to contribute to open source benefits everyone, from the... [Nina Rojc](https://canonical.com/blog/author/ninarojc) 16 June 2026 [### Decoding design: How design and engineering thrive together in open source](https://canonical.com/blog/decoding-design-how-design-and-engineering-thrive-together-in-open-source) Open source thrives on engineering-driven processes. Fast feedback loops, terminal tools, Git workflows: they’re the lifeblood of how we build software in the open. But for... [Miguel Divo](https://canonical.com/blog/author/mdivo) 22 May 2026 [### Why web engineering is great](https://canonical.com/blog/why-web-engineering-is-great) Hi, I’m Johann! I’m an engineering manager in Canonical’s web team. For the larger part of my 15 years of work experience as engineer, I’ve been working in web development.... [Johann Wolf](https://canonical.com/blog/author/johannwolf) 27 April 2026