There are various ways to access .dmg files, typical of macOS, when working on a Windows system. These files, which are containers for disk images and other data, present a slight challenge due to their proprietary format, not natively compatible with Windows. Yet, with the right tools, opening Mac DMG files on Windows, and doing it for free, is really simple.
Free Apps to Open DMG Files in Windows
The simplest option to open DMG files for free in Windows is to use an app for this purpose. There are several options and among the four we collect, the standout is undoubtedly 7-Zip. These are our top choices:
- 7-Zip: A very popular option for opening .dmg files in Windows. Its use is intuitive, and once installed, just a double click on the file is required to access its content.
- PeaZip: Similar to 7-Zip, it allows the extraction of .dmg files with a right click in Windows Explorer.
- DMG Extractor and UltraDMG: These applications facilitate the extraction of content from .dmg files. DMG Extractor offers a paid version for more functionality, while UltraDMG also allows creating disk images.
- DMGExtractor and HFSExplorer: They require Java in Windows but provide basic and comfortable access to .dmg files.
How to Convert .dmg Files to .iso and .rar for Free
Another option to open these files is to convert them to another format. We will focus on the .iso and .rar formats, which we can easily open in Windows. The simplest system is to do the conversion on the Mac directly. We will use the Disk Utility app that all Macs have installed and follow these steps:
- Open the Disk Utility app, which we can find in the Applications > Utilities folder or through Spotlight.
- In the Images menu, choose Convert.
- Select the DMG file we are interested in and click Select.
- In the format section, choose DVD/CD master.
- When finished, we will find a file with a .cdr extension in the chosen folder. Now we simply change the name and replace .cdr with .iso, and we have the converted file.
If we do the conversion in Windows, we have several apps for it. We can consider UltraISO, PowerISO, AnyBurn, TransMac, or SysTools Disk Image Viewer Pro. If we are looking for a free option, as before, CloudConvert, based in the cloud, is an excellent candidate. Keep in mind, though, that it requires registration and depends on our internet speed to be able to send the files to convert.
With these tools and methods, we are no longer limited by the lack of support for the DMG format by Windows PCs. Whether through a simple conversion or using a specific application, it is now possible to access and work with these disk image files on Windows operating systems. A great advantage, especially when we work with both operating systems and need to use DMG files.
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