Open DMG File on Windows Using Automated Solution. Use Freeware DMG Viewer to read DMG files on Windows. This application has multiple useful options for preview DMG file contents. It can also open compressed DMG files. This program can be the best method for all the users that are unable to open a Mac disk image file on the Windows OS. This write-up will focus on such solutions that Windows users can try. Users can open DMG files using 7-Zip, or they can convert Mac disk image DMG file with the help of PowerISO. Apart from these, they can view DMG contents in Windows with the help of alternate as discussed. Let’s have a look at the solutions one by one.
View Dmg Contents In Windows 7
One of the potentially frustrating things about switching back and forth between Mac and Windows PCs can be proprietary formats — a key example being Apple's DMGs (disk images). Here's how to extract content from a DMG in Windows 10.
The best option, whenever possible, is using 7-Zip. You probably already have it if you're a Windows regular, since it's a free and convenient way of extracting the more universal ZIP format.
Once Z-7ip is installed, find the DMG file you want to work with in File Explorer and right-click on it. In this case we're using some of Apple's free system fonts as an example.
Mouse over '7-Zip' in the right-click menu, then select 'Extract Here' or 'Extract files.' That should give a choice of where to send extracted material, though by default the app will create a subfolder in your current File Explorer location. Click 'OK' once you've chosen a place.
There's a good chance you'll have to dive into the new subfolder and run extraction again. With Apple's font DMGs for example, the real meat is buried within an HFS archive, which you'll need 7-Zip for. HFS is a filesystem used exclusively by Macs.
That should be it — you may see a lot of confusing folders and files, but what you want should be buried in there somewhere.
View Dmg Contents In Windows 10
An alternative to 7-Zip is DMG Extractor. Though it's very straightforward we're inclined to recommend using 7-Zip as your first resort, since DMG Extractor has harsh limitations without a paid license. You can't extract more than 5 files from a DMG simultaneously, and it simply won't work with encrypted files or those bigger than 4 gigabytes.
Neither 7-Zip nor DMG Extractor are the ultimate solution, though. There are some DMG files that 7-Zip, nor other alternatives that we've tried will open. For instance, if on the Mac, a end-user license agreement instantly pops up, we've found that most of the time, Windows solutions will choke on these.
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Windows users may occasionally encounter files with a .dmg extension. These DMG files are Apple Disk Image containers that are used in macOS to distribute software or files. While a Windows user likely won’t have use for a DMG file containing a macOS application installer, in the cases where a DMG simply contains files — such as fonts, images, or documents — it may be necessary to open it. If you have access to a Mac, you can simply open the DMG file there and then transfer the extracted files to your Windows PC. If you don’t have a Mac, you can still open the file in Windows, but you’ll need third party software to do so. There are several third party utilities that can open a DMG file in Windows, but one of the easiest is 7-Zip, the free and open-source file archive utility. 7-Zip is one of the first applications we install on new Windows installations for its robust handling of ZIP and RAR archives, so you may already have it installed by the time you need to open a DMG file in Windows.Open a DMG File in Windows With 7-Zip
- If necessary, head over the 7-Zip website to download and install the applicable installer. There are different versions depending on your version of Windows (32 or 64-bit) and installer type (executable (exe), Microsoft Installer Package (msi), or a 7-Zip archive (7z).
- Once the utility has been installed, open Windows File Explorer and locate the DMG file. Right-click on the DMG file and you’ll see a 7-Zip command in the menu. Hover your mouse cursor over 7-Zip to reveal the sub-menu of applicable commands.
- Select the desired command depending on what you want to do with the DMG file. Selecting Open lets you see the contents of the DMG file in the 7-Zip archive browser without actually extracting them. Selecting one of the Extract commands will extract the DMG contents, either to the current folder (Extract Here), to a new folder with the same name as the DMG file (Extract to…), or to a custom location you can define (Extract files…).
- Any of these options will give you access to the contents of the DMG file. Note that you will likely see a number of extra folders related to metadata and indexing. These are used by macOS but, due to the different ways that macOS and and Windows handle hidden files, you’ll only see them in Windows. In general you can ignore these extra files and navigate the file or folder structure to find the core files you’re looking for.