To Switch From Mac To Windows With Boot Camp Restart

  
To Switch From Mac To Windows With Boot Camp Restart Rating: 7,7/10 4067 votes

Apr 23, 2019  I just installed a windows 10 partition on my Mac mini (late 2018, Mojave) It works fine, but I can't figure out how to reboot into OSX When I try pressing the option key during startup, there is no start-up disk selector screen and it boots straight back into windows. If you're in Mac OS X, you can switch to the Windows partition using the Startup Disk utility within System Preferences. In the Startup Disk, choose the 'Windows on BOOTCAMP' partition, and click 'Restart.' Then, confirm your choice to reboot to Windows and give the computer about a minute to make the switch. Feb 05, 2015  HOW TO INSTALL WINDOWS 10 ON MACBOOK PRO 2015 WHEN BOOTCAMP FAILS COPYING THE INSTALLATION FILES - Duration: 38:46. Denis Schiopu 11,620 views.

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This chapter is from the book
Mac OS X Lion In Depth, 2nd Edition

This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

How To Boot Back Into Mac Bootcamp

Using Boot Camp to Run Windows on a Mac

Following are the general steps to get Windows running under Boot Camp:

  1. Run the Boot Camp Assistant to prepare your Mac for Windows and install it.
  2. Install Windows.

The next couple of sections take you through the details.

Running the Boot Camp Assistant and Installing Windows

The Boot Camp Assistant prepares your Mac for a Windows installation. It aids you by downloading Windows drivers for your Mac hardware and lets you partition your hard drive to create a Windows volume. To use the Boot Camp Assistant, do the following:

  1. Open Finder, select Applications, Utilities, and then open Boot Camp Assistant. You see the first screen of the assistant (see Figure 25.1). Click Continue to begin.

    Figure 25.1 The Boot Camp Assistant walks you through the process of preparing for Boot Camp.

  2. You are prompted to download Windows support software. Choose the download option and then click Continue.
  3. The Windows support software is downloaded. This can take quite awhile, so be patient.
  4. When the download is complete, you are prompted to burn the software to CD or DVD (see Figure 25.2). Click Continue, and then insert an optical disk when directed. Note that you are also given the option of storing the files on an external disk; you can use this approach if you do not have access to a CD/DVD burner.

    Figure 25.2 Download and burn the Windows support software disc.

  5. After the support software is written to disc, you are taken to the Create a Partition for Windows screen (see Figure 25.3). On the left, you see the partition for OS X Lion while on the right you see the partition for Windows, which is a minimum of 5GB.

    Figure 25.3 To run Windows under Boot Camp, you must create a Windows partition on your Mac’s internal hard drive.

  6. Set the size of the Window partition by dragging the Resize handle between the two partitions to the left and clicking the Divide Equally button to divide the disk in two partitions. Remember that you’ll be limited to the partition’s size when you run Windows, so make sure you allow plenty of space if you are going to install a lot of Windows applications.
  7. Click Partition. The partition process starts and you see its status in the window. When the process is complete, you’re prompted to insert your Windows installation disc (see Figure 25.4).

    Figure 25.4 When you see this screen, insert your Windows installation disc to start the installation process on the partition you just created.

  8. Insert the Windows installation disc, wait until it is mounted on the Mac, and then click Start Installation. The Mac restarts and boots from the Windows installation disc. The installation application starts installing files; you see the progress at the bottom of the blue Windows Setup screen.
  9. Follow the Windows installation screens as they appear. Here are some things to bear in mind:
    • When the Windows setup program asks you where you want to install Windows, be sure to choose the BOOTCAMP partition.
    • The Windows Setup program automatically reboots your Mac a few times during the installation, and each time you’ll see a screen that says Press any key to boot from CD or DVD. Don’t press any key when you see this message, or the installation process will start all over again.
    • Specify your username, password, time zone, and any other preferences that the setup program asks for.
  10. When the Windows installation is complete, insert the Windows support disk you burned in step 4. Windows prompts you to run setup.exe.

    Run setup.exe and accept the license agreement when prompted. Click Next to step through the setup.

  11. Make sure the Apple Software Update for Windows check box is selected, and then click Install. Boot Camp installs Apple Software Update for Windows.
  12. Click Finish. Boot Camp lets you know that you need to restart the computer to put the changes into effect. Click Yes to restart your Mac.
  13. Restart the Mac while holding the Option key down.
  14. Choose the OS X Lion startup volume and press the Return key. The Mac starts up under Lion again.

Switching Between OS X Lion and Windows

In an ideal world, you switch between OS X Lion and Windows by restarting the Mac and then booting into whichever operating system you want to use. Unfortunately, right after you install Windows via Boot Camp, you find that you’re living in a Windows world. That’s because Windows somewhat rudely sets itself up as the default startup volume. This means that every time you restart your Mac, it always boots you directly into Windows.

Not to worry; you can work around this problem in a couple of ways.

First, you can follow these steps to exit Windows and boot directly to OS X Lion:

  1. Click the Boot Camp icon that appears in the Windows notification area.
  2. Click Restart in Mac OS X, as shown in Figure 25.5. Boot Camp asks you to confirm.
  3. Click OK. Boot Camp shuts down Windows and then boots into OS X Lion.

If your Mac is off and you want to boot into OS X Lion, it seems awfully inefficient to have to boot into Windows first. Fortunately, you don’t have to do this. Instead, you can invoke the Startup Manager, and you can then choose whether you want to boot to OS X Lion or Windows.

Here are the steps you need to follow to switch between OS X Lion and Windows using the Startup Manager:

  1. Start your Mac.
  2. Hold down the Option key until you see the Startup Manager. You should see three hard disk icons: one for Macintosh HD, another for Recovery HD, and one for Windows.
  3. Double-click the Macintosh HD icon. Alternatively, if you want to boot into Windows, double-click the Windows icon.

Yes, you have to follow these steps every time you start your Mac. See the next section for a way to avoid this.

Setting OS X Lion as the Default OS

If you usually boot to OS X Lion and only boot to Windows occasionally, it’s a hassle to have to invoke Startup Manager every time you want to use OS X Lion. To fix this, follow these steps:

  1. Boot to OS X Lion.
  2. Click System Preferences in the Dock. The System Preferences appear.
  3. Click the Startup Disk icon. The Startup Disk preferences appear.
  4. Click Mac OS X 10.7 on Macintosh HD.

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If you own Intel-based Macs, you can run OS X and Windows on one machine. In fact, it’s been possible to run Windows on a Mac for some time — with agonizing limitations. Near-extinct Mac models were loaded with Virtual PC emulation software could do Windows, too, but the program was painfully slow. Even if you find an old copy of the software, it won’t work with any current Macs.

Boot Camp software from Apple shook up the computing public upon its apocalyptic arrival in April 2006. Boot Camp graduated from beta, or near-finished, status with the arrival of Leopard. Boot Camp Assistant software is stored in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder.

Boot Camp itself is free. You have to supply your own single-disc or downloadable full-install version of Windows; an upgrade disc won’t cut it.

It’s also important to note that you can use a 64-bit version of Windows, Windows 7 (Home Premium, Professional, or Ultimate), Windows 8, or Windows 8.1. Consult Apple support to see which Mac models are compatible with which versions of Windows. In its current incarnation, Boot Camp isn’t compatible with 32-bit versions of Windows.

Other requirements follow:

  • An Intel Mac with OS X version 10.6 or later

  • At least 2GB of RAM and 20GB of available space on the Mac’s storage drive that you want to donate to Windows

  • A blank CD or USB storage device that you’ll use for Windows software drivers

If you don’t run into snags, the entire installation should take about an hour.

Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 are optimized for a touchscreen environment, though you can use it with a standard mouse and keyboard. For now, Macs don’t support touchscreen computing.

To install Windows 8 via Boot Camp, you still must have a legitimate Windows 8 license from Microsoft and a Win8 installation disc, assuming that you have an optical drive. If you don’t have an optical drive, you may be able to create a Windows installer from an ISO file downloaded from Microsoft on a USB flash drive that’s 8GB or larger.

Because snags are possible, back up all your important information on the Mac’s startup disk.

Basic training

Following are the basic steps to get through Boot Camp:

  1. Run Boot Camp Assistant (in the Utilities folder inside the Applications folder) to make sure that you have the latest firmware on your computer and to install any support software from Apple that you might need.

    You’ll find any updates at Apple support. If you’re using a portable computer, make sure to connect the power adapter. You will also be given the option to create a Windows 7 (or later version) install disk for which you’ll need a USB flash drive and an ISO image downloaded from Apple.

  2. Follow the prompts in Boot Camp Assistant to create a partition for Windows.

    You’re essentially carving out an area of your hard drive for the Windows operating system,. This partition must be at least 30GB and can swell to the total free disk space on hand minus 30GB. If you don’t plan on doing much in Windows, keep the partition small.

    Drag the divider to set the partitions for both OS X and Windows, or click Divide Equally to make equal partitions. You can’t resize a Windows partition after creating it, though you can replace it with a larger Windows partition.

    If you have a Mac Pro with more than one internal hard drive, you can select which drive to partition. If any of this makes you nervous, know that you can remove the Windows partition later and go back to a single-partition Mac.

  3. Insert the Windows CD or a USB flash drive with the Windows ISO file and then click Start Installation.

    If you exited Boot Camp Assistant before installing Windows, open it again, choose Start the Windows Installer, and click Continue.

  4. When you’re asked to choose the Windows partition, select the partition that says BOOTCAMP.

    You may have to scroll down to see it.

    Don’t erase any partitions that you see or create a new partition here. Failure to heed this warning could wipe out your entire Mac OS X startup disk.

  5. (Optional) If you see a listing for Drive Options, click it; otherwise, proceed to Step 6. Download pfm cook blogspot.

  6. Reformat the partition by using the Windows installer: Click Format.

    You’re using the reliable and secure NTFS file system, but you won’t be able to save files to Windows from Mac OS X, at least not without a techie workaround.

  7. Follow the onscreen instructions to finish installing Windows.

    Boot Camp 5.1 includes several Mac drivers so that Windows will recognize your trackpad, Thunderbolt, USB 3.0, the iSight (or FaceTime) camera, the Eject key on the Mac keyboard, networking, audio, graphics, and so on.

    A Boot Camp Control Panel for Windows and an Apple Boot Camp system-tray item will be added.

As with any new Windows computer, Microsoft requires that you activate your Windows software within 30 days.

Switching operating systems

You can go back and forth between OS X and Windows on your Mac, but you can’t run both operating systems simultaneously under Boot Camp. Instead, you have to boot one operating system or the other — thus, the name Boot Camp.

How To Exit Windows From Boot Camp

Restart your Mac, and hold down the Option key until icons for each operating system appear onscreen. Highlight Windows or Macintosh HD, and click the arrow to launch the operating system of choice for this session.

Mac To Windows Software

If you want OS X or Windows to boot every time, choose app → System Preferences, click Startup Disk, and choose the OS you want to launch by default.

Mac To Windows Converter

You can perform the same function in Windows by clicking the Boot Camp system-tray icon and selecting the Boot Camp Control Panel. Click either the Macintosh HD or Windows icon, depending on your startup preference.