Stuck in Windows with BootCamp! Help!

bloodfall90 · Jan 24, 2013

I have seen literally every thread in existence and still have not found a solution for my problem. Tried holding down every key everyone says to when booting and such, Etc. I've gone to the point of trying to put my computer back to factory settings and start over with Mac OS but I could not! I am willing to completely wipe out my computer, someone help me!

hfg · Jan 24, 2013

It should be very simple ... press-and-hold the "option" key prior to hearing the beep and continue to hold it until the boot-selection icons appear on the screen. Then select OS X as the boot disk. Once OS X is running, go to "SystemPreferences/StartupDisk" and select your OS X drive. This is where you can also set Windows to be the default boot drive as it appears to be now.

If you are on a desktop system with a wireless keyboard, you will probably have to start from a power-off state to allow time for the BlueTooth keyboard to be initialized (or use a wired keyboard instead).

If you installed BootCamp properly with the Apple drivers, you can select to reboot-into-OS X by picking the BootCamp Options at the bottom-right of the screen in the toolbar (may be in a sub-menu shown with a up-arrow).

bloodfall90 · Jan 25, 2013

As I've stated... I tried this many times.

hfg · Jan 25, 2013

bloodfall90 said:
As I've stated... I tried this many times.

Are you using a wireless keyboard, or a laptop (I can't tell from your post). If wireless, that is a very common cause for not getting the boot selection screen. It can be tricky if not done precisely right.

Is this a new Windows installation (you don't indicate this)? If so, many users have accidentally installed Windows to the OS X partition so they end up with a Windows only machine.

If your boot is truly messed up ... reinstallation may be the quickest solution ... do you have a backup for your system? What kind of computer, year, and OS X version (you didn't say in your post) ... there may be a recovery partition which will help you. Do you have an optical drive and OS X installation disk?

bloodfall90 · Jan 25, 2013

hfg said:
Are you using a wireless keyboard, or a laptop (I can't tell from your post). If wireless, that is a very common cause for not getting the boot selection screen. It can be tricky if not done precisely right.

Is this a new Windows installation (you don't indicate this)? If so, many users have accidentally installed Windows to the OS X partition so they end up with a Windows only machine.

If your boot is truly messed up ... reinstallation may be the quickest solution ... do you have a backup for your system? What kind of computer, year, and OS X version (you didn't say in your post) ... there may be a recovery partition which will help you. Do you have an optical drive and OS X installation disk?

I have a laptop but I mainly use an external wireless keyboard. But i tried this on the laptop itself and no I made a separate partition for windows.

kpgh554 · Jan 25, 2013

bloodfall90 said:
I have a laptop but I mainly use an external wireless keyboard. But i tried this on the laptop itself and no I made a separate partition for windows.

have you tried to start up by inserting system disc {usb} then hold down alt key start from there

bloodfall90 · Jan 25, 2013

kpgh554 said:
have you tried to start up by inserting system disc {usb} then hold down alt key start from there

Yes

hfg · Jan 25, 2013

What happens if you press and hold "Command r" or "Command Option r" on startup?

Do you hear the chime on startup?

What year and model laptop?

What version of OS X are you currently running, and do you have a installation disk?

Richdmoore · Jan 25, 2013

Edit: Better Link
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3273

Resolution

Apple Wireless Keyboards will not recognize pressing and holding down startup keys during startup until the startup chime sound is heard. This is normal behavior. You may find it helpful to press and hold startup key combinations while the startup chime is playing. Two common startup key combinations are listed below.

Maybe you are not waiting to press the keys until the startup sound?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3716140?start=0&tstart=0

Feb 6, 2012 1:14 PM
I have an Intel iMac that came with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. There are a variety of options that can be used when you boot the Mac, such as hold down the C key to boot from a CD/DVD, hold down the option key to choose the boot drive, etc. When you have a BT keyboard, it doesn't connect until it is booted. How do you get the iMac to recognize, say, the Option key?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
This solved my question by captfred on Feb 6, 2012 2:18 PM

You wait for the startup tone, then quickly press and hold the key until the logo with pinwheel. Pressing too early will ignore the input.

Regards,
Captfred

bloodfall90 · Jan 25, 2013

Richdmoore said:
Edit: Better Link
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS3273

Resolution

Apple Wireless Keyboards will not recognize pressing and holding down startup keys during startup until the startup chime sound is heard. This is normal behavior. You may find it helpful to press and hold startup key combinations while the startup chime is playing. Two common startup key combinations are listed below.

Maybe you are not waiting to press the keys until the startup sound?

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3716140?start=0&tstart=0

Feb 6, 2012 1:14 PM
I have an Intel iMac that came with a bluetooth keyboard and mouse. There are a variety of options that can be used when you boot the Mac, such as hold down the C key to boot from a CD/DVD, hold down the option key to choose the boot drive, etc. When you have a BT keyboard, it doesn't connect until it is booted. How do you get the iMac to recognize, say, the Option key?
iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.2)
This solved my question by captfred on Feb 6, 2012 2:18 PM

You wait for the startup tone, then quickly press and hold the key until the logo with pinwheel. Pressing too early will ignore the input.

Regards,
Captfred

I tried the Option key and such and made absolute sure I waited for the beep.

----------

hfg said:
What happens if you press and hold "Command r" or "Command Option r" on startup?

Do you hear the chime on startup?

What year and model laptop?

What version of OS X are you currently running, and do you have a installation disk?

Nothing.

I hear the chime on startup.

2008 MacBook

OS X Snow Leopard 10.6.8; I have a 10.5 installation disc that came with it.

hfg · Jan 25, 2013

This is a long shot ... did you try resetting the PRAM and SMC?

PRAM reset:
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1365

SMC reset:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1411

SMC & PRAM reset:
Reset the PRAM. After pressing the power button, hold down these keys simultaneously: Command-Option-P-R, until you hear the startup chime at least one additional time after the initial startup chime.

Reset the SMC for the MacBook And MacBook Pro by removing the AC power, removing the battery and then holding down the power button for five seconds. On the MacBook Air, press (left) Shift-Control-Option along with the power button once. Note: You must use the keys on the left side of the MacBook Air keyboard.

SMC reset:
MacBook (13 inch, Late 2008), MacBook Pro (15-inch, Early 2008), and MacBook Pro (17-inch, Early 2008)

If the computer is on, turn it off.
Disconnect the AC adapter and remove the computer's battery.
Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds and then release the button.
Reconnect the battery and AC Adapter.
Press the power button to restart the computer

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2090?viewlocale=en_US

Richdmoore · Jan 26, 2013

One more thing to try is to go under the boot camp control panel in windows, I believe there is an option that will allow you to set the startup disk. Simply choose the Mac partition and reboot.

Of course, this doesn't explain why the startup key commands are not working,

bloodfall90 · Jan 29, 2013

Richdmoore said:
One more thing to try is to go under the boot camp control panel in windows, I believe there is an option that will allow you to set the startup disk. Simply choose the Mac partition and reboot.

Of course, this doesn't explain why the startup key commands are not working,

If I actually had that like I'm supposed to, I would do that!

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Stuck in Windows with BootCamp! Help!

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