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Installed Windows with Bootcamp, No clue how to switch

E

eXpedia

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jan 8, 2009
4
0
Hey guys,

I have installed Windows Vista Entrerprise on my MacBook Pro today. Now I partitioned both the Mac HD and the Vista HD with equal disk space. Hence 116GB each. Now the installation worked perfectly but every time I start my Mac it starts Windows.

My Problem:

I dont know how to switch in between both operating systems. A friend told me there is a combination that I have to press when starting my Mac.

Can anyone help me with this?
 
it tells you how in the Boot Camp documentation that you can view before you make a partition.

you can either click the black diamond shape in the Windows notification bar and click "Restart into Mac OS X" or reboot while holding the option key and then choose your Mac OS X partition.

you can then make the Mac OS X partition startup as default in Startup Disk in System Preferences (need to reboot).
 
Hold down the alt/option key the moment you boot up your computer, until it shows two harddrives on the white start-up screen. One partition would be your Leopard installation while the other would be the Boot Camp partition. Use your arrow keys to choose which partition you would like to boot up with, then press enter.

To choose your start-up partition:
Leopard - System Preferences > Startup Disk > Pick whichever partition

Alternatively, in Windows, you can right click the Boot Camp Control Panel and select "Restart in Mac OS X" to make Leopard your start-up partition.
 
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I remember when i first used boot camp, i thought i had wiped MAC OSX as it just kept booting in windows lol. Then i found out about the option key on boot up to change what drive/partition you boot from.
Now i use Parallels 4.0 much nicer to quick swap from Mac to Windows.
Even thought i barely use windows i hate it lol
 
Also in windows you can go to the "Boot Camp" icon in Control Panel (may have to switch to Classic View) and choose the startup disk from there. This way you don't have to deal with holding down the option key and then changing it in Windows.

Also, if you do use the Option key, you don't have to start holding it down until you hear the startup chime.
 
I used the option key, but all it gives me on the grey screen is a picture of a hard disk with "Windows" under it. Did I partition it wrong?
 
hoosiergonzo said:
I used the option key, but all it gives me on the grey screen is a picture of a hard disk with "Windows" under it. Did I partition it wrong?
Click to expand...

You may have deleted your Mac OS X partition if it does not show up there. Boot from the Restore DVD that came with your Mac and load Disk Utility and see, if the Mac OS partition is still recognised.

Normally it should look like this:

windows-on-an-apple-mac-computer.jpg


Guide on how to use Disk Utility from the restore / installation DVD.
 
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Having similiar problems with different results

I too need to boot Mac OS X back up from windows, but I can't use the bootcamp program through Windows XP since I need to activate it and don't have a serial key. I tried rebooting Mac with the installation disc but nothing happens when I hold down "C" while booting up, and holding down "Alt/Option" brings up a Lock with a text field for a password. My admin password doesn't work, nor any serial number that I've pulled off my Mac OEM. I did some reading and found out that that password is supposed to be the firmware password that comes with the Mac, dont' know how to find that either. Can anyone please help...?

I've got a Macbook Pro 17" with Mac OS 10.6 and Windows XP SP2 home edition.
 
Ok
Basically I just used boot camp to install Windows Vista on my mac now whenever I boot up my mac it goes straight to windows. When I hold down alt/option key it only gives me an option to boot windows. When I put the mac OS x install dvd in and select it, says "boot camp requires that your computer is running windows 7" so I click ok then it says ' the installer encountered errors before boot camp could be configured. To retry thesr operations at a later time, please run the installer again.'
Every time I try to run the installer again it comes up with the same thing. so I need to know how to get MAC OS x back onto my mac, preferably with windows still there.
HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!
 
Chasexxstav said:
Ok
Basically I just used boot camp to install Windows Vista on my mac now whenever I boot up my mac it goes straight to windows. When I hold down alt/option key it only gives me an option to boot windows. When I put the mac OS x install dvd in and select it, says "boot camp requires that your computer is running windows 7" so I click ok then it says ' the installer encountered errors before boot camp could be configured. To retry thesr operations at a later time, please run the installer again.'
Every time I try to run the installer again it comes up with the same thing. so I need to know how to get MAC OS x back onto my mac, preferably with windows still there.
HELPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!!!!
Click to expand...

I'm sorry to say that it sounds like you installed W7 over your OS X and it is gone. It also sounds liek you are inserting the OS X install disc after Windows is booted so it is trying to install the Boot Camp drivers.

Can you hold Alt/Option, get to the boot selector and then insert the Mac OS X install disc? Does it show up as a choice to boot from? If so, boot from it. Report back when you can load Disk Utility while running OS X from the install disc and see if you still have two partitions or not.

(And next time, start your own thread).

B
 
Problems with applications

When I boot up Windows, I can't access any applications I've downloaded on Mac OS. Also I can't use Internet Explorer because of a driver issue. Are there additional drivers I need to install that will fix both of these problems?
 
Yohandilshan said:
When i use the option/alt key i need a password. So i can't access to mac. Can u help me?
Click to expand...

It may have the efi firmware password set. You can also extract the Windows utility which allows switching between systems from the Bootcamp package. Download (or get from a OSX instal DVD) the Bootcamp package, then extract the file Bootcamp.msi (with 7-zip) to a folder. There will be a lot of files, and one of them is that system chooser utility which is usually installed on Windows control panel when Bootcamp is properly installed.
 
Your Mac belongs to you. The firmware password does not suddenly appear by accident.
You activated it, or someone else who uses your Mac did that.
You can clear the password, if you know what it is.
Do you think that you can remember what you used when you activated the firmware password?
If your Mac is less than about 4 years old, then the only way to clear the firmware password is with Apple's help. You have to contact Apple to do that.

If you don't want to clear the firmware password, you can remove your drive, put it in an external case, then connect that external drive to another Mac to get your files.
That doesn't fix your firmware issue on your Mac, however.

And, of course, this is all academic, if you also have your drive encrypted with file vault. You'll need to know what THAT password is, too.
 
I installed windows 7 on my 3,1 and am about to go to a 5,1. I am also going to go to a ssd for my w7. Can i install the ssd by using bootcamp to get the boot info then ntfs the rest of the drive and use migration assistant to move the wingows to the ssd?

I would love any help, Regards Newbe
 
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