help! How to start windows in boot camp?

Question

Level 1

0 points

help! How to start windows in boot camp?

I have read several posts on this but I still cannot seem to get it started. I recently bought a macbook with bootcamp set up with windows xp. I had vmware fusion on my computer to use windows but I uninstalled it because I cannot use it for the purpose of windows that I need. Now, I do not know how to start windows on my computer. I cannot use a virtual machine because my exam software that I use for school will not start up when using a virtual machine.

I restart my computer and hold down the option key and the only hard drive that shows up is the Mac HD. The boot camp drive does not show up. So, if I cannot start windows that way...is there any other way???

THANKS!

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.5.2)

Posted on Feb 20, 2008 6:45 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Feb 20, 2008 8:31 AM in response to CrystalSim

I cannot use a virtual machine because my exam software that I use for school will not start up when using a virtual machine.

It requires DirectX 9? Huh?

I restart my computer and hold down the option key and the only hard drive that shows up is the Mac HD.

That sounds like your computer came with VM Fusion, and was not set up with boot camp. Please prove me wrong.

First, how many disk icons are on your Mac OS desktop? Is there just the Macintosh HD icon, or is there another disk icon labelled, say, "Untitled" or "Boot Camp".

Second, open /Applications/Disk Utility. Select your hard drive (not the Macintosh HD volume, but the actual hard drive, just above the Macintosh HD volume). Then click the "partition tab". How many partitions do you have. Does it show one HFS+ Journaled volume, or more than one partition and of what types.

Third, if you did see a second disk icon in step one, select it and hit CMD-I. What is its used and free space? Open it in Finder: is there a boot.ini file? A Windows folder?

Fourth--I should have thought of this first, sorry--some MacBooks have a bug that Option doesn't let you select an OS. So open Apple > System Preferences > Startup Disk and see if there is a Windows there for you to select. If so, select it and "reboot now" to boot into Windows. To boot back into Mac OS, you can either use the option key, or use the boot camp system tray icon to select Mac OS as your startup disk.

Finally, did your computer come with a Windows XP CD?

Reply

Answer 2

CrystalSim Author

Level 1

0 points

Feb 20, 2008 8:06 PM in response to Mr.Lobotomy

I cant my computer in vmware fusion for my exams because the exam software (softest) that my school uses does not allow it. I have no idea about the direct X thing. I am kind of an idiot when it comes to computers I suppose.

1. There is a Mac HD icon and a Boot Camp icon on my desktop.

2. When I open the Disk Utility, I have two partitions. One says Macintosh HD and the the other says boot camp.

3. I hit CMD-I and the capacity is 20.85GB and the used space is 5.61. There is a boot.ini file and a windows folder.

4. There is a windows folder in the Apple > System Preferences > Startup Disk. I have used windows this way before but it was just a pain to have to go in and choose windows and then change back to mac. I was just reading how you are supposed to be able to boot in windows when you are starting up your computer by holding down the option key.

Thanks for the help though! I appreciate it. I guess I will just have to use windows by going to the startup disk.

I did not get a Windows CD with my computer.

Reply

Answer 3

Feb 21, 2008 5:27 AM in response to CrystalSim

It sounds like you are afflicted by the bug. Bummer. At least there is a way for you to boot into Windows.

If your computer came with Windows, it really should have come with an installation CD in case you need to reinstall Windows at some point. You would also need the CD to run the repair console if a problem crops up. You might consider contacting the seller.

Reply