Prompt startup disk on start or restart

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Level 1

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Prompt startup disk on start or restart

Hey,

I am not even sure if this is possible, but I was wondering if there is a way to have or setup my mac so that when I start/restart it, it "prompts" me to select a startup disk, either Mac or Windows (bootcamp), like it does if you hold down the alt-option button when you start/restart.

Like I said I'm not sure if this is possible I just thought it'd make things easier when switching OS's to be asked which one rather then having to sit and wait to hit the alt-option key then select it.

I realize you can change what the default startup disk but that's not what I want. I'd like to be asked which OS to use before it just uses the default. Thanks in advance.

Macbook, Mac OS X (10.6.2), 2.4 ghz Core 2 Duo (white one)

Posted on Mar 10, 2010 6:30 PM

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Answer 1

Barney-15E

Level 10

122,252 points

Mar 10, 2010 7:16 PM in response to Jingles87

Back in the days of Classic OS 9, you could hold down the X to boot into OS X. If that still works, you could set it up to boot into Windows and hold down the X if you want to boot into OS X. I don't have any way of testing it, so I'm just guessing (and doubting it will work).

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Answer 2

Mar 11, 2010 1:43 AM in response to Jingles87

HI,

Startup while holding down the Option key.

Startup Manager: How to select a startup volume

Carolyn 🙂

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Answer 3

R C-R

Level 6

17,794 points

Mar 11, 2010 2:45 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn: Jingles87 specifically asked about a way to avoid holding down the option key at startup.

Jingles87: I don't think there is any way to get the Mac to do what you want. The startup disk selection is stored in PRAM & accessed by the firmware on startup. Even if you could selectively remove that from PRAM, part of the firmware's startup routine is to search for bootable volumes if no start up disk is selected & to boot into the first one it finds.

The only thing I can suggest is a mechanical workaround I sometimes use to avoid having to hold down the C key for an extended period of time on a Mac slow to boot from a DVD: find some small object you can set on the key heavy enough to depress it during the startup sequence.

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