How to restore bootcamp startup option on mac OS?

Question

How to restore bootcamp startup option on mac OS?

I called Apple support and they couldn't provide a solution, so figured I would ask the community here.

I would assume there is an easy solution to this and although my situation is rare, it's definitely a scenario that I assume many people would be in, so I was hoping there was a solution.

Here is the background:

I used Bootcamp assistant to carve out 250GB of my 500GB hard drive on my Macbook Pro. I installed Windows 10 on that partition. Both Mac OS and Windows were working just fine.
I had to format the "Mac Partition" on this HD and reinstall Mac OS.
Both the Mac partition (now with a fresh install of Mac OS) and the Windows 10 partition are working just fine. I can reboot the mac and hold down the option key to select the Windows 10 partition and boot in just fine. The Bootcamp software is on the Windows OS and I can easily select to reboot into the Mac.

Now here is the problem:

the Mac OS is a fresh install, and therefore has no clue that the Bootcamp partition exists. That was done on the partition before I reinstall the mac OS. Therefore, there is no Bootcamp partition listed in the Startup Disk options in System Preferences.
So the only way to boot into the windows partition is to reboot the computer, hold down option key and select Windows partition. This is a bit annoying, I would simply like to have the Mac OS re-register / acknowledge that the Windows partition exists and display it in the Startup Disk options.

I can't seem to figure out how to accomplish this. I'm a bit shocked that there does not appear to be any articles online explaining how to do this. Equally, I'm a bit surprised by how basic the Bootcamp Assistant is. Launching that, it only recognizes that their is another partition available and asked if I want to delete it to return back to the Mac OS. Why does it not provide an option to register that as the Bootcamp partition and then reconfigure the Mac OS to see it, so I can reboot into that partition via the Startup Disk.

It seems as though Apple never considered the situation where a user would setup windows through bootcamp assistant, reformat/reinstall their Mac OS partition and then want to use the Windows partition again via Bootcamp. Apple support told me the only solution is to reinstall windows through bootcamp. This is a PITA and I don't see why that is the only / recommended solution.

Posted on Jun 26, 2021 1:46 PM

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Answer 1

Jun 26, 2021 6:35 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks Loner T.

I mounted EFI partition using this guide (https://themacadmin.com/2012/02/15/mounting-the-efi-boot-partition-on-mac-os-x/).

After mounting to /Volumes/efi there is a folder at the root of /Volumes/efi titled EFI. Within the /Volumes/efi/EFI folder, there are three folders: APPLE, Boot, and Microsoft. The Microsoft folder has two sub folders, Boot and Recovery. Within the Boot folder, it looks like this.

I will reboot now into the Windows environment and provide you the output you ask for in your second bullet point.

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Answer 2

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jun 28, 2021 1:47 PM in response to americanninjaXX

With Tuxera installed, there are two drivers for NTFS - the Apple driver and the Tuxera driver. They race with each other, and if the Apple driver loses the race, the volume will not show up in System Preferences -> Startup Disks. This is to ensure that the driver(s) do not corrupt NTFS. Once Tuxera NTFS is disabled, the Apple driver will allow it to show up properly.

Glad to see it working properly.

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jun 26, 2021 4:37 PM in response to americanninjaXX

Assuming that you have a 2015 or later Mac, when you re-install macOS, you are not expected to erase the EFI partition which contains information necessary to boot Windows. If you do, you will need to recover-bootcamp-efi-folder-fix-boot-entries.

If the Mac is older than 2012, it requires a different method.

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Answer 4

Jun 26, 2021 4:59 PM in response to Loner T

Thanks for the reply. I'm on a 2019 MBP. I checked out the link you provided, but the situation appears to be a different one. I don't have a problem seeing the Windows partition when I reboot the MacBook and hold down the option key. In fact, that's the only way I know to current boot up into my Windows partition (by holding down option key at boot and selecting the Windows partition).

So I don't think the linked article would solve the issue. In fact, it seems that, that person can actually see their Windows Bootcamp partition in the Startup Disk options within System Preferences. That is what I'm trying to fix myself. Currently, Startup Disk shows only my Mac OS partition/harddrive available to select.

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Answer 5

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jun 26, 2021 8:26 PM in response to americanninjaXX

The BCD looks normal as does the Diskpart. Do you have any third-party NTFS software?

Also, see

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Answer 6

Jun 27, 2021 11:05 PM in response to Loner T

Yes, I have Tuxera NTFS.

As you mentioned the BCD and Diskpart looks normal, does that mean that you would expect the Bootcamp partition to display in the "Startup Disk" section of system prefs?

As a side note, the Bootcamp partition / drive does get mounted on my desktop in the Mac OS. So on my desktop, I have 1.) Macintosh HD and 2.) BOOTCAMP.

So I can access the drive, it just doesn't come up in the Startup Disk page, so I can't select it to reboot into that partition. I just assumed, this was because I reinstalled the Mac OS and there would be something I would have to configure/set on the MacOS side to indicate that partition is a windows bootable partition.

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Answer 7

Jun 26, 2021 6:32 PM in response to Loner T

Here is the output from the Windows environment stuff:

bcdedit:

From Diskpart:

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Answer 8

Jun 28, 2021 9:59 PM in response to Loner T

Good to know! Thanks again!

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Answer 9

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jun 29, 2021 6:19 AM in response to americanninjaXX

Excellent! Please remember to create good backups.

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Answer 10

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jun 26, 2021 5:53 PM in response to americanninjaXX

Mount the EFI partition (usually disk0s1) and check if you have a Microsoft directory under EFI.
Boot Windows using the Alt/Option method, and
- In a CMD window with Administrative rights, post the output of bcdedit
- Run diskpart.exe and post the output of
  - list disk
  - list partition
  - list volume

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Answer 11

Loner T

Level 9

59,536 points

Jun 28, 2021 5:31 AM in response to americanninjaXX

americanninjaXX wrote:

Yes, I have Tuxera NTFS.

As you mentioned the BCD and Diskpart looks normal, does that mean that you would expect the Bootcamp partition to display in the "Startup Disk" section of system prefs?

Tuxera will not allow the Bootcamp partition to appear in the Startup panel. You will either need to exclude it from Tuxera or uninstall Tuxera temporarily for testing.

As a side note, the Bootcamp partition / drive does get mounted on my desktop in the Mac OS. So on my desktop, I have 1.) Macintosh HD and 2.) BOOTCAMP.

Tuxera mounts it.

So I can access the drive, it just doesn't come up in the Startup Disk page, so I can't select it to reboot into that partition. I just assumed, this was because I reinstalled the Mac OS and there would be something I would have to configure/set on the MacOS side to indicate that partition is a windows bootable partition.

Take a look at https://macsupport.tuxera.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360021093699-How-can-I-disable-Microsoft-NTFS-for-Mac-by-Tuxera-without-uninstalling-just-for-a-selected-volume-.

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Answer 12

Jun 28, 2021 12:45 PM in response to Loner T

THANK YOU!

Well, just goes to show, that speaking with Apple's senior tech team, don't expect them to always be competent enough to answer your questions. I got it working now, using the link you provided (https://macsupport.tuxera.com/hc/en-gb/articles/360021093699-How-can-I-disable-Microsoft-NTFS-for-Mac-by-Tuxera-without-uninstalling-just-for-a-selected-volume-).

Very bizarre, as I have never run into this issue before and have always had Tuxera installed. So no idea how it got in this state. The interesting this is, it doesn't seem to be that Tuxera mounts the BOOTCAMP parition, because even after I disabled that option in the referenced article and after a reboot, the BOOTCAMP partition still appears mounted, BUT whatever that option disabled/triggered, the Startup Disk system preferences now show the Windows Bootcamp Partition.

I think it has to do with the higher probe order - from that article "You can disable Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Tuxera without uninstalling it, by just clicking the “Disable” button in the preference pane. While disabled, Microsoft NTFS for Mac by Tuxera will ignore all NTFS volumes attached to the system, and will pass the mount request on to Apple’s NTFS driver (or any other installed NTFS driver with a higher probe order)."

Eitherway, this fixed it. Thank you so much for helping me troubleshoot and pointing me in the direction of Tuxera.

All is good! Thank you!

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How to restore bootcamp startup option on mac OS?

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