Set the default operating system. In Windows on your Mac, click in the right side of the taskbar, click the Boot Camp icon, then choose Boot Camp Control Panel. If a User Account Control dialog appears, click Yes. Select the startup disk that has the default operating system you want to use. There are three methods of switching back and forth between your Mac OS X partition and your Windows partition: From within Mac OS X Lion: To restart your MacBook in Windows. From within Windows: Right-click the Boot Camp icon in the notification area at the right side. Jan 20, 2011 Open the Control Panel, click on Startup Disk, and change the setting; this item will only appear if the Boot Camp drivers are installed. Alternatively, restart the computer with the X or Option keys held down; in the second case, select the Mac OS X system, push the button with the straight arrow, and change the startup disk from System Preferences afterwards.
Once you've set up Boot Camp, you have three different ways to make the switch between partitions. Let's look at these based on their starting points.
If you're in Windows, you can switch to the Mac OS X partition using the Boot Camp icon in the System Tray. Click the gray diamond-shaped icon, and click 'Restart in Mac OS' from the pop-up menu. Then, confirm your choice to reboot to Mac OS X and give the computer about a minute to make the switch.
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If you're in Mac OS X, you can switch to the Windows partition using the Startup Disk utility within System Preferences. In the Startup Disk, choose the 'Windows on BOOTCAMP' partition, and click 'Restart.' Then, confirm your choice to reboot to Windows and give the computer about a minute to make the switch.
How To Switch To Mac Os In Boot Camp
If the Mac was powered off, you can choose which partition to boot before the Mac selects for you. To do this, press the Option key on the Mac while it's on the blank white boot screen. Within a couple of seconds, the Mac should present the two partitions to you on the screen. Use the arrow keys to select a partition, and press Enter to boot to it. This Option key feature is available either when booting from a powered-off state or if you're rebooting from Windows.
Ready for lots more information about Boot Camp? Switch on over to the next page.
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Sources
Mac Bootcamp How To Switch To Windows
- Apple. 'Apple to Use Intel Microprocessors Beginning in 2006.' Apple, Inc. Jun. 6, 2005. (Feb. 13, 2012) http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2005/06/06Apple-to-Use-Intel-Microprocessors-Beginning-in-2006.html
- Apple. 'Boot Camp Installation & Setup Guide.' Apple, Inc. 2011. (Feb. 13, 2012) http://manuals.info.apple.com/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_10.7.pdf
- Buchanan, Matt. 'Cheetahs, Pumas and Tigers, Oh My: The Two-Minute OS X History Primer.' Gizmodo. 2007. (Feb. 13, 2012) http://gizmodo.com/267621/cheetahs-pumas-and-tigers-oh-my-the-two+minute-os-x-history-primer
- Diederen, Jeroen. 'Linux on Your Apple Mac | iLinux.' (Feb. 13, 2012) http://mac.linux.be/
- Microsoft Corporation. 'Windows 7 system requirements.' 2012. (Feb. 13, 2012) http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/system-requirements
Apple Boot Camp let’s you run both Leopard and Windows on your Mac, but Boot Camp’s biggest drawback is its requirement that you reboot your computer every time you want to switch between Leopard and Windows. Two $80 remedies are readily available, Parallels Desktop from a Virginia startup, Parallels, Inc., and VMW are Fusion from VMware of Palo Alto, California.
Their respective software takes the form of a virtual machine. The programs simulate a Windows machine inside its own screen within OS X. Or, if you feel like it, you can go full-screen with Windows. The fake machine behaves just like the real deal. You can add software, surf the Web, listen to music, and play Windows games on a Mac.
You can even apply this virtualization stuff with versions of Windows dating back to Windows 3.1 as well as Linux, Solaris, OS/2, MS-DOS, and other operating systems.
Parallels and Fusion differ from Boot Camp because you can run any OS while you run Leopard, without having to restart. What’s more, you can share files and folders between OS X and Windows and cut-and-paste between the two. The Coherence feature inside Parallels lets you run Windows programs like they were Mac apps.
Neither program, as of this writing, supports the prettier Aero interface in Vista, and installation can be a bit tricky. But if you’re interested, check out Parallels and VMWare Fusion.
Virtual or not, you’re running Windows on or inside your Mac. So take all the usual precautions by loading antivirus and other security software.