Booting from a CD/DVD

Hello, I have been having a ton of trouble rebooting from a CD with my new 24" 2.4gHz iMac.
How long do I press down C? Everytime I try I think it is going to go into the disc and then, bang, it brings the main screen back up.
I am trying to pull data off of an external hard drive that has gone kerplunk and this is starting to get really frustrating!
Thanks for the help

Same problem here! It will only boot up from the installation disc (At least it does that). I tried booting up from the Tech Tool Pro & Disk Warrior dvd/cd without any luck. It will however boot up from the external hard drive but not from a cd or dvd. Strange.

Similar Messages

Can only boot into Windows 7. Can't even boot from Snow Leopard DVD.

I have no idea what prompted this. I don't recall installing any OS updates recently, other than some Windows Live apps in Windows 7.
I have an early 2009 Mac Mini with Snow Leopard, and have Windows 7 64-bit installed in a Boot Camp partition. When I installed Windows 7, I couldn't get the Boot Camp utility to install within Windows (I guess because it's 64-bit) so to switch back and forth between OSes, I just shut down the Mac and restart it with the Option key pressed, and select Mac OS X when I want to return to Mac. This has worked for about a month and a half now (ever since I got Windows 7). Suddenly I have problems.
I first had problems booting into Windows or Mac. I got to the grey screen with the Apple logo, with that spinning "progress" thing going for a while, then it would freeze up and get stuck on the grey screen with the Apple logo. I zapped the PRAM. No help. Then, after disconnecting all external drives (I have several) and extra USB devices, I was able to boot from the DVD install disk and reinstall Snow Leopard on my internal drive. Joy, or so I thought. Then I booted into Windows 7, and after some weirdness getting it to start, it did successfully start and ran just peachy.
Then I turned off the Mac and held down the option key (as usual) to return to Mac OS. But now all that happens is that I get a grey screen for a few seconds, then the Mac boots back into Windows 7, which seems to work fine. (I'm in Windows 7 right now.) I turned on one my external drives (Snow Leopard installed, connected via Firewire 800) in hopes that the Mac would boot into that, but same thing. Ignored and back to Windows 7.
Then I thought I'd boot from the install DVD again by putting it in the drive and holding down the C key as I restart, but the same thing--a grey screen for a few seconds, and then booting right into Windows 7. I can't seem to escape Windows 7! It's a bit disturbing when it won't even recognize the install DVD.
I tried to call Apple Care since I'm within my 90 day support window, but of course they are closed. I'm figuring that I'm going to have to take this into an Apple Store, but thought I'd see if anyone has any ideas. Any advice will be appreciated. Thanks.

According to Apple, Win 7 64bit is supported with Bootcamp 3.0. If bootcamp 3.0 is available; I could not find it anywhere on Apple's website. It appears the most recent version is 2.2. The only place I could find 3.0 is not on Apples website and it's a questionable source so I won't post it here.
It may just be a matter of time before Apple makes it available. I'm not suggesting you wait, however if the install disk can't be used, I'm not too sure where u could go from there. Calling Applecare might work.
If you do a simple google search using the terms 'download bootcamp drivers windows 7' u will see what I was referring too.
Here's what I found from Apple (It doesn't specifically mention 64bit however just win7): http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3920
This is not from Apple, but specifically addresses whether they support win7 64bit: http://www.macnn.com/articles/09/08/31/boot.camp.win.7.64.support/
Here is more info about bootcamp 3.0 and win7: http://www.apple.com/support/bootcamp/

Is it possible to boot from a shared dvd or disk image remotely

Is it possible to boot from a shared dvd or disk image remotely without using netboot for install or utility?

All Apple Remote Desktop can do is point a system to a startup disk; it has no facility for providing a boot image. So you may want to ask this question in the Mac OS X or Mac OS X Server forums. You'll be more likely to get suggestions there, though other than NetBoot I know of no way to boot a group of computers from a single disk image or DVD.
Regards.

Can't restore from Disk Utility while booted from OS installation DVD

I'm absolutely astounded by this.
I have a new MacBook Pro 17". I restored my files to it and in short order, had it too full/fragmented to re-partition it for Boot Camp.
So I decided to image the disk and store that image file on a FireWire drive, wipe the system disk and restore it cleanly from the image file backup, hoping that would result in contiguous blocks used so that I could then re-partition for Boot Camp.
When booted off the OS X for Intel DVD-ROM disc (10.4.6 - the one that came with my MacBook Pro), if I get out of Installer and into Disk Utility, if I select the internal hard drive and click the Restore tab, I can easily select the hard drive backup image with the button. But the "Destination Disk:" box is only accessible via dragging the disk to the box.
There's one little problem - there is no Desktop, so the disk(s) do not appear on the Desktop. There is no way to drag the target disk to be restored to into the Destination Disk: box. You cannot drag a disk out from the little sidebar inside the Disk Utility window over to the Destination box. I tried. You can't drag any disk anywhere from that sidebar. It's clear that the only way to drag a disk anywhere is if it's shown on the Desktop in Finder (which isn't running when the installation DVD-ROM is booted from). There is simply no way that I can find to restore a disk drive from a saved backup disk image when booted from the installation DVD-ROM.
Please tell me I'm ******** and missing something, or if there's a Better Way to do this. (I can't seem to run Retrospect while booted off the DVD-ROM, so I can't restore from my Retrospect full backup of the disk, either. Joy!)
(I'm really curious if there's a Better Way - especially because it appears I can't boot from an external FireWire or USB 2.0 drive, so I need something that will work in this extremely limited installation DVD-ROM booted environment, I think.)
MacBook Pro 17" dual 2.16 GHz ; Mac OS X (10.4.6) Booted from Mac OS X for Intel 10.4.6 installation DVD-ROM

You can use an external bootable drive with a MacBook Pro -- check your manual or the built in help. Your problem is that for some reason, you can't install a bootable system on one. There are several reasons why Installer won't enable you to do so: insufficient space, incompatible partition scheme (should be GUID) or file system (should be HFS+ or similar), or wrong installation option selected.
It is possible this is related to why you can't drag the startup volume to the destination box in Disk Utility. It must be an HFS+ variant file system.
I think you should check carefully with D.U. the partition scheme of all your drives & the file system format of all the volumes involved. Also run repair disk, as someone has already pointed out.
The behavior with the Restore function is not normal -- you should be able to drag a volume to the destination box from the list.

Hard disk errors, but can't boot from the install DVD

My mini reports disk errors when I run the Disk Utility Verify on the main boot hard drive. However, I have not been able to boot the computer from the install DVD. I try restarting while holding down the C key, and still it boots from the internal drive. I've tried option-restart, and do not get the opportunity to select a boot disk. An external USB drive, on which I periodically clone the main disk, now does not mount. Disk Utility says it too has errors, and it is unable to repair them. A third external USB drive appears to be OK.
The computer is still operating, apparently normally, otherwise. This computer should still be under warranty. I bought it in April, as I recall.
Any help will be much appreciated.

<sigh>
I've attempted most of these things.
The drive on which I had the system clone died at essentially the same time as the problem came up with the errors on the main drive. I suspect this was due to the same root cause, or a related problem, just because of the timing. I'd cloned the main drive approximately a week previously with apparently no problem.
I also have been unable to boot from the install DVD.
The other external drive, the one that still works, is one I use mostly for rolling backups of my documents, photo and music folders. It is not big enough to hold a clone of the main drive. In any case, I'm assuming that if I attempted to clone it now, it would either not work, or I'd simply copy the errors to the clone.
I haven't used the Time Machine, since I didn't feel I had an external drive large enough to make it useful.
What 3rd party software do you recommend? Keep in mind, as I also mentioned earlier, that the computer is still under warranty, and I'm loath to do anything that could be construed as voiding the warranty.
I'm also on a pretty restricted budget, due to recent car repairs.

How to boot from OS X DVD after hard drive upgrade with wireless keyboard

This may be a dumb question. I know that you press "c" key on a MacBook to boot from DVD. But what about a Mac Mini with wireless keyboard? Does the Mini see the keyboard when there is a NEW drive inside?
I've searched but can't find the answer.
Thanks!

I believe This will help.
It says to Hold "C" while booting to boot from the install DVD.
Hope this help.

Satellite C50-A634 wont boot from USB or DVD

My new toshiba Satellite C50-A634 wont boot from usb, or dvd ,
i have downloaded win 8.1 and burn image to dvd but i still get an error message "no bootable device......please restart system" .
Can some one plz help?

Hi
Does Satellite C50-A634 supports internal CD/DVD drive or did you try to boot from external optical disk drive?
You have to know that _Satellite C50 & Satellite C50D models *without* a built-in ODD_ are not able to boot from an external ODD due to a technical limitation.
Details here:
[Limitation of external boot media for Satellite, Satellite Pro C50 & C50D devices|http://aps2.toshiba-tro.de/kb0/TSB3B03JA0000R01.htm]
Only USB flash drives are supported as external boot devices!
It is necessary you can use a USB flash drive as recovery media on notebooks without a built-in ODD.

Weird screen pattern freezes iMac, can't boot from HD or DVD

I woke up today to find the screen of my iMac black with a sparse pattern of bright pixels on it. I wasn't able to power down holding the Power buton so I unplugged it and left it for a bit before plugging back in. I was then able reboot without any problems. Then a few hours latter a weird pattern appeared across my screen, kind of rolling, animated in spots as seen here:
I powered down, started it up and the screen had this pattern on it:
It froze during startup at the point shown in the photo with the Apple logo. I powered down, unplugged, plugged back in and then tried booting up from my Snow Leopard install disc. It also froze on the logo screen. Another attempt brought up the "You need to restart your computer…" message in different languages shown here:
I figured it was having a kernel panic so I did some searching around and followed instructions on The X Lab - Resolving Kernel Panics page and Apple's Kernel Panic Troubleshooting page. I unplugged everything but my mouse (wireless keyboard) and tried booting into Safe Mode. The screen still had the same pattern but it froze again during startup, the grey progress bar having disappeared.
I can't boot from my hard drive or from a DVD and the pattern is always on screen when I turn the iMac back on. I can't run Apple Hardware Test. I'm stuck but I'm wondering if anyone knows what the cause might be or has any suggestions on how to fix it or even get it to boot up somehow.
I have TechTool Pro and a large flash drive. I'm going to try creating a bootable USB drive with Snow Leopard on it from this backup computer and try to get TechTool Pro on it as well. I'll report back but I'd really appreciate any feedback on this problem.

Some things to report. First, the night before any of this happened, I noticed the fan was running when there wasn't really any reason for it. The computer was idle, no major tasks running. I'm wondering if perhaps the videocard overheated and is causing problems. Perhaps the temperature sensors are screwed up?
Today I got a USB keyboard hooked up and reset the PRAM. Still unable to boot but the pattern on the screen did change from the mess of b&w squigglies above to vertical bars as shown here:
Trying to boot normally or in Safe Mode both result in the spinning wheel freezing and halting startup.
I found powering down then gets weird. It's like it tries to turn on again but can't after a second. Or sometimes it will and the mouse lights up, I can hear the optical drive but the screen stays dark. At that point I need to unplug and try again.
I tried booting from Snow Leopard install DVD during one of these weird cycles and could hear it trying to access the optical drive but I don't believe it even got to the chime stage.
I attempted booting from the install DVD again after unplugging. No luck there but instead of a frozen spinning wheel, it brings up the "You need to restart message…". Other methods don't do this.
Still at a loss to find a reason for this but it appears to be a hardware problem, no doubt the video card based on the screen issues. Does any of this shed any light on what the problem is or (even better) how to fix it?

Accidently shut down my Mac Book Pro during Windows 7 installation . When re-starting it says "Press any key to boot from CD or DVD". But keybord is not working . and i have the windows CD inside the drive . Pls hlp me to boot the mac again .

I have accidently shut down my Mac Book Pro during windows 7 installation . When I re started it it began to say " Press any key to boot from CD or DVD " but the keyboard is not working . So I cannot boot It and the CD is also in the drive . Please help me to boot back to Mac book Pro and give me a way to start the key bord .

Hey rudreshchoubey,
Thanks for the question. The following resource may help to resolve your issue:
Boot Camp Installation & Setup Guide
http://manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1636/en_US/boot_camp_install-setup_ 10.8.pdf
If Windows doesn’t install properly
Verify that you’re using an original, full version of the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 8, or Windows 8 Pro.
Restart your Mac and hold down the Option key until one or more disk icons appear on your screen. Insert the Windows installation disc into the optical drive or insert the USB flash drive with Windows into a USB port on your Mac. Select the Windows installation disk icon, then click the arrow beneath it. Quickly press any key on your keyboard to start the installer. Follow the onscreen instructions to repair or reinstall Windows.
Thanks,
Matt M.

Emac won't boot from 10.4 dvd ???

I have a 1ghz superdrive emac with 512mg ram. The box works fine it just won't start from a black retail dvd of 10.4.0 ??? I'm confused, cause this box is on 10.4 and this disk would have been my only way to get it there.............. Yes the disk works in other machines. I option/alt to the boot from screen and the emac ejects the dvd.
So how did I get it to 10.4 a long time ago if it doesn't boot from a retail dvd?

Does it also eject the DVD if you restart holding down the c key until the gray screen / Apple logo appears to boot directly from the optical drive instead of using the option key to invoke Startup Manager?

Booting from an external DVD drive

I have a 2006 Intel iMac with a Samsung model SE-208 USB DVD drive attached to it. How can I boot from this drive instead of using the internal DVD drive.

Everytime I try to load a DVD-RW disk, it gets stuck in the drive. That's why I am trying to boot from the external DVD drive. When I try to boot from the external DVD drive, it doesn't even show up when I press the option key on startup.
I spoke to a friend of mine who just bought a new iMac with the external Superdrive. It works fine. She can boot from it no problem and it only runs from the USB port.
All of my DVD-RW's mount on the desktop no problem from the external USB burner.

Cant boot from snow leopard dvd and install crashes computer

Folks, hi, newbie to this forum but at wits end.
I have a MacBook Pro 17inch mid 2010 model. I added the OMG disk doubler and ditched the internal dvd, so I now have 2 X 500GB hard drives, one of which has the OSX. This disk in trouble and Disk Utility says that it needs repairing, but i need to repair after booting from an different disk.
So, I added a usb dvd drive and put in snow leopard. It would not boot via holding down 'c' and the option key only saw the current drive. No problems I thought, I will install onto the second hard drive and boot from that. The process got a fair way though (20 mins) and the computer crashed. I checked that it is GUID, tried again, and ditto. So, I made a new partition that was nice and clean -- and ditto. Stuck about now, I tried to format a usb hard drive -- ditto. Hmm, didnt want to, but out came the second drive and in went the old dvd drive -- same issue -- could not boot using c button and the option key did not recognise the snow leopard install. Out came the drive and I went to the apple store -- they told me that the Snow Leopard I had brought was an upgrade and that I needed a Box Set. $169 later and - you guessed it -- the dvd is the same, no start on c, not recognised on option, and the computer crashes if I try and install to the second hard drive or an external drive.
Help anyone??

when i go to system prefs- startup, the dvd does not show up in the list of startup drives. The apple salesman said that the OSX install disk I purchased was not a start up disk / full install but rather an upgrade only disk. That is why he said to use the box set as a 'full install' - but both appear to not start up or be able to do a clean install. I just end up with a set of files call Mac OSX install files.

Can't restore MacBook Pro to factory settings/boot from usb or dvd

So I recently got a MacBook Pro, currently running OS X 10.7.4 Lion. I am well-versed in the world of Windows, however am quite new when it comes to macs (whole reason why I got it).
I'm trying to restore it to its factory settings without owning a restore disc. The HDD only has one partition (no recovery partition).
I have located and downloaded a torrent for an OS X installer, specifically a .dmg image file containing OS X 10.7.
I tried burning that image to a DVD, but when I go to boot from the DVD (to my understanding, this is done by holding "C" during boot) it doesn't work, and just continues to proceed to the logon screen as it normally would.
I have tried converting the image from a .dmg to a .iso (something I am far more familiar with) using one of my Windows machines, and then burning that to a DVD, however, it yields the same result as above.
I have tried using the Disc Utility to format a flash drive (Mac OS Extended (Journaled)) and then using the same Disc Utility to "restore" the image file to the USB drive. When I go to boot from this (holding alt/option at boot) it shows the internal HDD as the only bootable drive.
Is it possible that since I am technically running a newer version of Mac OS X (10.7.4 and using an installer of 10.7) that it will not allow me to do so? I know Apple has made it difficult to downgrade iPhones and the like, and I suppose it wouldn't surprise me a great deal to find out that the same applies to their computers.. But if I am attempting to boot from a different source, and use that to format and repartition my HDD, then I don't see why that would matter...
Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks for the suggestion, Shootist007, but that's not accurate. There were no disks of any kind included with the MacBook Pro I bought. I am very anal about keeping everything that comes with a computer. I don't misplace or lose them. I've been buying computers since '88, and I am very careful to maintain original items. I searched the original MacBook Pro box several times, and there's nothing in there but the original purchase receipt from the Apple Store and the form fitting black plastic tray and cushion.
I did try wiring the system, and that's when it tried to restore Lion (and wouldn't let me do a restore of anything else).
Are you saying that if I do upgrade to Lion, and then do a system restore, then the buyer will not be able to use Lion?

Can't boot from USB or DVD. HP Pavilion g6-2257sr

My new notebook HP Pavilion g6-2257sr don't let me to boot from USB device.
When notebook's booting, I pressed ESC and F10. Then I set up UFEI boot order - USB-device / DVD / OS selector.
I use official Windows 7 disk, and several own USB devices with bootable images.
But rebboting use hard drive's OS all the same.
Please help. I want to delete current OS from my notebbok.
This question was solved.
View Solution.

Hi:
I would make a set of recovery disks first before proceeding.
To boot the PC you need to go into the BIOS and enable legacy mode.
Then you should be able to boot from another device.

Cant boot from USB or DVD to install WIN 8.1 ENT

Hello,
Im currently evaluating a Thinkpad tablet 10 at work. The installed OS is atm 8.1 Pro but we have to reinstall with 8.1 Enterprice in order to get everything to work within our network.
But this have been more difficult than i thought. Im totally unable to bot from USB or DVD.
To sum up:
- Made bootable usb win 8.1 ent (fat32) with Rufus
- Made bootable dvd with PowerISO
Both works perfect in an ordinarie PC.
- Mainly booting from computersettings/reset/advanced start/use unit.
- Changed boot order in BIOS
- Toggled safe boot on/off
- Tried usb hdd / usb fdd / usb cd/dvd / etc
Whatever i choose - i reach the ordinarie win-login page.
- Updated bios to latest version
Whatever i do - No boot reaction at all.
Hope I will get some answers so that we can use this tablet.
//Andreas

Did you ever get this to work? I even made the Diag USB with the tablet 10 special code - and when I select the USB device for boot, screen goes black for a few seconds - then back to the menu.
I can't boot a default win 8.1 Pro CD either (with a lenovo USB drive).
I tried win10 and it pooched my system - does not boot at all, so I need to boot of an external device.

G4 Powerbook won't boot from OSX Tiger DVD

I am attempting to update my G4 Powerbook from 10.2.8 to Tiger. The Tiger install disc reads just fine when I boot from the HD. I am able to boot from other CD's and DVD's without problem. I have also taken the Tiger disc and successfully booted from it on another Powerbook and also a G4 tower. My Powerbook meets or exceeds all the system requirements stated on the Tiger disc.
The Tiger disc starts the boot process but just spins and spins forever with no error messages. I even allowed it to run overnight, but it was still spinning the next morning.

Hi, docone, and welcome to Apple Discussions. Do you have a retail Tiger installer disc with a black label and a big silver-gray X on it, or is it a gray-label disk that has some particular Mac model named on the label? If it's the latter, you can't use it on your Powerbook: it's specific to the model it was originally shipped with, and doesn't contain support for the Powerbook's particular hardware components. Even if you could start the Powerbook up with it, it would probably refuse to install anything.

Booting from a CD/DVD

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