HT1310 Significance of Option key in Startup Manager

Hello All,
I'm using Mountain Lion (10.8.2) on my iMac and I have noticed that once the Startup Manager appears, pressing Option key changes the circled up-arrow icon below the selected device to a different icon. What does that signify?

Thank you for a response baltwo.
But since this would all happen in Startup Manager itself, where else would it take one from there? I'm not sure I'm able to visualize.
I was too tempted, at the same time too scared to try it on my mac.

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Unable to use option key on startup

My Macbook Pro is running Yosemite (version 10.10) and runs Windows 7 through Boot Camp.   Until now I have been able to hold down the Option key on startup to enable me to select OS X or Windows.   Starting today the option key does not make any difference and the computer always boots straight into Yosemite.
To eliminate a couple of possibilities:
1.   When in Yosemite I can use the Keyboard Viewer to show that the Option key does still work.
2.   If I go into settings I can select the startup disk as the Windows partition and then the computer always starts in Windows.   This shows that the Windows partition is still there and the Windows setup works.
Why can I not use the option key to allow me to select which operating system to use?

Sounds like he set the Open Firmware password - doing so will (intentionally) prevent these things. The good news is that you can undo this with some effort.
Defeating the OF password:
1) Change the amount of RAM in the machine.
2) There are programs out there that will (reportedly) extract the OF password allowing you access.
3) Resetting the PRAM 3x in a row and rebooting is supposed to do it as well. (Warning this information has been considered "secret" at times.)
Hope that helps. Searching for Open Firmware Password will give you way more information if you want it.
=Tod
G5/2.0x2, Dual XServes x2, XRAID, beige G3 501Mhz

Winxp is gone when pressing option key at startup, "no bootable device"

Hi everyone,
I'm new to mac and recently bought a MBP.
I did bootcamp and installed windows xp and SP3 at the same time in a small partition, I remember it was 8gb.
I had no problem booting in to xp or mac after the installation, I can even press option and see both OS.
But now I cannot boot to windows, at startup while pressing the option key, I only see mac os and not windows. I also tried rebooting from the startup disk utility, but it has a black screen saying "no bootable disk found." It wants me to insert a bootable disk, so I inserted the window xp disk and has to force restart the laptop. Then it started a process like trying to load the files to reinstall win xp, of course I didn't let it.
Now when I went back to disk utilities I see that the winxp partition is 9.2gb, it was 8gb when I made it.
Recently I split my mac partition into 2, I tried to do the time machine back up, but then it takes too long so I canceled it and deleted the partition. I wonder if this affects my window xp partition.
Now I cannot see winxp when pressing option key at startup, but can see it in startup disk utility, and disk utility. When I boot from startup disk utility, it shows "no bootable device, insert cd, and press anykey..." I tried verifying and repairing the parition in disk utility, didn't work.
So this is all I did before I cannot boot into xp.
1. made new partition for winxp (formated partition as FAT)in bootcamp and installed winxp + sp3. everything was fine.
2. create another partition, and call it "data" <-want to create this for data only, while the other half is for software installation only.
3. create another partition for time machine, but when running time machine it says the partition is too small, so I delete it and make the partition bigger.then I run time machine, but since it takes way too long, I canceled it, and deleted the partition.
4. in winxp, had installed kapersky anti-virus 9.0
Now, I have 3 partitions: 1 for software installation, 1 for data, and 1 for winxp.
So why can't I boot to windows? Did things overwrite? Please help me, I'm so frustrated. Thank you.
Message was edited by: nobutan
Message was edited by: nobutan

Thanks fortuny,
I had read the link you suggested. And since my partition for windows is FAT32, as noted in the website, I can edit the boot.ini directly in my mac. In my mac, it already shows that the partition # is 3,
[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(3)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /NOEXECUTE=OPTIN/fastdect
but my window os is not booting.
Like the link noted, "it crashes with the "I'm sorry, we couldn't start up Windows. Do you want to start in Safe Mode?" screen. You'll also see a flicker of the BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH, which flashes an UNMOUNTABLEBOOTVOLUME error so quickly you won't have a chance to read it. This was the hint that the BOOT.INI entries were incorrect..."
According to the boot.ini in the site, my boot.ini file was already set up correctly, so why can't windows startup?
Also something I don't understand from this:
"NOTES: If you didn't follow the instructions and chose to PARTITION the existing volume instead of RESIZING then ADDING a partition, this appears to mess up BootCamp's boot loader and you may have to start again. Step 3, however, may offer you a way out."
When I did the 3rd partition, I did it in Disk Utility in mac, not from the mac os cd, and I split the mac partition into 2, I didn't do the "resizing," then using the unused space to make new partition... I wonder if this is causing the normal booting...
So do I start again by deleting my data partition or start from reinstalling windows? If the problem can be fixed without installing windows, of course, it would be great.
Message was edited by: nobutan

Netinstall images not showing up when holding down option key at startup

Hi,
I have setup two Netinstall images on my 10.5.5 server. On the clients I can see the two images via the 'Startup Disk' tab in System Preferences. But the images are not showing up when holding down the option key at startup. As I am getting ready to deploy to two labs of new iMacs, I would like to be able to get the Option key at Startup method to work as per the documentation.
Any ideas why these images are not showing up as they should?

I am having this problem on a 10.5.5 NetBoot server too. I can NetBoot clients by selecting a network volume in System Preferences > Startup Disk, but I can not see the network volumes when option-booting. I am having problems NetBooting while holding down the N-key too. The funny thing is that it works on new Intel iMacs, but not on Mac Pro1.1 (even with the latest firmware updates). NetBooting the Mac Pro works fine when selecting a NetBoot volume in System Preferences > Startup Disk.
Does anybody have a solution? Is this a problem with Leopard Server 10.5.5?
I am running DeployStudio Server v1.0rc9, and the NetInstall set is made with DeployStudio Assistant.
Everything looks right with my bootpd.plist and log file.
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): server starting
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): re-reading /etc/bootptab
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): Loaded 0 entries from bootptab (0 bad)
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): server name server.example.com
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): interface en0: ip 158.36.32.190 mask 255.255.255.192
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): bsdpd: re-reading configuration
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): bsdpd: shadow file size will be set to 48 megabytes
Dec 14 22:08:37 xserve bootpd(6722): bsdpd: age time 00:15:00
Dec 14 22:08:39 xserve bootpd(6722): BSDP INFORM (en0) 1,0:17:f2:2:d5:9e NetBoot001 arch=i386 sysid=MacPro1,1
Dec 14 22:08:39 xserve bootpd(6722): NetBoot: (1,0:17:f2:2:d5:9e) BSDP ACK(LIST) sent 158.36.32.161 pktsize 310
Dec 14 22:08:39 xserve bootpd(6722): service time 0.000667 seconds
Dec 14 22:08:52 xserve bootpd(6722): BSDP INFORM (en0) 1,0:17:f2:2:d5:9e NetBoot001 arch=i386 sysid=MacPro1,1
Dec 14 22:08:52 xserve bootpd(6722): NetBoot: (1,0:17:f2:2:d5:9e) BSDP ACK(LIST) sent 158.36.32.161 pktsize 310
Dec 14 22:08:52 xserve bootpd(6722): service time 0.000622 seconds

Holding Option key on startup to manage two libraries

When you start iPhoto if you hold down the Option key it will ask you to select a Library to use or it create a new one. I am using this work around to have two libraries. 1) for personal photos 2) for business photos
Are there any potential complications to managing them this way? Any problems?

Nope - that is the way to switch between multiple libraries
An alternative is using iPhoto Library Manager - http://www.fatcatsoftware.com/iplm/
LN

External hard drive not found when holding option key at startup

So here's the deal. My MacBooks DVD drive crappedmout. I opened up to check that the drive was hooked up correctly and all. Looked fine so I put it all back together and tuned on the Mac. My hard drive wasn't recognized so I Got the ? Flashing folder so I plugged in my external USB to run the disc utility and restore the hard drive (I have the startup discs on there as my dvdrom won't read anymore). Turned it on, held down option (with external plugged in and on) and the mouse came up to select what I wanted to boot from, but nothing showed up. I can't see the device at all. Keyboard seems to be working fine as well as the track pad. I also plugged in a USB mouse to check my USB ports and the mouse worked fine. Would love any help on this. Need the computer salvaged (hopefully) since I don't have the money to get a new one at current. Thanks for the help! (ps on an I touch if there are misspellings.)

Apparently, you unhooked something or other. Open it up again and check at the computing hardware forums for you machine. If still no go, then it's time to visit a repair station.

Startup Manager takes 1 minute to display

Hi,
I recently purchased a Mac mini and installed Boot Camp. The partitions are:
120GB MacOSX 10.6.3
32GB WindowsXPSP2 (FAT32)
I set everything up using the Boot Camp Assistant and everything runs without a problem. However, when I turn on the computer and hold down the Option key, the startup manager takes a *full minute* before it is displayed.
I have also noticed that when I boot into WindowsXP, that the startup program BOOTCAMP.EXE also takes a full minute before it shows up in the tray.
I suspect that Boot Camp and the Startup Manager are somehow unhappy with the drive partitioning or are hitting some sort of timeout while looking for other boot devices. I have not found anyone else that has reported this problem. I hope someone with internal Boot Camp and Startup Manager knowledge will be able to provide some useful information.

I completely removed Windows and BootCamp and the problem still exists. So it is actually a Startup Manager problem.
I then disconnected my network cable and tried it again and suddenly the problem was gone. After some quick tests, I discovered what the problem is.
If a live network cable is plugged into the Mac mini, the Startup Manager will make a DHCP request. If after 60 seconds no DHCP response comes, the Startup Manager will give up and then show the startup volumes. This means, if you have a network but the Mac mini does not receive a DHCP response, the Startup Manager will always take 60 seconds before it displays the startup volumes.
There are 2 solutions to this problem:
1. Make sure your network is running a DHCP server and that the DHCP server responds to the Mac mini requests with an IP address.
2. Don't plug a network cable into the Mac mini when starting the Startup Manager if you know no DHCP server will respond.
It is nice that Apple uses the WLAN and integrated Ethernet to try and find all possible startup volumes. But I wish that Apple would make this configurable so that the user can choose to have the Startup Manager never use WLAN and/or never use the integrated Ethernet.

Make startup manager load by default on startup (rather than option key)

I have a macbook pro 13' (late 2010 version) i am running Lion and i have windows 7 proffesional using boot camp.
When i boot up my mac it loads Lion by default.
I understand that to switch between the two i have to hold the option key on startup, i am then prompted for my password, and after entering it i get to the startup manager which displays the startup disks available.
I would like to know if there is a way of getting my mac to run the startup manager (with password) by default when i boot it, rather than choose one of the installed os.
Thanks in advance.
Gaz

No. However, you can install a third-party bootloader if you're willing to try it: rEFIt.
If you do this then you need to know that Boot Camp Assistant will no longer be able to manage the Windows partition.

Option Key won't work at Startup

I understand that holding the Option Key at Startup will give a window to select start up drives. Apparently, on my G4, that doesn't work (I have an Apple Extended Keyboard)
Is there an alternative way to access my startup disks when I power on? Preferably not in Single User mode?
PPC G4 Dual 450 upgraded to Dual 1.3 Mac OS X (10.4.8) 9200 Radion, Controller Card to hold Hard Drives, and a Networked G3 Desktop

Restart the computer and after the chime press and
hold down the OPTION key until the boot manager
screen appears. If this isn't working then you may
have a problem with your keyboard, OS X, or need a
firmware update:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86117.
The keyboard is fine, I use the Option key all the time during normal use. Other Start up commands (command+option P+R) My Firmware should be up to date (had to update it to install the new Processor) Currently, OSX 10.4.8 has been somewhat questionable (I've posted elsewhere about my prefered Start Up not working).
I found a link saying that some G4's might not have the "Option" to Boot Manager. If that's the case with my Gigabit Ethernet G4, could there be another way to access the Boot Manager at Start up?

OS X disappeared from "Option" key startup menu after Boot Camp

I ran Boot Camp Assistant until the part where I enter the XP CD. (I entered the version before service pack 1 by accident.)
I'm not sure if it's related, but I can no longer boot to Mac OS X. It just hangs on the gray screen (no logo) if there's no CD, or hangs on the black blinking cursor if there is a CD.
Windows shows up as a bootup option, but I never got the chance to install it.
What do I do?

Press and Hold the OPTION key during startup and see if you get the menu to load OSx. If you do then click on OSx and boot into Leopard. Run boot camp assistant again and remove the Windows partition to restore the HD back into its original state.
Axel F.

My Option key will not show me all my drives at boot up but I can see then on my desktop

I have installed a SSD in my system and can see it on my desktop but I can not get it to aper when I use the option key at startup. The drive is formatted correctly (one partition Mac OS Extended (journaled) and set the GUID Partition Table) I was able to see it last week now no way will the option key work. I even used a different key board with the same result. the purpose for the SSD I am going to install new OS on this drive.

How to choose a startup disk on your Mac - Apple Support
A "startup disk" is a volume or partition of a drive that contains a usable operating system. You can set your Mac to automatically use a specific startup volume, or you can temporarily override this choice at startup.
If you do not have usable operating system on your SSD, it won't appear on the Startup Manager window.
drivemaster wrote:
Do I need to do this?
Yes, if you want to have your SSD visible on the Startup Manager screen.
How to do it. Use Recovery Partition to install OS X on SSD drive. OS X Yosemite: Reinstall OS X

Trying to boot from external drive using Startup manager

Hello forum geniuses
I would first like to make an announcement...my loved and cherished iMac G5 has moved on to the next life. Something to do with the motherboard. Your thoughts and prayers are welcome...
But some part of her may live on! You see, we had the hard drive taken out and put into one of those Hard drive shells, so it now works as an external hard drive. I plugged it into another iMac G5 and it works fine as an EXHD. However, I have been working with some very complex Final Cut pro projects so I ideally I want to boot the computer from my original hard disk to preserve all of my file paths. Since it is the original system disk, it should contain an installed copy of Mac OS 10.4 and the original system folder, and it should work as intended, correct?
The problem is, when I hold down the "option" key at startup, I don't get my old hard drive (which is now an external plugged in through firewire, for those playing at home) as a bootable option.
Does anyone know where I'm going wrong here?

Thanks for the reply. A couple of things...
Using my iBook laptop, I booted from the original drive from my old computer and it worked perfectly. Startup manager allowed me to select it and it preserved all my settings and data without a hitch. Exactly what I WANT to happen on the other G5
Remember, this isn't a clone or a copy of my old hard drive - it is the ACTUAL hard drive with an enclosure that allows me to plug it in as an external - so it has to be made bootable, since it is the original.
Also, I can't transfer my data from the original hard drive to the other iMac because there is more than 200GB of data on the original and the other one only has a 120GB hard drive.
So I think the question is, if the standard startup procedure works on my iBook why isn't it working on the iMac G5?

Cannot access Startup Manager from boot

I'm trying to fix a friends computer, and I'm running into some issues. Here's the setup:
She used her computer last night, and then shut it down. This morning, she tried to start it up, and after about 10 minutes of waiting, got the folder with a question mark. She tried resetting it a few time, but still kept getting the folder with question mark.
So, I am now currently trying to trouble shoot the system to figure out exactly what the problem is. These are the solutions I've tried:
Resetting the PRAM, several times
Trying to startup from external USB drive, by using the "force bypass of internal drive" key command at startup
Starting the problem machine in target disk mode, and connecting it to my laptop (the drive didn't show up on the desktop, disk utility or Techtools Pro)
Startup in Safe mode (got folder with ?)
Startup in Verbose mode (just got a grey screen)
Now, I have my laptop, in target disk mode, connected to her laptop, and I am trying to access the Startup Manager (hold option key at startup). But, after about 20 minutes of waiting, I still have just a grey screen with the mouse cursor; no icon for my computer; no refresh; nothing. I tested this firewire cable with my laptop and another computer, and it works just fine.
My next option is to try the force bypass again, then try an OSX CD. Everything after that involves removal, and possible replacement, of the drive.
Does anyone have any idea why I cannot access the Startup Manager on this system?

OMG this is what just happened to me exactly last night! I was in the middle of a freaking project that is due monday and i might lose everything! It is currently at the apple store right now and i wont get it back for 3 or 4 days. I am freaking out because they said there is a chance that i could lose everything. They said there is a problem with the hard drive....have you found anything out about this? BC i am freaking out! I pretty much cried for hours and if i lose all my data that is like 2000 dollars of music and movies down the drain. I hope you can fix it but id advise that your friend take it to the store just bc i would be afraid to make it worse.
Message was edited by: star89

No Startup Manager in LION

Since installing LION I can no longer bring up the Startup Manager (aka, Boot Menu) by pressing the Option key on startup. My keyboard is a Logitech lighted USB board, and the "ALT" key (as well as one of the CTRL keys) are the Option keys (confirmed with Keyboard Viewer). I am using a 2009 vintage Dual Quad Core Power Mac.
I also re-connected my original Mac keyboard after installing LION, and still could not bring up the Startup Manager using the Option key.
My main bootable drive (with 10.7.1) is Firewire 800; my 3 internal drives (One with 10.7.1, two with 10.6.8) are SATA, and all are bootable.
I keep 10.6.8 in order to keep using Quicken for Mac, and need to switch between OSs periodically. I would rather not have to start up, select the startup drive from System Prefs, then restart.
I have tried resetting the PRAM, without luck.
How can I restore the Startup Manager?

Linc Davis, that was the answer - thank you. I had made some equipment changes when I installed Lion, and had moved my keyboard and trackball connections to 3rd party USB cards.
Reconnecting the keyboard to a built-in, original Apple port did the trick - but I had to connect both the keyboard and trackball (a Microsoft Trackball Explorer, which I love) to the original Apple USB ports. The Logitech keyboard does not have a USB port, so the trackball must be connected separately. Connecting only the keyboard brought up the Startup Manager, but I could not move the cursor until I reconnected the trackball.
Pardon the long explanation - I include it for others.
Thank you again for your help.

Cannot get MacPro to allow me to boot to an alternative boot disk. Can choose in control panel but will not use the disk to boot. Also won't boot using disk selected using option key

My primary boot disk is encrypted as is a secondary boot disk (backup) but I cannot boot using any other disk. System 10.8.5, MacPro 4.1.
All disks mount using primary boot disk. All disks check out as OK and I have repaired permissions.
When I choose in the control panel the Mac boots but will always use my original boot disk.
When I select the disk using the option key at startup, the boot process stalls with a grey screen and a spinning cursor.
Thanks,
Dave

Still trying to figure this out. I erased the drive, did a format using disk util and then re-installed the system but I still cannot get the disk used as a startup drive. I also tried an external firewire drive and it won't allow me to boot from it either.
I can choose it starting up with the option key but it just gives me a blue screen and the spinning cursor.
If I select it in the startup pref pane it boots into my other startup drive only.
DaveLon

HT1310 Significance of Option key in Startup Manager

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