No Windows option in Startup Disk pane

I have Windows XP installed on one MacBook and Windows 7 on another. For both computers, I have no Windows option in Startup Disk pane of System Preferences. I know the work-around, but that is not what I like. I want to be able to choose Windows in the Startup Disk pane. How can I get OS X to accept Windows as a Straup Disk pane option?

I recently came across this too. I remember the Windows partition being an option before, but it went away. I've also got Macfuse and NTFS-3G installed on my system. It would be nice if I could select the Windows drive in the Startup Disc instead of having to hold down Option when booting up.
I've also noticed that sometimes when I'm in Windows 7, the Boot Camp icon isn't there. It was there a couple days ago when I was in Win7, but yesterday it was gone. I've got Macdrive installed on that partition. Wonder if there's a connection?

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No Windows Icon in Startup Disk Pane, Can't Restart

The other day the Windows XP icon that I usually select in the Startup Disk Pane wasn't there. It's back now after a reboot, but the reboot was also a problem. I just got a grey screen at first, then I restarted again holding down the Option key. After a long time, the Mac OS and Windows volumes appeared, but when I clicked on either one, nothing happened. I restarted again the the Leopard installation DVD inserted. With the Option key held down again, I got the Mac OS, Windows, and Leopard DVD showing up. I now was able to select the Leopard volume and it booted fine. This whole scenario has happened a couple of time now. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you

Repair Mac OS partition from your OS X DVD (another hard drive with OS X would be even better - and a backup).
Same for Windows, Boot from CD/DVD and do system repair; safe boot if you must; and tell it you want to run CHKDSK next time you startup.
Also, system file checker for Windows:
from cmd.exe sfc /scannow
Disk drive or the volume directory for each, sounds like might be corrupt or that the drive itself could be failing and not spinning up and taking too long to mount. Could be a bad block or something else even.

After deleting Win at partition 3, there is still Windows option at startup

I bought an SSD, and hooked it with my old hdd to my system. There was a Mac and Win partition in my older drive. I erased system files, but couldn't formatted it because it has important info.
Now at startup, i managed to erase second Mac option and second Recovery option, but there is still a second Windows option, which linked to nothing.
My question is, how can i delete that obsolete option at startup? Is there anyway i can manually arrange that screen?

I'm talking about the screen when starting up the computer and pressing alt button. there has to be 3 options, mac, windows and recovery. instead there is 4th setting named windows, if i hit it, black screen and a blinking cursor appears and nothing happens. because i uninstalled that windows, but instead of formatting that partition, i just deleted windows files, because i have important info in that drive.
now, i want to delete that obsolete windows option at startup menu.

Volumes don't appear in startup disk pane in System Preferences

I have 10.3 on one volume of the original 120 G ATA hard drive. The machine boots fine from that. I have 9.1 and 8.5 on a volume on a 160 G hard drive I just added. Most files and applications all work fine from that drive. Only the volume with 10.3 appears in the startup disk pane in system preferences, except for a network icon. It even took several attempts to have that pane show up the Jaguar CD I put in. Why does the other volume with an OS on it not show up in that pane?
Your help is much appreciated!
Mike

Hi Mike,
"Why does the other volume with an OS on it not show up in that pane?"
Because your computer cannot boot into OS 8 or OS 9 natively and therefore does not even offer it as a boot-system: Macintosh: Some Computers Only Start Up in Mac OS X

Im not able to find bootcamp option in startup disk

im not able to find bootcamp option in startup disk.
my mac keyboard is also not working so i cannot use the option key during the restart.

What events led to this state?

No Windows Option on Startup

Does anyone have this issue? When I press the option key on startup, I only have the Mac OS option to startup. If I want to start up in Windows, I have to change the option in the preferences, then restart. AND THEN, change the preferences back in Windows (to Mac). I want my main startup to be Mac with having the Windows just "an option" during startup. Looking at all these other issues, I guess I can call myself lucky because it's not a terrible problem. Just wondering what the deal is.
Also, anyone know more info on the time/clock setup in Windows?

Had the same problem and I found the fix on another Apple board. I first formatted the Windows drive in Fat 32. That some times can make the Windows disk not appear on startup. So I removed Windows with boot camp,then reinstalled Windows in NTFS disk format, as the post said and now it works perfectly! Have zero problems.

Windows disk doesn't show up in Startup Disk -- only on reboot w/option key

Greetings,
I installed Windows XP on a separate SATA drive, and all is well with it. But it doesn't show up as an option in Startup Disk. The only way I can boot from it is to Restart and hold the option key down. Its icon DOES show up in the "choose disk" screen that follows.
Another user posted the same problem here, and someone suggested zapping the PRAM. I did this, allowing it to cycle through four times, but it didn't help.
Any other suggestions?
Thanks,
DM

Hi,
Try posting in the Windows Compatibility Forum.
http://discussions.apple.com/forum.jspa?forumID=687
Carolyn

Startup Disk - only Network Startup available

Hello,
I've got a problem with startup. I have two partitions on my internal hard drive - HFS+ for Mac OS X Leopard and NTFS for Windows XP. I wanted to check the setting of startup disk but in the Startup Disk pane in System Preferences there is nothing but Network Startup. I can boot to Mac or Windows but I always have to wait like a minute while it tryes to connect or something. Do you know how to solve this issue?
Thanks

fatal_ wrote:
Hello,
I've got a problem with startup. I have two partitions on my internal hard drive - HFS+ for Mac OS X Leopard and NTFS for Windows XP. I wanted to check the setting of startup disk but in the Startup Disk pane in System Preferences there is nothing but Network Startup. I can boot to Mac or Windows but I always have to wait like a minute while it tryes to connect or something. Do you know how to solve this issue?
Thanks
For starters, deselect the network boot option so it does not spend time searching.
Holding down the Option key as noted by another poster is one way to select your OS.
Another option is to install rEFIt, a BSD boot selector program.
http://refit.sourceforge.net/
I am presuming you did not use BootCamp to install your Windows program, which might account for the missing boot manager that BC provides.

The Startup Disk utility is missing from Preference Panel.

I recently realized that I no longer have the Startup Disk preference pane in the Preferene Panel. I sometimes boot from other drives and now I'm forced to hold down the option key at restart or startup instead of being able to select the startup drive through the Startup Disk pane. If anybody can help shed some light on this issue, I thank you abundantly.
MacMini 1.66 GHz Intel Core Duo
2GB 667 MHz DDR2 SDRAM
Mac OS X 10.6.8

I was hoping to avoid a reinstall but it's probably going to be the best way to solve the problem.
Thanks again, baltwo.

Difference between choosing startup disk at boot, or via System Preferences

Not a technical problem exactly, just a straighforward question: when I choose a startup disk in System Preferences or in the Windows Boot Camp Utility, where is this preference stored?
I have noticed that using either of these utlities is the only way to make the disk choice persistent; booting while holding down the Alt/Option key only allows you to temporarily select a startup disk.

Only difference is when you use the Startup disk applet in System Preferences the system will auto boot to that OS. When using the Option key boot system no matter which OS you select the next time you Reboot the system will boot back to the one that was selected from the Startup Disk selection.
So if you are auto booting into OS X and then reboot and use the Option key to get the Boot selection screen and select Windows (or another version of OS X) the system will boot to that selected OS. But when you do a Shut down or Restart the system will then boot back into OS X. The Option Key boot selection screen is only for that one startup.
Same thing go for if you are auto rebooting or auto starting up in Windows and use use the option key to boot into OS X. Then next time the system is restarted, Restart or shut down and then turned back on, it will Auto boot into Windows.
The Startup Disk option tells the EFI firmware which OS to Auto Boot To. The Option key is a ONE Time Boot option.

Lost Startup Disk in Mac OS X Leopard

Hi. I've been using leopard with windows vista for a long time now. I recently installed a software by paragon that would allow my mac to write to the ntfs partition. I noticed that after doing this (it might not have been directly caused by the software though), that the windows vista partition no longer showed up as an option under startup disk in leopard. I am however still able to boot to vista using the alt key when the mac starts up. I removed the paragon software and it didn't fix the problem.. I tired correcting the hard drive permissions and repairing the disk, but neither of them fixed the issue. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can get the vista partition back under Startup Disk?
Thanks
John

I don't think it was cause and effect or related. Could be but I don't recall seeing Vista in startup disk since Leopard.
I have Paragon, but it seems to be buggy and slows down Finder. It also may have led to data corruption on Vista. The MacFuse etc NTFS is probably better method right now.
Some users can't see Vista from OPTION/ALT on their systems but DO see Vista in the control panel Startup Disk.
Booting from my Tiger 10.4.6 and Leopard DVD weren't able to see Vista partition as available in Utilities: Startup Disk so that pretty much rules out Paragon.
I'm still looking for how. Luckily I can just pull my OS X drive or boot OS X from external drives anyway and leave Vista along with NTFS data drive and 3rd for page, cache, and other odds and ends.
Vista w/ SP1 RC1 boots faster now. You might want to check it out.

Problems with Snow Leopard and choosing startup disk.

I just installed Snow Leopard 10.6.3 on my external drive to test it out. Most things seem to work just fine, but I'm having problems selecting a start up disk from system preferences. When I bring up start up disk, I see the internal and external drives but they are greyed out and unselectable. How do I get back to starting up off of my internal drive? Is this a common problem?

Do try CT's suggestion first; that might be the most likely explanation.
In Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, do you see both drives?
You might be able to get back into the Internal by starting up from Startup Manager. Hold the Option (Alt) key down at the startup chime. When that finishes loading, you should be presented with icons for both drives. If that succeeds, and you can return to the Internal, you can then see if the options in Startup Disk are available.
In Disk Utility, I would also repair the External, if and when you are booted back from the Internal.
And once you are booted back normally, highlight the mounted External Volume and do a Get info (CMD-I). Make sure "Ignore Permissions on this Volume" is unchecked.
Edit: as CT suggested, you should also repair Permissions, but -- and this may have changed in 10.6, not sure -- you should generally repair Permissions booted from the Volume you are repairing. Before repairing Permissions, however, on any Volume, you should first Verify that Volume. Repairing Permissions on a Volume with problems will only make those problems worse.
Message was edited by: WZZZ

IMAC 27 wakes up but without Startup Disk?

Put iMAC to sleep and it wakes up with normal looking desktop, but nothing activates. Unable to launch apps etc. I shut down, unplug power, then startup with option key, Startup disk displays and I click enter, and all starts up fine.... I select MAC HD in Preferences but each time I put Mac to sleep this happens it never stays selected. The selected HD startup disk always go away? I would hate to have to re-install S/W to get past this issue. I also ran Disk Utility and it repaired & verified disk and permissions, but still iMAC will not wake from sleep with normal HD startup disk. Any help please?

Hi Nate,
The Apple guy called and we took care of this problem within 15 minutes. I will summarize for you quickly what cured it.
1. Open ACCOUNTS in Syst. Prefs. Clicked on LOG-IN Items, deleted 5 items and closed up.
2. Powered down Mac, unplugged all cables, USB, Firewire except Hi-Speed Modem cable.
3. Started back up with SHIFT key. However Magic Mouse didn't work.. So Powered OFF again.
4. Plugged all cables back in and did a normal Start Up. Booted up normal and issue is resolved
Apple Tech was great, no rushing and was easy to work with on the phone. iMAC is working great again!!
Thank you for your help, and I did ask Tech about resetting PRAM with your method, and he said it is a good idea to do this on occasion, but wouldn't have done much to cure my specific issue.
Thanks again Nate for your effort. Much appreciated! Jim

No OS 9 Startup Disk

I am using 10.4.3 with a PB G4 15". When I go to the Startup Disk pane in System Preferences, my OS 9 System 9.2 is not listed as a potential startup disk. It used to be but it isn't now. I don't know when this occurred, but I think before 10.4.3.
When I run Classic, it opens 9.2. If I try and install OS 9 from a boot CD installer it says I already have it. Why then, doesn't it show up as a startup disk?
Thanks,
Jeff

Jeff,
This may be because you have a Powerbook G4 which either can only boot off the 9 CD it came with, or it can't boot off Mac OS 9 at all.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=25517
lists which Macs come with CDs newer than specific retail 9 CDs.
Starting in 2002, new Macs shipped with a restore disk which can reinstall 9 from scratch without booting into Mac OS 9 using one of these three methods:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106294
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=86775
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=42929
Starting in 2003, the Aluminum Powerbooks (with the USB ports on the side as opposed to the back) no Mac OS 9 can boot from hard disk or CD on Powerbooks, and only can be used in the Classic mode, though the restore disks as described above can still load 9 onto the machines for use with the Classic environment.
So the question becomes how old is your Powerbook G4? This articles can help you identify the age of your machine:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=88248

How do I get automator to specify a startup disk?

I want to automate the specification of startup disks as I tend to frequently swap between a few systems. I fired up automator, hit the record button and proceeded to select the system preferences pane from the apple menu, selected startup disk pane and then clicked one of the disks. Automator listed my steps and it looked fine. However, when I play the script, instead of clicking once on the system preferences menu item it clicks twice on the app store menu item, resulting in an error. Obviously, I'm doing something wrong, so I'd appreciate some help. Thanks.

Solved: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/4296444

No Windows option in Startup Disk pane

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