Questions about booting, the process of starting a computer and putting it into a state of readiness for operation.
14
votes
4answers
6k views
How can I run/stop/relaunch an application automatically, at boot/login/some other time?
How do you make a script or app to run or stop running automatically when the system is booted, a user logs on, at a specific time, when a disk is attached, etc.?
7
votes
4answers
25k views
How do I make a bootable USB flash drive for a MacBook Air?
Does anyone have a Terminal command-line recipe for making a new bootable USB flash drive for one of the new MacBook Air's? Is there a way to dd copy the USB boot device that comes in the box and ...
2
votes
2answers
773 views
Can I dual boot Snow Leopard and Lion?
I own a Mac Mini 3.1 with Snow Leopard installed. I would like to dual boot with Lion for development purposes.
I have partitioned my hardisk as described in Point (1) in this tutorial
How to ...
3
votes
2answers
1k views
How can I fix permission issue when I cannot start Mac OS X?
I was creating a guest account and to prevent it from accessing the Macintosh HD as in other applications and stuff I assigned it as in "No Access"
When I switched to the guest account everything ...
6
votes
5answers
3k views
How can I boot to Safari Only (Chromebook style) in Lion?
How can I boot safari only in Mac OSX Lion Chrome OS style? I heard that there was a key that one had to hold at startup, which one is it?
3
votes
2answers
718 views
Security hole in firmware password by installing another boot loader?
I set up a firmware password on my MacBook. One thing I don't understand is how I can install a tool such as rEFIt, and effectively bypass the entire firmware password (i.e. installing it never asked ...
2
votes
2answers
8k views
Repair disk from single user mode (fsck fails)
Earlier today my 2009 iMac emitted I/O errors trying to copy files. So I ran disk utility, verify disk to see if anything was amiss. It was. But as it's my startup disk I couldn't repair it, so I ...
7
votes
2answers
546 views
How can I see the system status during boot?
I would like to monitor the messages generated when I boot my Mac, similar to what you on a *nix box. Is there key-combo to press/hold that will let me do this?
2
votes
2answers
4k views
Ubuntu bootable USB drive does not show up as bootable
I tried to make a bootable Ubuntu installation USB drive accordning to these instructions.
However, when the procedure is finished, the USB drive does not show up in the "Startup Manager", nor does ...
1
vote
5answers
1k views
My mac has 64-bit EFI, but it only boots with 32-bit kernel
I followed the guide at
http://macperformanceguide.com/SnowLeopard-64bit.html
to boot into 64-bit mode. I had no problems with the instructions and on the boot screen it says "PAE enabled, 64bit mode ...
0
votes
1answer
2k views
What are next steps when fsck reports “could not be repaired after 3 attempts”?
My Mac Book Pro 13.-" doesn´t get past the grey booting screen with the apple and the spinning wheel (The loading bar appears but when it´s done nothing happens)
I have 220 GB in one single ...
6
votes
4answers
3k views
How can I change the title of a boot image?
I have an external Hard Drive with two bootable partitions on it. The first is an image of a Mac OS X 10.6 Install DVD, and the second is an image of a Mac OS X 10.6.3 Install DVD.
When I plug the ...
6
votes
4answers
2k views
For a FileVault user of Mountain Lion: can I avoid the automated login, which normally follows unlock of the encrypted startup volume?
I have FileVault enabled with two users:
AdminGuy
OtherGuy.
I want AdminGuy to:
have the ability to unlock the HD, and therefore only he can enter a u/n + p/w at boot to start boot up
have the ...
2
votes
1answer
3k views
Running a command whenever Mac boots up with launchctl/plist
I need to run nohup nice synergys -f --config ~/bin/conf/synergy.conf & command whenever the computer boots up.
As is written in this post, I came up with the following plist code.
<?xml ...
6
votes
4answers
4k views
Is there a way to power up a Mac Mini remotely?
Is there ANY way to Power Up a Mac Mini remotely?
Just to be clear, I don´t mean wake up from sleep but boot up.
4
votes
1answer
853 views
Boot MacBook Pro into non OSX operating system from external harddisk
I have a MacBook Pro and an external HDD with Ubuntu, I can use this HDD to boot other machines into Ubuntu but no amount of pressing option would make my MacBook Pro think that the drive is bootable.
...
3
votes
1answer
173 views
How to set up an iMac not to look for USB Flash drive info during boot up?
Short question: is there a way to disable an iMac's USB Flash Drive boot up so that boot up time is faster?
Details:
My iMac has an external USB hub, and it has 3, 4 or sometimes 6 or 7 USB Flash ...
2
votes
2answers
254 views
On/Off vs. Sleep Mode
The new retina MacBook Pro is boot so quickly that if I don't use it for even 5 minutes it doesn't make a difference to me whether I shut the computer down or sleep it.
What is the best option for ...
2
votes
2answers
779 views
After System Update last night, the system will not boot with IOPlatformExpert.cpp:1504 error
I have had Lion for a 2, 3 months on the iMac 27 inch purchased last October (2011). Last night I chose to update the system, and deselected iMoves update because it was 1GB, and chose only 4 ...
0
votes
2answers
2k views
Can I use 16 GB RAM with my MacBook Pro 7,1?
I just picked up 16GB of RAM for my MacBook Pro, running the newest OS X. According to the NewEgg reviews, it should work in it. However, once I boot up, it shows the Apple logo and, after a few ...
4
votes
5answers
8k views
MacBook Air has suddenly become very slow at booting and shutdown
I have a Late 2010 MacBook Air, and it has a 256 GB SSD, 2.13 GHz processor, and 4 GB RAM. It has been lightning fast ever since I bought it and I upgraded to OS X Lion and it was super fast. Boot ...
2
votes
1answer
5k views
How do I boot my MacBook Air running Lion in safe mode?
I follow the instructions in http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1455 to boot in Safe Mode, but it appears something different happens with Lion. After holding the shift key when hearing the startup tone, ...
2
votes
3answers
5k views
How can I reset the PRAM if Recovery Mode keeps overriding the PRAM command?
Lion uses the ⌘ + R to boot into recovery mode. Resetting the PRAM in anything less than 10.7 was ⌘ + ⌥ + P + R.
Recovery mode now seems to override the PRAM command. Does anyone ...
2
votes
2answers
503 views
What does a firmware password protect?
If I create a firmware password on my MacBook, what does that protect me from?
Does it protect from any of these:
Reformatting the hard drive.
Switching OS to boot from (e.g. if Boot Camp is ...
1
vote
1answer
726 views
Can't boot MacBook Pro 13" (mid 2010)
The problem occurred after installing the update SMC 1.6 on Apple - OS X Mountain Lion:
First for a long time was a white screen and noisy cooler
After the system battery icon was crossed out and ...
1
vote
4answers
267 views
Is the boot time of an iOS device affected by the apps that are running at shutdown?
I suspect that apps that use system services might take time to register each app in the appropriate places at startup.
Is the boot time of an iOS device affected by the apps that are running at the ...
1
vote
1answer
419 views
What's the startup/reboot time for iPad (3rd generation) compared to other iOS devices?
I'd like to know, in people's personal experience so far, about how long the new iPad takes to start up (in seconds), especially when compared with other devices running iOS.
For the purposes of ...
1
vote
2answers
440 views
How to remove boot from MacMini?
I have tried installing windows 7 on my MacMini.
I followed following steps.
Setup went perfectly But while installing I thought of not installing it.
So, I just restarted mac mini.
Pressed Alt ...
1
vote
1answer
2k views
MBP not booting, but HD seems fine
My late 2009 unibody MBP won't boot. I have already booted in single user mode, ran fsck -fy until I get no errors. But when typing 'exit' or rebooting in verbose mode I see, after fsck runs:
Failed ...
0
votes
1answer
539 views
Used boot camp for windows - cannot select partition at boot up
I'm used boot camp and created a partition for windows. It gave the usual directions to insert windows CD. I did that and follows the installation instructions. When windows started up I inserted the ...
