Booting Your Apple Mac From CD, DVD, iPod or External Device
Mac Boot Key Combos
Force Reboot:
ctrl +apple + power button
Force Eject CD on Boot:
Hold down the mouse button
Boot from CD:
Hold down C key on startup
Boot from External Drive/iPod:
Hold Option key on startup
Boot into FireWire Disk Mode:
Hold the T key on boot
Boot into Single User Mode:
apple + s
When you encounter troubles and you want to try and fix them, your first port of call is to reboot your mac from a device other than your internal hard drive. This alternative device could be anything from your CD-ROM, DVD-ROM drive to an external hard drive or even your iPod.
In this article we outline the key combinations, needs and requirements for rebooting your Apple Mac from a secondary device and how to go about troubleshooting your problems. So first, let’s get to grips with how to boot the system from a secondary source:
Booting From your CD/DVD Drive or External Hard Drive
Every new mac comes with a Boot CD or Boot DVD for re-installing the operating system (OS) at some time at which the initial install of the OS has reached its sell-by date. This CD is the easiest way to get the machine booted and in a state where you can run some basic tests and fixes using the Apple Disk Utility available as part of the install process.
I am going to make the assumption that you are unable to boot the Mac to a state where you can reach system preferences, so I will disregard the “Startup Disk” selector in a System Preferences as a means by which to select the CD as a boot disk! As an alternative, startup the Mac, as it whirs into action, slot the CD into the drive and then hold down the C key. This will force the Apple Mac to attempt to find a valid system folder on whatever media is contained int he CD/DVD drive and use it to boot the Mac.
Force Ejecting a CD/DVD from the Mac System
If you need to force the Mac to eject the CD/DVD again, then you can always force reboot or hard reset with the key combination COMMAND + CTRL + POWER BUTTON on a Mac laptop or hold down the power key for 10 seconds to power down the system, before waiting another few seconds and restarting the Mac using the power key again as normal. As the Mac starts up, hold down the mouse or trackpad button and this should force eject the CD. On some system there is a force eject button just inside the lip off the slot.
Booting Your Mac System from, or as, an External FireWire Drive
A faster option and one which provides more options is to boot the system off an external hard drive that might have a backupor a pre-installed mac osx system designed for this purpose. In essence, simply plug in the firewire drive into the Mac and power it up. As you power up the Apple Mac, hold down the OPTION key, this will force the Mac to produce a list of available and valid system boot options, whether the valid system be internal, on CD/DVD or on an external device. From this you can select the correct system folder and then proceed by clicking the rightward arrow.
On the flip side of this, with Apple Mac Systems that can be placed into FireWire mode at startup, you can turn the Apple Mac itself into what for all intent and purpose is an external firewire drive itself. To force the system into FireWire Disk mode, hold down the T key at startup. Once in FireWire Disk mode you should see a FireWire Logo screensaver on the screen. At this point you can plug the system into another Mac for testing the hard drive.
Using Your iPod as an External Boot Device
Recently a number of tools have been put on the market, on both a FREE and commercial basis, which make it easier to turn your iPod into an external utility and boot disk. These include, but are not limited to: SubRosaSoft’s DasBoot (free) and MicroMat’s TechTool Protogo (commercial); so booting your mac and getting fixed seems like it has definitely NEVER been easier.
Setting up your iPod as an external boot device is for another article, but once you have it installed, prepped and ready to go, you can use it much as described in the previous sub-chapter of this article whilst talking about booting from FireWire drives.
December 7th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Hi, I have tried this as my Mac suddenly seemed to want to sleep all of the time and it did actually boot up although it still keeps going to sleep. It also sounds like the fan is having to work really hard – could it be something as simple as a fan change or clean that could cause these problems as I have tried resetting the USM (?) but with no results and my friend talked me through trying to reset the Pram also as apparently that would help. No joy.
Any advice as I am just about to check the old fan again and hopefully that will be it……
December 7th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Debbie,
What kind of Mac are we talking about? MacBook, PowerBook, iMac, PowerMac etc? I would assume that the machine is overheating and shutting down, although this shouldn’t necessarily stop you from booting, unless of course the CPU overheats exceedingly quickly.
Best, Vincent =
February 20th, 2009 at 11:04 am
Got a question here… I’m trying to revive an 12″ powerbook and the Optical drive is shot. when i startup the computer now, i get th old flashing question mark and finder logo. I bought an LG external ‘slim’ drive, so i can boot and reinstall OSX. BUT, when i hold down opt on startup, the drive isn’t found. i’m not sure if it’s because the USB ports don’t work until after startup? kinda lost. any thoughts?
February 20th, 2009 at 11:09 am
I hate to ask a silly question but has the device been formatted and had OSX installed on it? If not then it wont show up. To install OSX on it you will require another machine, which point you might as well use one machine or the other as a firewire target disk.
Assuming you are ahead fo the game, you need to follow on with these instructions for booting a PPC from a USB 2.0 device:
http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20060301112336384&lsrc=osxh
Bare in mind, that if you are on USB 1.0 it is going to be incredibly slow.
Hope this helps. Best Vincent =
March 2nd, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Hi,
I have an iBook G4 that went dead on me about a month ago. Every time I try to re-start it, the blank silver screen would appear and go no further. I read some websites that said to reboot using the CD while holding down the c key. I tried that but my cpu just spit the CD back out after a couple of seconds. So still, all I get is the dreaded silver screen.
I’m thinking of taking it to a Mac store because I have pretty much no knowledge on how to handle this kind of thing. But I don’t want to spend a hundred dollars or whatever to have it fixed. Maybe they’ll look at for a couple of minutes and figure out the problem though, and not charge me…?
My question is, what is the best alternative?
Thanks,
Steve
April 18th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
hi, yesterday i’ve been successful in my first trial using this procedure with tiger on imac intel – core duo: 1) clone the total tiger-system with carbon copy cloner on an external hdd 2) which is connected by firewire, with 3 partitions, all formated mac-typical.
3) choose external (cloned) startvolume in systemkonfiguration and reboot. that’s all.
curiously in some context-menues the reconmmended applications are shown twice thereafter.
can anybody tell me, how this can be avoided? – thanks beforehand!
April 20th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
I tried to boot from the DVD. on startup Press C and slot dvd into drive. It keeps booting from the hard drive. On my first attempt this worked and when I went to close the session it asked where Iwanted to boot from and I selected the HDD. HOw do I get it to boot from the DVD again?
steve
April 20th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Steve, try holding down the option key as you boot. Make sure the DVD is in. This will then produce a menu after a short period with all the available boot devices on your system. From there, select the DVD. Hope that works, though it sounds like yo might not be holding down the C key for long enough. Also make sure the DVD is actually in when you restart. Vincent =
April 30th, 2009 at 9:38 pm
I need help. I have a 2.5 year old imac with a 1 year old operating system. When I turn the computer on it chimes like normal, then the grey screen comes on, then the whirly comes on, then a few moments later I hear a click and the computer shuts off and the screen goes blank.
I inserted the install disk and held down the c key but the same thing happens. I am able to eject the disk and it sounds like it’s reading it, but still it’s not booting from the CD.
Any ideas, anyone? I live in a remote area and can’t take it into the mac shop.
(Nothing has happened to it, I haven’t even moved it in months.)
Thanks a lot!
Jenna
June 21st, 2009 at 2:34 pm
ok Jenna
sometimes you can zap the PRAM
here is the apple article
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379
sometimes you hav to zap the PRAM a few times (2-3 to be safe that it is wiped)
after zapping the PRAM try holding the C key again and see if it boots off the CD
also check out this aricle
http://support.apple.com/kb/TA22017?viewlocale=en_US
it tells you how to boot off the CD another way.
good luck
September 27th, 2009 at 3:51 pm
How would I boot from a cd from an imac windows vista partition???
January 29th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
hi, my external hard drive feel from table to floor and now it does this clicking noise and doesnt appear on my desktop, the computer cant read it or see it. Unfortunately i have important files on this dam drive, i tried plug into other computers and nothing… any suggestions on how to recover the data and if it will be usable after that???
January 29th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
Unfortunately you might be out of luck without exceedingly expensive work, and even then. Recent bouts of clicking HDs have resulted in little luck at this end, and the usual story of putting the drives in the freezer is as yet to work. The only drive scenario where it fell and I was able to recover data was when I took the drive out of the existing case and put it in to another. But in this case there was no clicking and as such, no mechanical failure. Good luck with your efforts. Vincent -
February 18th, 2010 at 2:58 am
Hi, I have a G4 without mac os and no recovery disc as well. I will like to install window on it. Can anyone help me with this problem? How to do a boot up from CD. I tried C key but can’t. Anyone please guide me thanks.
February 20th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
You won’t be able to install Windows on a G4.
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Hello
about a week ago I was recieving ” error start up disc is full”. I believed I had fixed this problem by rebooting in safe mode I believe. Wala! Computer ( osx laptop) fixed! For only a few days before my new problem arised….. My laptop is no longer picking up my wifi, but the other computers here are. Did I mess something up? I mean it worked fine for the week after rebooting. Any thoughts, comments….. Or dare I hope for resolutions.
March 3rd, 2010 at 11:48 pm
Jeremiah – Booting into Safe Mode sounds like you are on Windows. I therefore have no clue. Sorry!
March 5th, 2010 at 4:13 pm
Vincent, booting into Safe Mode has been part of OS X since version 10.2
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1564
It is very handy for troubleshooting. You boot into safe mode by holding down the shift key at start up. Old school mac users will recognize this as the same startup command that was used to boot w/ extensions off in OS 9 and earlier.
March 8th, 2010 at 9:28 am
I have a Macbook Pro, not sure of the generation, but it was purchased in 2006.
I was going about my business just fine yesterday, when all the sudden the screen got all pixelated (for lack of better terms). I turned off the laptop manually. Now when I turn it on, the Apple image appears, but shortly after the pixels come back. The screen then turns blue (still rectangular pixels persist) and that’s that. Does this sound like something that can be fixed with the disc method you described? I won’t be able to check for a few days because I don’t have the start-up disc with me at the moment.
Does my problem seem to be hard drive related, monitor related, etc?
I will feel much better if I can at least copy all my data but if my hard drive is lost, it’ll be a very sad day :(
March 8th, 2010 at 10:00 am
It sounds like it could be a graphics card issue. I would suggest booting with the T key held down, which puts the laptop into firewire disk mode, and then connecting it to another mac so you can back up the data before you do anything. Best, Vincent =
March 8th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Vincent, when I hold the T key down, a large firewire icon starts to move across the screen, after this, what do I use to connect to another Mac?
p.s. The pixels still cover the screen, but I am still able to see the firewire icon “dance” around the screen. I’m hoping this is a good sign?
Also, would it be safe to remove my hard drive, put it in a friend’s mac, and then use an external hard drive to back up my data?
Thanks for the help!
March 9th, 2010 at 5:36 am
Robbie – Yes that’s a good sign, either you screen, or more likely your graphics card is playing up. I would do a full backup for the drive and then take it to a mac repair place. Hopefully you are near an apple store. You don’t need to remove the drive, the Firewire Disk Mode allows you to use the laptop as an external hard drive and therefore when connected to another mac, you can back it up to your external drive, using the working mac as a conduit.
March 19th, 2010 at 12:44 am
I Have A mac Pro With Windows On It I Need To Install Mac On an Other Hdd And keep Windows But How To Resize Windows Partition With Out Losing Data And With Out Reinstallin Windows
March 27th, 2010 at 10:14 am
I have an ibook G4 which went dead on me a few days ago, and boots into the “Welcome to Darwin” screen. When I press C on startup, after inserting the startup disk, it takes me straight to the installer. Then, when I select the “Archive” option, it asks me to quit because I don’t have enough space on my hard disk. I’m unable to access my hard disk to create extra space, so I’m not sure what to do. Can you help? Thanks!
March 27th, 2010 at 12:11 pm
Sarvesh, if you want to make a backup hen you will need an external HD with the same amount of space or more as the existing HD. Best, Vincent -
March 27th, 2010 at 12:12 pm
Nomada, you might need something like Subrosasoft’s VolumeWorks.
March 28th, 2010 at 10:10 am
Thank you for you Advise but Volume Works Warns that it’s not intended for resizing Bootcamp partitions. and It’s not clear for me if i add an extra hd to move windows using volume works may inter fear with boot camp and I may not be able to Boot Would You Please Be More Specific
March 28th, 2010 at 10:22 am
Hmmm I dont know much about resizing volumes, so I am a bit out to sea. Does Bootcamp have the ability somewhere in the suit of tools?
April 3rd, 2010 at 8:22 pm
I made a mistake on my Powerbook G4. I was going to save the hardrive to my external so i dragged it to my external. the i saw the system on the external so i dragged that to the trash. i thought that might be good so i tried to drag it back to the external and aciddentally put it back on the hardrive. Oops, it did something funny and i shut it down. it has been a mess ever since. I tried to reinstall Leopard from the DVD but it won’t happen. I was able to reinstall OX 10.4.2 but i can’t get Word to work where all my passwords are saved, etc. i also have a G5 workhorse and i ca using that to connect to the internet. Any ideas how to get Leopard reinstalled on laptop? I really have tried it all i think. Thanks, Chuck
April 11th, 2010 at 2:50 pm
I have a serious problem with my Macbook Pro and I urgently need help… I am trying to boot from the “Install disk” that came with my mac but after the apple-and-spin screen, it gets to the screen where the directions should begin but that screen is SERIOUSLY pixelated, like it is broken. I can barely see the directions at the back, I have my mouse pointer that is useless and I have to turn my mac off again to get to the normal mode without being able to use the cd. What should I do?? Could this be a display resolution issue?? It is very urgent for me to do that, I thank you in advance for your help…
May 9th, 2010 at 11:30 pm
Hi I installed a hard drive in my G4 powerbook and I am trying to run my mac install so I can get to the time machine to restore but I cannot see the install dvd. I am using a firewire external dvd. Thanks
May 10th, 2010 at 4:10 am
Try holding down the option key and see if it shows up in the list of available boot devices. Do you hear the CD spin up? Is it the right kind of install dvd?
May 19th, 2010 at 1:38 am
Hi- I have a macbook pro and when I power up, I get a blinking “?”, so I have held down option key during power up and my hard drive appears. I choose my hard drive and/or arrow key pointing at my HHD and it just sits there. I am assuming that my mac cannot find my OS. Is there a way to resolve this. I am also not home and do not have my boot disk with me. Thanks for your help!
May 20th, 2010 at 1:03 am
my computer was not starting correctly so i pressed the C key….
now i m back to an older desktop and seams to have lost all the folders that were on the previous desktop
Am I screwed?
T
August 6th, 2010 at 11:48 am
Hi – Sorry if this has been answered in advance…
I have an early Intel Imac. The hd died a few days ago. Instead of breaking it open and installing a new hd, is it possible for me to attach an external hd (w/ firewire), boot to the installation dvd, and install to the external drive? I’m lazy.
Thanks for your help,
Matt
August 6th, 2010 at 4:19 pm
Matt – Yes! Just put the CD/DVD in hold down C are you boot and then select the drive during the installation process. Best, Vincent =
August 20th, 2010 at 8:02 pm
I have a serious problem with my Macbook Pro 13″ (2009) and I urgently need help… Tried to load bootcamp and window xp but put in the windows 98se disk by mistake. Tried to cancel the install but had to do a hard reset.
Now can’t restart my Macbook in OSX 10.6.??. I have tried:
1- restarting holding down “v
2- restarting holding down “t”
3- restarting holding down “c”
4- restarting holding down “alt”
5- restarting holding down “alt,cmd,c,p”
6- restarting holding down “power button” waiting for second blip but no sound
7- restarting with original Macbook Pro install disk and Snow leopard disk (which is the upgrade disk)
8- restarting holding down “power button” for more than 10 seconds
Nothing works, if I put the window 98se disc back in the Macbook ask whether I want to boot from the CD or Hardisc.
I have tried booting from the HD just get black screen flashing cursor but keyboard does not work
I have tried booting from the CD which works and your presented with a dos prompt A:\ tried fdisk and deleted all partitions hoping this would be like a new disc, but did not work.
So I am stuck help!!!!!!!!
Samuel
I am trying to boot from the “Install disk” that came with my mac but after the apple-and-spin screen, it gets to the screen where the directions should begin but that screen is SERIOUSLY pixelated, like it is broken. I can barely see the directions at the back, I have my mouse pointer that is useless and I have to turn my mac off again to get to the normal mode without being able to use the cd. What should I do?? Could this be a display resolution issue?? It is very urgent for me to do that, I thank you in advance for your help…
September 19th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
I have a PowerBook g4 and need help! When I start it up I get a flashing question mark with a folder. I have the mac osx disk and when I try to install it I get to the third step “select destination” but there is no destination for me to select. Any suggestions?
September 20th, 2010 at 5:30 am
Hmmmm that sounds a bit odd, Is it the right boot disk for OSX? I suppose it is plausible it doesn’t like the CD/DVD. Would seem that the HD is borked but the rest of the system is OK. Just a guess at this juncture.
September 20th, 2010 at 1:38 pm
Ok. I actually just got a new hard drive, which I installed myself. I also heard I may need to format the drive? I fear I may be a bit in over my head on this matter. Do I need a new installation cd maybe?
September 20th, 2010 at 1:42 pm
Ashley … Well if you can’t get the mac to boot off it by holding down the C key on startup then assuming you can hear the CD spinning up, then I would assume you need to find a CD/DVD you can actually boot off.
October 29th, 2010 at 7:45 pm
hey vincent
i purchased my mac around 2007 and it was running fine until last night and then all of a sudden it wont turn on at all. The little white light turns on for about 3 seconds and then just turns off again. I tried holding the power button in when i turned it on but all that did was make the light stay on a bit longer, then flicker and give out again. Tried taking out the battery, giving it a bit of a clean and putting it back in. Please help???
October 30th, 2010 at 5:07 am
My 2007 MBP had a GPU failure recently, and it looked like the thing was on but acted like ti was in a deep sleep. Apple,or rather NVidia, paid for the work to be completed for free. Given the fans are whirring, i would be less inclined to suspect such a scenario, and rather that for some reason the CPU is overheating and shutting down as you would expect in an overheat case. I would get a ACT to look at the thing, as I doubt you are upto ripping the thing apart and figuring it out. Hope this helps. Best, Vincent -
November 4th, 2010 at 1:06 am
I have an iMac iSight G5 1.9GHZ PowerPC that flatly refuses to boot from cd/dvd. I’ve used every keyboard command recommended to boot from cd/dvd and none ever work. It won’t recognise ANY cd/dvd, neither a MACOS setup disk, or a current Ubuntu disk (which is what I’d prefer to install since we don’t actually own a legal copy of the MAC disk)
November 4th, 2010 at 3:52 am
Dave – Any joy booting off an external HD. Can you somehow get an OS on an external HD, plug it in and hold down “option” on boot and select it form the menu that appears? That at leats would help you possibly trouble shoot from there. Good luck!
December 11th, 2011 at 1:04 pm
I was given an Apple Imac USB 2.0 and it turns on goes to the gray screen and then restarts. I have tried and reste the power management system and it still does the same thing. Any ideas on what to do???
December 11th, 2011 at 1:23 pm
Do you have a CD to boot from? Is it in a perpetual loop of restarts? Do you ever see a rotating loader animation?
December 16th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
I’m getting the perpetual loop of restart requests on my G4 tower. The rotating animation goes for a while, then I get the restart note. If I start from the CD, it tries to install the older system on the CD, and since the existing system is newer, I hit the “Archive Previous…” and continue with the install. At some point during the install process it stops and shows a few paragraphs of information that is meaningless to me (black with white lettering over the desktop).
I’ve verified the disk, and is says there is nothing to repair. I don’t know what to do next.