Many users are aware of some boot commands for mac os x that provide different functionality for your system. Press the keys immediately after hearing the startup sound, unless otherwise specified. Boots from the recovery partition, if present mac os 10. Boot the target mac while holding down its t key, then let go when the firewire icon appears. Apple has always made it hard to install their operating system on nonapple hardware, making it hard to take advantage of the benefits of this refined os. When a macintosh is poweredup or restarted booted, various pieces of mac rom and system software examine the keyboard, and. The profile file is run during bootup to configure the terminal to define file path, shims, and autocompletion handlers. Booting from the os 9 froze the computer, and booting with option failed to even detect 10. These shortcuts are for macos 9 and earlier unless noted. One of the earliest articles on bash here shows shell variables, environment variables, and aliases. The following is a more comprehensive list of the keyboard commands you know and many. Os9 is a family of realtime, processbased, multitasking, multiuser operating systems, developed in the 1980s, originally by microware systems corporation for the motorola 6809 microprocessor. Mac osx terminal commandline tips and tricks index.
Oct 23, 20 this guide deals with 3 ways of making a boot disk from osx 10. Os x installed fine, was able to boot to it a couple of times i switched to boot to os 9, that worked fine but i have not been able to get back to os x. May 23, 2016 quick overview of mac startup key combinations. Since some of you may go for a clean install of 10. For a list of commands you can enter while in open firmware mode, see the tech info library article. While not as aesthetically pleasing compared to current day operating systems, mac os 9 was sleek, super responsive and a joy to use. While some of these commands are the same as what worked for ppc macs, others are. Mac os x uses a boot time optimization effectively a smart readahead called bootcache that monitors the pattern of incoming read requests to a block device the boot disk, and sorts the pattern into a playlist it also measures the cache hit rate and stores the request pattern into a history list for being adaptive in future. The mac os x lion finder helps you access and organize most of the important mac os x functions while you work. You need to put in a few commands into openfirmware. This works like linuxs singleuser moderather than getting multiuser operating system, you boot directly to a root shell. Learn about mac keyboard shortcuts that you can use after your mac has started up. How to fix common mac startup problems macrx cult of mac.
In macos catalina the default shell will change to zsh and in time this page will be updated to include that. If you are partitioning your disk and you have to for this trick to work. There are times when your mac may misbehave and refuse to boot into os x. To override your current settings and prevent login items and finder windows from your last session.
A quick guide to macos boot modes and startup key combinations. Until mac os x lion, apple licensed the software so that it was only permitted to be used with mac. This is a list of eleven startup key commands that every intel mac owner should make note of. The following key combinations can be held as your mac is powering on. Mac os startup keyboard commands uw knowledge base. Like previous version, it lacks true protected memory or preemptive multitasking. Please consult magical macintosh key sequences by dave polaschek. The default is 96mb, which is barely enough to boot mac os x although ok for mac os 9 if you arnt planning to do much.
How to use os x boot options to troubleshoot your mac techradar. Not all are useful on todays macs, but we wanted the list to be complete. Accessing the command line in recovery mode on a mac. His article mentions several stories of people who use mac os 9 and. Boot your mac from cd, dvd, external drive, or usb flash drive. The target mac s hard drive will show up on the desktop of the host mac. You may get a sad mac face, an audible beep, or another ailment keeping your mac from properly booting. Recovery mode is possible thanks to the installation of a hidden recovery partition on your mac s hard drive and allows the user to perform the aforementioned tasks without needing a macos dvd or usb installer. Mac os x contains a variety of tools for repairing disk, partition, and file system errors. Sep, 2017 this assumes that you have a working install of mac os x or 9, on a partition on you harddrive somewhere. See compatibility notes below for some comments about models that it could not boot. To boot your intelbased mac into any of the macos builtin startup modes, you must press and hold one or more keys detailed below after turning on the computer. Boot your mac from cd, dvd, external drive, or usb flash at some point, you may find a need to boot your mac from a disc or a drive other than the primary mac os x startup volume.
Starts the computer in single user mode, where the user can interact with a command terminal. How to use apple diagnostics on your mac apple support. When new roms are out and stuff and things need changing, it should not be too hard to change this disk image, because i have kept the readwrite base system uncompressed. However, thats not the only issue that can occur with a disk or file system. Jul 05, 2017 modern versions of mac os x no longer need you to repair disk permissions. Print this out youll save time and work more intuitively. The easiest way is to either replace the internal disk drive, use a usb external disk drive, or attempt an os 9 install off of usb. How to repair disk and file system problems on your mac. For others, theres sheepshaver, a powerpc emulator capable of running mac os 9. Attempt to boot from network server hold until mac logo. Apple advises against booting from external storage containing a version of mac os x earlier than the one your mac shipped with.
Use finder keyboard shortcuts to display windows, copy and move files, and launch applications. There are a few settings you may want to play with be for you use mol. Bootable optical media cd or dvd on macs equipped with apples super drive or a usb thumb drive formatted with a guid partition type and containing an os x installer or a usable operating system. Jun 07, 2019 as a windows user, there may be times when you need to use macos but dont have the money to invest in your own mac computer. To use any of these key combinations, press and hold the keys immediately after pressing the power button to turn on your mac, or after your mac begins to restart.
Your mac and os x have a variety of startup keys and key combinations you can use. Note that virtualization has always been a gray area for apple. If youre using boot camp to start up from microsoft windows. In the ops case, he or she will need to wipe the drive and install os 9. These keys really come in handy when you need to force your operating system to do something that it normally wouldnt, such as boot from a cd instead of the hard drive. Safe mode on mac, which is commonly termed as safe boot is a way actually to boot your operating system by subjugating most of the system softwares and kernel extensions, allowing only the basic essentials required to just run the system. Windows keyboard equivalents for the macs special keys. You can hold down the c key on your keyboard to instantly boot to a mac os x or other bootable disc. Jul 23, 2010 how to fix common mac startup problems macrx. There are significant differences between how older 68k, old world powermacs and newer everything currently, but essentially new world machines with open. The now defunct pesa electronica used os 9 on their cgs such as cg 4722 and cg4733. Folder mode, mount mode, device mode, netboot mode, and info mode. All boot keyboard commands not working mac support. After, select the partition or disk with os x as the startup device and leave it there.
The only solution would be obviously to boot from os 9 but im told this types of powerbook doesnt boot from os 9. If youre using a keyboard made for a pc, such as a keyboard with a windows logo, try a keyboard made for mac. Switching between os 9 and os x at boot mac os x hints. From reseting your nvram, starting up in safe mode, booting your mac from a cd or dvd, switching bootable volumes and drives on system start, to forcing media to eject from a superdrive, this list has you covered. Command shiftoptiondelete bypasses the disk selected in the startup disk control panel in favor of an external device or from cdrom on older macs. Setup cannot continue because you cannot install mac os 9 from a non original drive or something of that nature. Mac keyboard shortcuts by pressing certain key combinations, you can do things that normally need a mouse, trackpad, or other input device. Mar 09, 2011 many users are aware of some boot commands for mac os x that provide different functionality for your system. How to access terminal via recovery mode for mac os x daily.
Your mac and os x have a variety of startup keys and key combinations you can use to affect how the device starts up. Create a triple boot mac with os 9, os x, and linux low. If you have a problem with your mac and need to reinstal the operating system you should be able to simply reinstall macos or mac os x via the recovery partition. Invoke startup manager the first startup key every mac user. By pressing certain key combinations, you can do things that normally need a mouse, trackpad, or other input device. Beyond that, the only thing i can tell you is to boot to 7. In particular, command n opens a new os x finder window, which created a new folder in os 9. Jul 26, 2005 if that doesnt work, try holding down commandoptionshiftdelete after the boot chime. Startup in osx if os9 and oxs in boot partition, x or cmdx. For mac os x, see this apple list of os x shortcuts. The os x boot arguments are useful for troubleshooting problems with system startup and how the system behaves when running. Ive some previous unicode fonts i want to use that works only in mac os 9. To exit open firmware and continue booting, type mac boot or bye depending on macintosh model and press return.
Safe mode and singleuser mode are two of the special startup modes that your mac can be powered up to. How to use os x boot options to troubleshoot your mac. This text is mostly written for mac newbies with a linux background. As a windows user, there may be times when you need to use macos but dont have the money to invest in your own mac computer. Feb 25, 2020 after isolating an issue on your mac to a possible hardware issue, you can use apple diagnostics to help determine which hardware component might be causing the issue. Kevin patfield said there was even a companion option holding 9 that. If that doesnt work, try holding down command optionshiftdelete after the boot chime. To use a keyboard shortcut, press and hold one or more modifier keys and then press the last key of the shortcut. Nonetheless, accessing terminal from recovery boot mode is easy. The recovery hd is there disk0s3 650mb but it does not show in system preferencestartup disk. Apple diagnostics also suggests solutions and helps you contact apple support for assistance. Both of the boot managers available to use can handle the dualbooting process. This is the single biggest frustration with people using linux on mac.
To perform recovery tasks on older versions of macos, such as os x 10. Also disables nonessential kernel extensions safe boot mode. For example, a software manual may tell you to hold down the command key. When a macintosh is poweredup or restarted booted, various pieces of mac rom and system software examine the keyboard, and take special actions if certain keys are held down.
What they are, how to use them wednesday, august 30th, 2017 author. Modern versions of mac os x no longer need you to repair disk permissions. I do not have the startup disk but i can follow directions to reset the computer manually if someone can provide semidetailed directions for me. It was purchased by radisys corp in 2001, and was purchased again in 20 by its current owner microware lp the os9 family was popular for generalpurpose computing. Apr 01, 2020 mac startup key combinations learn about the mac features and tools that you can access by holding down one or more keys during startup.
Set volume bootability and set the active boot volume. If your mac was introduced before june 20, it uses apple hardware test instead. Shift key, for instance, starts your mac in safe mode, and c or c starts up. At least five keys have different names or symbols on a windows keyboard than they do on a mac keyboard, which can make it difficult to follow mac related instructions. Mac os x includes a number of special keys that you can use during the boot process. First a very quick introduction to the special apple keys. All usb 2 powerpc macs can boot from a usb drive too, but with a bit more trickery. If youre planning on running the treasures of the past youll find here on real old macintosh hardware from the 90s, you sirmadame, deserve to win an internet. If your mac is using a firmware password, it ignores this key combination or starts up from macos recovery. To use one of these startup key combinations on the mac, start holding down the key immediately upon boot or reboot, basically right after you hear the system chime you want to begin holding down the key to achieve its desired effect.
In late 1980s and early 1990s, the character generators computers used in broadcast systems used os 9 and os 9000 extensively. Qemumac os 9 wikibooks, open books for an open world. I read somewhere that the first step is to restart my computer while holding down the command key and the s. But if you want os 9 and you have os x selected as the startup disk, holding 9 wont get you anywhere. If your mac is using a firmware password, youre prompted to enter the password. But recovery mode does not have the same applications directory access, nor does it have spotlight or launchpad.
Sep 06, 2012 reboot mac os x from the command line sep 6, 2012 11 comments rebooting a mac from the command line is fairly simple, though it should be pointed out that most mac os x users are best served just using the standard apple menu method to issue a system restart. Macos 9 was abandoned in favor of of the unixish nextstepopenstep based mac os x. Booting mac os x this page contains a brief description of the mac s firmware analogous to the pc bios in many respects, the bootloader, and the typical mac os x boot up sequence. On some macs with iomega zip drives, holding down option at startup when there is a zip startup disk inserted will cause the mac to boot from the zip disk. On some nonus mac keyboards, the option key is not labeled as such. In this case, its the alt key that youre looking for. The version of os 9 you need will depend on the mac youre working with low end mac s profiles can help here, and if you have the grey install discs that came with your mac, even better. How to install macos in virtualbox make tech easier. On such occasions, it is safer to boot mac using safe mode. To kill this mode, drag the icon to the trash and shut down the target mac.
Troubleshoot your mac with these hidden startup options. How to start up your mac from a bootable cddvd, usb thumb. Then you could run classic on top of os x or boot back into full os 9. With the host mac running, connect to the target mac with a 6pin firewire cable. Booting os 9 on a powerpc mac is also possible using the same process on macs that support booting into os 9. But hold commands instead which launches in single user mode, and then type. In particular, commandn opens a new os x finder window, which created a new folder in os 9.
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