Switching between Operating Systems in Mac

Choose OS while starting up

You can select which operating system to use during startup by holding down the Option key. This displays icons for all available startup disks, and lets you override the default setting for the startup disk in Startup Disk preferences (Mac OS X) or the Startup Disk control panel (Windows) without changing that setting.

To change the default OS Setting in Windows:

1. In Windows, choose Start > Control Panel. If you are in Category View, click “Performance and Maintenance” (Windows XP) or “System and Maintenance” (Vista).
2. Open the Startup Disk control panel.
3. Select the startup disk with the operating system you want to use by default.
4. If you want to start up that operating system now, click Restart.

To use Startup Disk preferences in Mac OS X:

1. In Mac OS X, choose Apple () > System Preferences.
2. Click Startup Disk.
3. Select the startup disk with the operating system you want to use by default.
4. If you want to start up that operating system now, click Restart