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So I bought a MacBook Pro and because I prefer it, and need it I have Windows 7(x64) installed using BootCamp.

My problem is that on the rare occasions that I boot into OS X it changed OS X to be the default startup OS. I have to reset it to Windows 7 each time.

Is there a fix to this? Or a script that I can make run on OS X startup to reset it? And how do I make a script run at startup?

Thanks in advance

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67% accept rate
I may be mistaken, but I recall this being a problem that was fixed with a patch. Hit up Apple's forums to have a look. – Randolph West Sep 14 '10 at 19:12
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2 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Install rEFIt. It's a bootloader that installs on your OS X partition. In the file /efi/refit/refit.conf, there is a section that reads:

# List legacy options first. When enabled, legacy BIOS based boot options
# (e.g. Windows, Linux via LILO or GRUB) will be listed first. This is
# intended as a quick fix to change the default boot choice until full
# configurability arrives.
#
#legacyfirst

# Set the default menu selection.  The available arguments match the
# keyboard accelerators available within rEFIt.  You may select the default
# loader using a one-character abbreviation for the OS name ("M" = Mac OS X,
# "L" = Linux, "W" = Windows).  You may also specify a digit between 1 and
# 9, in which case the Nth loader in the menu will be the default.  You can
# also select a rEFIt tool entry ("S" = EFI Shell, "P" = Partitioning Tool,
# "U" = shutdown).  This is intended as a quick fix to change the default
# boot choice until full configurability arrives.
#
#default_selection L

Uncommenting either legacyfirst or setting default_selection W should work. I have not tried this although I use rEFIt without any problems. In the same file, you can change the timeout 20 line to something shorter as well.

rEFIt

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Ok thanks. Is there a way to make rEFIt only appear on if i press the alt key like the normal bootloader? – Lloyd Sparkes Sep 15 '10 at 17:36
I don't think that it's possible. You can set the time to a very short interval instead. If you press alt, you will get the normal bootloader, but the OS X selection will now say rEFIt. – fideli Sep 16 '10 at 12:41
Ok thanks, its not perfect but its good enough, until i just remove OS X anyway – Lloyd Sparkes Sep 16 '10 at 16:15
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up vote 1 down vote

How are you booting into OS X? If you use the Boot Camp control panel to select OS X, it makes that a permanent setting in the firmware (i.e. it'll boot OS X until you tell it different). If you just want to boot OS X once, it's easier to hold the Option key at boot -- this selects the firmware-based startup manager, which'll let you select which volume to boot from without changing the permanent setting.

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I am doing the second method which does seem to be pernament for me – Lloyd Sparkes Sep 15 '10 at 17:35
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