How To Set Windows As Default Os In Boot Camp On Mac

Installing Windows on a Mac with the help of Boot Camp Assistant is the best method out there to run Windows on Mac hardware. There are a couple of advantages of using this method over other methods. Boot Camp is an official Apple software, which means that when you install Windows on Mac machine, all hardware, including keyboard and trackpad work without any issues.

Second, installing Windows with the help of Boot Camp is fairly simple. It helps you create a partition for Windows and then create bootable USB drive to start installing your favourite OS on Mac computer. Third, Boot Camp doesn’t use the virtualization technology, which means you have the option to use full system resources as your Mac machine doesn’t need to share the resources between Mac OS X, virtualization software and Windows. 

Users who’ve installed Windows on a Mac computer using Boot Camp Assistant probably have noticed that after completing the installation of Windows and setting up all Boot Camp drivers, the Mac partition is set as the default one and when you turn on your Mac, you need to hold down the Alt (Option) key to see the OS disk selection menu, where you can select Windows disk and boot into Windows.

Some users who use Windows more often than Mac OS X may want to set Windows disk as the default one to avoid holding the Alt (Option) key each time. If you want to boot into Windows without holding the Alt key, complete the below mentioned instructions:

Step 1: Turn on your Mac, hold down the Alt (Option) key to see the OS disk selection menu, and then click on Windows drive to start booting into Windows.

Step 2: Once Windows is up and running, right-click on the Boot Camp icon (see the picture) in the system (click the small up arrow if you can’t see it on the taskbar) and then click Boot Camp Control Panel to open Boot Camp Control Panel dialog box. If you’re prompted with the UAC box, click Yes button.

Step 3: Under Startup Disk tab, click on BootCamp Windows to select it and then click Apply button. You can now restart the machine to check it.

NOTE: From now on, to boot into Mac OS X, you need to press and hold the Option (Alt) key and then click Mac OS X disk in the disk selection menu. You can restore the original Boot Camp setting by following the above procedure again and then selecting Macintosh HD OS X in the Boot Camp Control Panel.

How to delete Windows Boot Camp partition guide might also interest you.