Startup Manager: Only Displays Mac OS X, Not Mac OS 9

Symptom

You have both Mac OS X and Mac OS 9 installed on the same volume of a computer that can start from either. You press and hold the Option key during startup, but only Mac OS X appears in Startup Manager.


Note: All Apple computers (other than servers) come in this default configuration.

Solution

After starting up into Mac OS X, follow these steps:

1. Choose System Preferences from the Apple Menu.
2. Click Startup Disk.
3. Click the Mac OS 9 System Folder.
4. Click Restart, then Save and Restart when prompted to save your change.

If you are troubleshooting Mac OS X and cannot use System Preferences to select Mac OS 9, then start the computer up from a Mac OS 9.1 or later CD-ROM disc. Follow these steps:

• Insert the Mac OS 9.x CD into the disc drive, then restart the computer.
• Press and hold the C key.
• After the computer starts up from Mac OS 9, choose Control Panels from the Apple menu.
• Open the Startup Disk control panel.
• Choose Mac OS 9. Be sure to choose the hard disk icon, and not the CD icon.
• Restart the computer.

For more information, see technical documents:

106178: "Startup Manager: How to Select a Startup Volume"
106696: "Mac OS: Press X Key During Startup to Select Mac OS X on Single-Partition Installations"
106697: "Startup Manager: Only Displays Mac OS 9, Not Mac OS X