Unable to exit boot camp windows

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Level 1

4 points

Unable to exit boot camp windows

So recently I downloaded bootcamp windows and loaded it up, and when I wanted to exit I found the ^ and clicked it and there was no diamond bootcamp symbol thing. So I decided to try the other option which was to hold down the option key on start up, it worked and it presented the windows disc and the Macintosh one, and I clicked on it. It told me my 2011 or 12 IMac would restart because of a problem and I thought that meant it was going to go back but then it started a weird cycle or restarting over and over while trying to go back to Macintosh. It did that for 10 hours and I came back and it was STILL restarting over and over. I turned it off with the button and help the option key again on start off and it went back to the two discs and I attempted it again and it just went back to restarting. I’ve done this countless times and it keeps starting that cycle of restarting. PLEASE HELP I JUST WANT TO PLAY MINECRAFT :(

iMac 27″ 5K

Posted on Sep 11, 2025 05:53 AM

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Answer 1

HWTech

Level 9

66,806 points

Sep 11, 2025 01:57 PM in response to SurfDiagram

Try booting into Safe Mode. Hold down the Shift key as you click the "Macintosh HD" icon when you Option Boot.

You can also try running Disk Utility First Aid while booted into Recovery Mode (Command + R) or Internet Recovery Mode (Command + Option + R).....the latter may be required.

Personally I suspect a failing Hard Drive on such an old system. Installing Windows (or any OS) is very hard on an old Hard Drive and may have revealed a latent issue. You can try running the Apple Diagnostics to see if any hardware issues are detected. A passing diagnostic does not mean everything is good, just that the tests were not able to discover a problem.

Here is an Apple article for troubleshooting various startup issues:

If your Mac doesn't start up all the way - Apple Support

I believe this is the Apple article which is most relevant to your situation since none of them match exactly:

If your Mac starts up to an Apple logo or progress bar - Apple Support

I would suggest installing macOS to an external USB3 drive to see if you can boot macOS from the external drive. If so, it will make it easier to troubleshoot the boot issue with the internal drive and may even be able to confirm the internal Hard Drive is failing.

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