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I boot my mac mini, hold down alt on my non-mac keyboard, but it does not go to boot options.

How do I get to boot options with a non-mac keyboard then?

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  • Are you holding right or left "alt" key? It should work with left key. apple.stackexchange.com/questions/5822/…
    – Pier
    Commented Mar 30, 2013 at 20:30
  • Left key. Nothing happens except it boots like normal in OS X.
    – trusktr
    Commented Mar 30, 2013 at 21:47
  • Hm, it should work though. Alternatively, you could use the rEFIt Boot menu refit.sourceforge.net
    – bluewoodtree
    Commented Mar 30, 2013 at 22:53
  • @bluewoodtree That's what I was thinking, then I tried rEFInd (the fork of rEFIt) and now my mini is stuck in a boot loop. :(
    – trusktr
    Commented Mar 31, 2013 at 3:47
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    @trusktr I saw your reply... but I didn't know you had to use a specific port. I'm glad you made it!
    – Pier
    Commented Mar 31, 2013 at 18:17

3 Answers 3

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Things which seem to work:

  • Mac mini late 2012: I had to plug the keyboard into the USB port closest to the middle, then it worked.
  • MacMini (mid-2010): the outside USB port worked for me with an ancient Microsoft intellitype keyboard. I also unplugged the USB mouse receiver, so that the only USB input was the keyboard. That seemed to make the difference and let me into the boot menu options.
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    After about an hour of frustration I found this. Awesome
    – iamkrillin
    Commented Oct 17, 2014 at 19:49
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    I had to plug the keyboard on the usb near the headphone jack on my iMac 2011, and unplug external drives.
    – Vitim.us
    Commented Sep 11, 2016 at 15:47
  • This worked, also I needed to plug in a wired mouse to navigate the menus, the wireless ones didn't work
    – marsnebulasoup
    Commented Aug 21, 2021 at 19:12
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I had to plug in a wired USB keyboard. Wireless Logitech K800 did not work in any ports.

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  • This answer was already provided, and accepted. Can you please explain how your answer differs from the accepted answer?
    – fsb
    Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 20:12
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    @fsb the difference with Austin M's response is that using a wireless Logitech keyboard did not work for him, however a wired keyboard does. This is exactly the response that brought me here because I had the same problem (Logitech K330 in my case), and it helped me. In this case, there are multiple possible causes for the problem in question; 1) plugging the keyboard into the correct USB port, and 2) using a wired rather than wireless keyboard
    – Robert Fitzgerald
    Commented May 19, 2017 at 20:15
  • That's great! That info should be included in your answer. It will help others who, like you, had a problem and searched for a solution. See How to Answer for tips on how to leave a good answer and help others.
    – fsb
    Commented May 20, 2017 at 2:56
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For iMac retina, I have to plug the windows keyboard to the outer usb port and then press alt key on the left side to boot into the boot menu and see things like bootable usb drive.

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