An Automator service to reboot to Windows from the Mac partition as nicely as you can reboot to Mac from the Windows partition.
To install, download this project. Or clone it, or whatever you want to do. I'm not the download police. Just get Restart to Windows.workflow
on your computer somehow, within the Mac partition. Once the project is downloaded, double-click the Restart to Windows.workflow
file from Finder and select Install
on the popup. Once the workflow
is installed, you'll need to configure your Mac to allow it to change your settings, so that it can do what it needs to do. To configure permissions, open System Preferences
, then click Security & Privacy
, then click the Privacy
tab, then Accessibility
, then add Finder
to the list of applications. You may need to search for Finder
in the selection popup, because it is not registered within macOS as a normal application. You are now done with installation!
To use this utility, make sure that Finder is in the foreground (i.e. Finder
is shown next to the Apple logo in the top left corner of the screen). Then click on Finder
in the top left corner of the screen, next to the Apple logo, hover over Services
, then click Restart to Bootcamp
. The tool will take over from there, clicking through the dialog boxes for you. I decided to have the application prompt you for your password because, if I were in your place, I wouldn't trust some random application I downloaded off the internet to hold my password. It also provides an additional layer of "Are you sure you want to do this?" and gives you a chance to chicken out. Once you have entered your password, you are free to go walk your dog or get a soda, and your computer will be booted into Windows when you come back.
Unfortunately, you have to be in Finder
to start this service. It was either that or ask you to add every application on your Mac to the list of applications which can control your Mac, which is a terrible practice for security reasons. I also regret that the System Preferences
window will remain open upon your next login (assuming that you have chosen to have your applications reopen on login), but since System Preferences
has to be open to reboot to Windows, and the last action I perform is clicking the "Reboot" button, I do not have a chance to close the window.