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Possible Duplicate:
Make grub keep its default boot under kernel updates

Hi guys, i'm not sure if this is out of topic or not but i wasn't sure how to put in words in Google. I have just installed Linux with my windows 7 pre-installed and i got it working fine. Since i use windows 7 more than linux, i would like to have "Windows 7" option on the top of "Linux" option.

"When i have turn on my computer, the first thing i see is an Option asking me whether i want to use windows 7 or Linux and there's a countdown timer below it which is 10seconds countdown and if i don't select it on time, it will automatically select the first choice which at the moment i've got Linux pre-set as my first choice."

Could you guys help me please? I don't know the words to put in Google.

Community
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James1
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7 Answers7

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This will vary depending on your distribution, but here goes:

  1. Go to a terminal Applications -> System Tools -> Terminal.
  2. Type sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst (or if you don't have gedit, replace it with the name of your text editor.
  3. Look for default 0.
  4. Change 0 to whichever entry you want to boot by default, the count starts from the top at 0 and just goes up from there, so the second entry is 1, third is 2, etc.
  5. Save the file, and close gedit.
  6. When you reboot, it will default to your chosen OS!

EDIT: If Terminal is not in System Tools, it'll be in accessories, can't remember which one because I always use keyboard shortcuts.

Azz
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At least on Debian Linux, you find /boot/grub/menu.lst and change the order of the menu options near the end of the file.

Andrew
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Since you didn't really provide any specifics I'm going to make assumptions and maybe they'll be correct.

You're probably using GRUB as your boot loader. You are also probably using Ubuntu or Fedora as your Linux distribution. You need to modify the grub.conf usually in /boot/grub/ and set the 'default' to whichever OS you'd like to boot. Grub2 is a little different - there are some applications that do this for you so you can't screw it up, like 'Start-up manager' on Ubuntu.

Also FYI, dual-booting with Windows is sometimes like doing calligraphy with a car tire.

Alex
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Try this link for grub:

Changing GRUB boot order

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This is a setting that you need to change in your boot loader, depending on what flavor of linux you are using you will have to look it up based on that. I believe Open Suse and Ubuntu use th Grub boot loader. Google your flavor of linux and boot loader and you should find instructions on how to change the boot order. Also this question seems like it belongs on superuser.com not stackoverflow

jon3laze
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It will depend on how you installed linux. I used wubi so my windows boot loader simply loads the grub boot loader when I select "linux". If you want to modify the windows boot loader boot order, go to:

control panel -> System -> advanced System settings -> Settings (under the Startup and Recovery section near the bottom)

From there you can click on the Default operating system drop down menu to select the default operating system.

If your boot loader was changed to GRUB or Lilo, you will have to change the settings for whatever boot loader you have installed. The other posts may help with that.

James T
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In Windows 7, you can select the default operating system (OS) to boot into.

To do this:

  • Open Start Menu, right-click on 'Computer' and select 'Properties'.
  • On the left hand side, there are several options, click 'Advanced System Settings'.
  • Type/Enable the UAC that comes up, then go to the 'Advanced' Tab, and under "Startup and Recovery" and click 'Settings'
  • It will bring up the Startup and Recovery dialog box, and you can choose the default OS from a drop-down menu. The one that you select will be the default OS, and the BIOS will automatically have the default OS selected when you go to boot. I'm not 100% sure if it moves it to the top or not, but it definitely selects it, and if you don't do anything, it will automatically boot into Windows 7.

Hope that helps!

studiohack
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