Make Windows the Default Operating System in Grub2… even after Ubuntu updates…

Dan Bishop — Thu, 26 May 2011 09:06:58 +0000

Many guides for changing the default operating system for Grub2 to boot involve setting the number indicating where in the list that OS appears… unfortunately, when kernel updates are released for Ubuntu they shift everything down two places and your default OS therefore changes.

Fortunately, it is possible to set the default by name

First we need to obtain the exact name of the OS you wish to boot by running the following command:

fgrep menuentry /boot/grub/grub.cfg

You’ll get something like this:

menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.38-8-generic' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
menuentry 'Ubuntu, with Linux 2.6.38-8-generic (recovery mode)' --class ubuntu --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+)" {
menuentry "Memory test (memtest86+, serial console 115200)" {
menuentry "Mac OS X (32-bit) (on /dev/sda2)" --class osx --class darwin --class os {
menuentry "Mac OS X (64-bit) (on /dev/sda2)" --class osx --class darwin --class os {
menuentry “Windows Vista (loader) (on /dev/sda1)” {

Now edit /etc/default/grub:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

The default file looks like this:

# If you change this file, run 'update-grub' afterwards to update
# /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
# For full documentation of the options in this file, see:
#   info -f grub -n 'Simple configuration'
 
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
 
# Uncomment to enable BadRAM filtering, modify to suit your needs
# This works with Linux (no patch required) and with any kernel that obtains
# the memory map information from GRUB (GNU Mach, kernel of FreeBSD ...)
#GRUB_BADRAM="0x01234567,0xfefefefe,0x89abcdef,0xefefefef"
 
# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console
 
# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
 
 
# Uncomment if you don't want GRUB to pass "root=UUID=xxx" parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true
 
# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entries
#GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true"
 
# Uncomment to get a beep at grub start
#GRUB_INIT_TUNE="480 440 1"

In order to set Windows Vista to be the default (I know, I know… who in their right mind?!… but still…) you need to change the line that reads GRUB_DEFAULT=0 to be like so:

GRUB_DEFAULT=”Windows Vista (loader) (on /dev/sda1)”

Basically copying and pasting everything in quotes (including the quotes!) for the entry you want to be the default.

The final step is to exit and save, then update grub with:

sudo update-grub

WebLex Beta 2.0 Out Now!

Dan Bishop — Thu, 27 May 2010 16:02:42 +0000

There’s been significant progress made with WebLex in the last few weeks. Mainly through avoidance of revision… Anyway, there is now a beta version out for both Ubuntu and Windows. These can be found at http://www.weblex.org/

The latest version is written in Python and will hopefully be coming to Apple’s OS X shortly too. French and Spanish support are still extremely limited, but this will be improved over time.

Dan Bishop » windows

Make Windows the Default Operating System in Grub2… even after Ubuntu updates…

WebLex Beta 2.0 Out Now!