Grub Noob

[RealG187]

okay my Pentium III has dual boot XP and Ubutnu 7.10


The way its setup is that it shows the Grub menu for 10 seconds and if no key is pressed Ubuntu loads, XP is at the bottom. What if I would want XP to boot instead now? (I need it for drivers and stuff, Lexmark x3350). I use this machine over VNC for burning (laptops burner is messed up) and printing. I cannot print.

If I could print I would remove Windows....

[Qqmike]

Try this:

How To GRUB Methods - Toolkit
http://kubuntuforums.net/forums/inde...opic=3081671.0
See ONLY (for now) the part you need, which is Reply #1:
--- HOW To: Change the Default Operating System (Also: Changing the timeout, boot menu, and other tips) Reply #1

[RealG187]

That seems complicated....

So do I change my main OS to windows? Will this:

make windows on the top, make it boot automatically, or both? I just want the second one.

[rodh]

To set other OS (windows) to default

"sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Then find section

##default num
#set the Default entry to entry number NUM. Numbering starts from Zero
#the entry zero is the default if the command is no used
#WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to "saved" or
#your array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 0

NOTE: the last line is the important one, typically windows will be 4 so you would change the 0 to a 4 in the last line.

This grouping is ussually about 3 - 4 paragraphs down from the top of the file.

Have a good evening.

[Fintan]

Sorry to be a pain but:

To set other OS (windows) to default

"sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Please don't do that.

gedit is for gnome (of course if you are running gnome you'r okay)

furthermore don't use "sudo" for kde apps and gui apps.
Use: kdesudo

so in KDE do alt+F and type:

kdesudo kate

->password.

The edit your file as suggested.

[Qqmike]

If you post your boot menu (/boot/grub/menu.lst), we could tell you what to change.

In Kubuntu
Open Konqueror
type in the location window:
/
and press Enter
click boot
click grub
click menu.lst
copy all of it
paste it here

Then someone can tell you the best options.

Or, using kdesu
kdesu kate /boot/grub/menu.lst
will open it for you (as root).

[marshallbanana]

NOTE: the last line is the important one, typically windows will be 4 so you would change the 0 to a 4 in the last line.

Just figured I'd mention that you start counting from 0.

[RealG187]

I think I am using Ubuntu on there with Gnome, I have yet to install KDE.

SO what happens is, even when I boot Windows, I deal with Linux? So it boots up linux to start grub then loads windows from there, so the changes are made in Linux?

[Fintan]

In a word and put simply: no.
Grub is just a boot loader. and resides in the MBR (master Boot Record) of the first partition on the first disk (or wherever you put it). It does not "start"=boot linux unless you tell it to.

It just sits there waiting for you to tell it what to do.

What it does do is read the menu.lst file so it knows what to do.

[RealG187]

but the menu.lst file is on the linux partition and drive...