Dual Boot, Boot Menu Query

I've just installed ubuntu 8.10 on my laptop and it's my first experience with ubuntu.

When booting up my laptop the boot menu has ubuntu at the top as the default option and the windows vista option as the last on the list. Is there some way I can change that around so that windows will be at the top?

For the time being, until I feel completely comfortable with ubuntu, vista is going to be my main os. So I'd like to be able to just turn the laptop on and have it go to vista instead of waiting around to select vista from the list.

I know it's only a few seconds more when starting up my laptop but for the time being I'd like to see if it can be done.

 

You have to edit your menu.lst (should be here: /boot/grub/menu.lst)

Now go to the bottom and just change the entries to what you want them to be.

 

Thanks for that. I've found the list, just need to read through it and work out how to do it now. shouldn't be too tough, i hope

 

Think of consulting some ubuntu wiki/forum before changing something you don't know about.. You should be able to do it with no problem though

 

Yeah, i thought I'd have a look at this first. It looks very similar to making some simple changes to .ini files.

The only problem I'm currently having with making the changes is that I'm being told I don't have file permissions. So I'm just going to delete the old one and replace it with a new modified version with the info the way I want it.
Is that ok to do? I'll keep a copy of the original file too in case I need to reuse that.

 

use sudo or gksu to open it

 

Open it from gnome using

Code:

sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

The order of the OS blocks in menu.lst determines the order they appear in the boot menu. For example, my menu.lst looks like this:

Code:

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda1 resume=/dev/sda2 ro vga=790
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux Fallback
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img

# (1) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

If I wanted Windows to come up first, I'd just have to move the Windows block above the first linux block, which would give me this:

Code:

# (1) Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
makeactive
chainloader +1

# (0) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda1 resume=/dev/sda2 ro vga=790
initrd /boot/kernel26.img

# (1) Arch Linux
title  Arch Linux Fallback
root   (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz26 root=/dev/sda1 ro
initrd /boot/kernel26-fallback.img

 

Thanks. I just did that 20 mins back. I might mess around with it a bit more to sort out the options a bit more to my liking later on though.
I'm enjoying messing around like this though, reminds me of using DOS prompt, with all the typing

 

open Synaptic Package Manager and search for startup manager. Install it. You'll have a GUI that lets you change boot-up settings without the risk of mistyping one letter and screwing up menu.lst.
Once you've installed Start-up Manager, you'll find it in System>Administration>StartUp-Manager

 

That all takes the fun out of it, man.

 

I keep telling myself I gotta get better at the CLI, but it doesn't seem to be happening.