Linux Mint Forums

Hi everyone,

I installed LMDE today as a dual boot alongside Windows (BOO) Vista. At the moment LMDE boots as default but I need to temporarily have Vista to be the OS that boots by default. Where is the grub file I need to edit?

Thanks,
Jeff

The file is in /boot/grub/grub.cfg but it's not meant to be edited by hand. It'd be easier to look at Startup Manager (I think) in the Control Center, it's a GUI letting you easily pick Vista, time out etc and it generates the grub file for you. /boot is owned by root so it needs root privs to edit either way.

Cool. I didn't know the startup manager

Or to set up grub such that the last booted OS becomes the default:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Change GRUB_DEFAULT=0 to GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
add a new line
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true

Then run sudo update-grub in the terminal.

On the next boot select Vista. It will be selected automatically on each successive boot. To change to Linux default simply select it one time, and that will become the default for successive boots.

This is particularly handy during the monthly round up of Windows updates when you have to reboot your computer to complete the updates (sometimes more than once) and don't want to have to sit in front of grub every time.

@Roken
+1
Great tip, thank you
I always multi boot so that I can use the free app http://filehippo.com/download_macrium_reflect/
to backup my partitions or drives. If you buy it, $40.00, you can backup and restore using a Windows PE disc they let you download.

I've used most image backup apps over the years including Acronis, R-drive etc. but Macrium has by far the best GUI.
After you have configured a backup you can put a short cut on the desktop so that newcomers simply have to double click on it to backup, no configuring for them, it just does it and they actually use it!

I think Clonezilla is a wicked bit of kit and badly needs a GUI written for it, as it is it's beyond a lot of folk.

Thanks again for that valuable tip.
ukbrian

Hi everyone,

Thanks for your replies, I used ThistleWebs solution althought I did not have Startup Manager so had to install that first, beats manually editing grub which I had to do in Mepis.

ThistleWeb wrote:The file is in /boot/grub/grub.cfg but it's not meant to be edited by hand. It'd be easier to look at Startup Manager (I think) in the Control Center, it's a GUI...

Is that the same as the grub2 customizer application or is it something different
http://ubuntuguide.net/manager-grub2-bo ... tomizergui