How to make Windows XP default boot on a dual boot laptop
Ignoramus10773
dual boot. Grub is the bootloader that chains into XP.
My question is how to make XP the default choice safely, friendly to
update-grub command and having multiple kernels. My wife will mostly
use XP, I am surem although she is familiar with linux.
Use of directive "default <number>" does not seem to be robust due to
changing numbers.
Any recommendations?
i
jrg
What does this refer to - I don't understand that sentence.
Are you referring to menu.lst?
Ignoramus10773
Yes, I am referring to /boot/grub/menu.lst.
I want to know how to designate XP to be default boot choice, safely
and robustly regarding of the number of things in the menu.
i
plapla
choose wich OS will boot by default.
HTH and YMMV :)
J G Miller
> I want to know how to designate XP to be default boot choice, safely
> and robustly regarding of the number of things in the menu.
Is there a reason why you cannot put Micro$oft Windoze XP as the first
boot item in menu.list and set default to 0?
It is usual to put the default in the first position.
And why are you putting multiple other kernels on your wife's laptop?
Dan C
Make it the first choice in the list, and set the default to 0, doofus.
Duh.
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Steve Urbach
True to a point.
Read about "savedefault" usage in Grub. Lets you 'stay' in a single O/S until
you catch the Grub boot screen and switch to another.
Also read about "howmany" (I had 1 Ubuntu come up as "all")., to keep the list
down to a small roar.
Last (for me) "updatedefaultentry". This may be all that is really needed to
keep XPee (or any other item) as default. The good is when you load a new
kernel, the system will re-boot using that (if you used savedefault also).
SINNER
Per the well commented file:
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/html_node/savedefault.html
--
David
Maxwell Lol
> And why are you putting multiple other kernels on your wife's laptop?
Many Linux distros do this as part of the update process.
Ignoramus28617
I am not aware whether update-grub rearranges things, but yes, putting
XP first would work if update-grub does not mess up the order.
As for multiple other kernels, they appear due to system updates of
ubuntu.
i
Ignoramus28617
> On Wed, 15 Apr 2009 00:50:27 -0500, Ignoramus10773 wrote:
>
>> On 2009-04-15, jrg <conn...@cox.net> wrote:
>>> On 04/14/2009 08:12 PM Ignoramus10773 scribbled:
>>>
>>>> This is a dual boot laptop for my spouse, running XP and Linux as a
>>>> dual boot. Grub is the bootloader that chains into XP.
>>>>
>>>> My question is how to make XP the default choice safely, friendly to
>>>> update-grub command and having multiple kernels. My wife will mostly
>>>> use XP, I am surem although she is familiar with linux.
>>>>
>>>> Use of directive "default <number>" does not seem to be robust due to
>>>> changing numbers.
>>>
>>> What does this refer to - I don't understand that sentence. Are you
>>> referring to menu.lst?
>>>
>>>
>> Yes, I am referring to /boot/grub/menu.lst.
>>
>> I want to know how to designate XP to be default boot choice, safely and
>> robustly regarding of the number of things in the menu.
>
> Make it the first choice in the list, and set the default to 0, doofus.
>
Great idea. Thanks
d
Balwinder S Dheeman
Except for the ArchLinux, which indeed is not for an average user :(
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J G Miller
> I am not aware whether update-grub rearranges things
If you put Windows XP as the first entry, then update-grub should not
move that entry to the best of my knowledge. If it ever does, then
it is probably a bug ;)
> As for multiple other kernels, they appear due to system updates of
> ubuntu.
Okay. Once you have installed and used a new version of the built for
Ubuntu kernel for some time (couple of weeks use perhaps?) and have
encountered no problems, it is safe to remove the old version of the kernel
and free up some space with
dpkg --purge <old_kernel_version>
or similar use of dselect, aptitude, or synaptic.
If this action does not remove the appropriate lines from menu.lst as
part of the removal process, you can then edit the file manually.
notbob
> Any recommendations?
Use LILO.
I've no experience with grub, but have successfully used LILO for every M$ dual
boot system up to XP without a hitch.
First, install Windows (from 3.1 to XP). Then do a DOS "fdisk /mbr". Then
install linux (I use slackware) and choose the "boot from mbr", or similar
option. I use an old w98 boot floppy for the fdisk function. Edit
/etc/lilo.config to make OS of choice the default..
nb
Moog
> On 2009-04-15, Ignoramus10773 <ignoram...@NOSPAM.10773.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Any recommendations?
>
> Use LILO.
<shudder>
The dark memories are oozing out. ;-)
--
Moog
"Some mornings it just doesn't seem worth it to gnaw through the
leather straps."
Moog
This will irk the purists, but install the wonderfully simple
"startup-manager" and do it from the full glory of a bloated desktop
windowing enviroment, such as Gnome.
Ignoramus28617
> notbob illuminated alt.os.linux.ubuntu by typing:
>> On 2009-04-15, Ignoramus10773 <ignoram...@NOSPAM.10773.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> Any recommendations?
>>
>> Use LILO.
>
><shudder>
>
> The dark memories are oozing out. ;-)
>
I had relatively good luck with LILO. I used it for the first few
years.
i
Gang Greene
Jesus Christ dudes all that is needed to to edit /boot/grub/menu.lst and set
default to the correct entry (number).
try sudo vi /boot/grub/menu.lst
What is so hard about that?
Robert Riches
Grub does some mangling (rearranging) of the menu.lst file,
at least when Mandriva installs kernel updates. I have
"Power Down" and "Reboot" stanzas at the beginning of my
/boot/grub/menu.lst, and they go missing with every kernel
update.
I would suggest a boot manager in the MBR and put the
bootloader for each OS in the boot block of the partition
that holds that OS's /boot (which will be /boot or /). I
use Smart Boot Manager (SBM alias btmgr for two copies of
Mandriva on one machine (for testing, smooth migration, and
fallback), and it works great.
--
Robert Riches
spamt...@verizon.net
(Yes, that is one of my email addresses.)
notbob
I've been using it for 10 years. Works flawlessly, every time. If it ain't
broke, don't fix it! ....but then I see this is x-posted to an ubuntu
group. Nevermind.
nb
Moog
> On 2009-04-15, Ignoramus28617 <ignoram...@NOSPAM.28617.invalid> wrote:
>> On 2009-04-15, Moog <efc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> notbob illuminated alt.os.linux.ubuntu by typing:
>
>
>>>> On 2009-04-15, Ignoramus10773 <ignoram...@NOSPAM.10773.invalid> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Any recommendations?
>>>>
>>>> Use LILO.
>>>
>>><shudder>
>>>
>>> The dark memories are oozing out. ;-)
>>>
>>
>> I had relatively good luck with LILO. I used it for the first few
>> years.
>
> I've been using it for 10 years. Works flawlessly, every time. If it ain't
> broke, don't fix it! ....but then I see this is x-posted to an ubuntu
> group. Nevermind.
Awwww....
Nice to meet you "Distro Snob".
Let me guess. You use Gentoo or Slackware. ;-)
--
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Moog
Nicely done.
I had nothing but bother with it. However, this was in the days of
Red Hat 8 (Hence the "dark memories").
I think I'll give it a go when I freshly install CentOS 5.2 on my
multi distro desktop.
Michael C.
I'm not sure the OP would want to reinstall Windows. IIRC, there was
a command lilo-config to generate a default lilo.config which you
would edit to your liking and then run /sbin/lilo.
I haven't played with it in a while, I grudgingly accepted the default
grub, because I don't change the OS as frequently as I used to anyway.
I do recall you MUST run lilo after you change the config, or change
partitions.
Probably best to just stick to grub and move the windows stanza so it
appears above the line:
#### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
and set the default to 0.
HTH,
Michael C.
--
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Keep your courage up and it will keep you up.