Last week, our TR team got a question from one of our readers.

The Question was :

How do i change the default grub boot order to Windows XP other than Ubuntu?

We thought this question might help a lot of people out there googling for Ubuntu Grub Default order change. Here are the steps :

• Open the file menu.lst

Code:

gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

• Then change default from 0 to 6. Only change the number.So this:

Code :

# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.
## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#

# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# 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

should look like this:


Code :
# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
#            grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),

#            grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
#            and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#

# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# 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		6



SAVE THE FILE AND CLOSE IT

Why is it 6? Because at the end of the file, from this section:## ## End Default Options ##,

Windows is the 6th option (the first option is 0, second option is 1 etc.)
Code :
## ## End Default Options ##
THIS ONE IS 0
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-25-386
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-25-386 root=/dev/hdb1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-25-386
savedefault
boot
THIS ONE IS 1

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-25-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-25-386 root=/dev/hdb1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-25-386
boot

THIS ONE IS 2
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-23-386
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-23-386 root=/dev/hdb1 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-23-386
savedefault
boot

THIS ONE IS 3
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.15-23-386 (recovery mode)
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.15-23-386 root=/dev/hdb1 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.15-23-386
boot

THIS ONE IS 4

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd1,0)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
boot
### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

THIS ONE IS 5

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian

# ones.

title Other operating systems:

root

THIS ONE IS 6

# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS

# on /dev/hda1

title Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1