Change Default OS Boot Up!

[witooo]

I have Windows XP installed and only recently I have also installed Kubuntu. I need to change the default boot up OS from the current Kubunto to Windows XP so as to allow for Windows XP to boot up when my computer restarts by itself (long story).

Any suggestion will be of great help.

[aysiu]

Re: Change Default OS Boot Up!

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Gr...hangeDefaultOS

Just use kdesu kate instead of sudo gedit.

[Guest]

You can manually change the boot/grub/grub.cfg file.
To open the file with the ability to edit i, do this:
sudo gedit boot/grub/grub.cfg

In this file all the boot-up options are listed in some certain order. Kubuntu is usually #0. Windows can be last one. For me it was #4. So I had to change the "0" in
GRUB_DEFAULT="0"
to 4.
i.e.:
GRUB_DEFAULT="4"

[bubblecruntz]

I tried this, my issue isn't with changing the boot default, but rather I cannot stand the fact that my Kubuntu boot menu asks me if i want to boot "Ubuntu" just something that makes me cringe at boot up. so I wanted to edit the line to say Kubuntu...... instead. However first attempt from the Ubuntu side I got "kdesu file doesn't exsit" then I noticed this thread was started in 2006. I got down to the last entry here, a nice 2012 entry date, and i tried your method, I got "gedit file doesn't exist" so i changed gedit to kate and tried it again, and now i get... QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.
Error: "/var/tmp/kdecache-jamie" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
Error: "/tmp/kde-jamie" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
and kate pops up empty
can anyone lend a hand on this? or point me to a gui editor even, not that i mind using Konsole just if there is one

[oshunluvr]

You can manually change the boot/grub/grub.cfg file.
To open the file with the ability to edit i, do this:
sudo gedit boot/grub/grub.cfg

In this file all the boot-up options are listed in some certain order. Kubuntu is usually #0. Windows can be last one. For me it was #4. So I had to change the "0" in
GRUB_DEFAULT="0"
to 4.
i.e.:
GRUB_DEFAULT="4"

There are two problems with this advice;

#1 Any edits to grub.cfg are erased when you update-grub.
#2 Using "4" or "6" or whatever will eventually not work because the numerical position will change when an additional kernel or distro is installed.

The correct way to effect this change is to open /boot/grub/grub.cfg and copy the exact title name used for the desired default boot and then to paste the name into /etc/default/grub as the default. As an example:

GRUB_DEFAULT="Windows, XP..."

This will avoid both problems I listed above.

You have to run update-grub after making any changes for them to take effect.

[ardvark71]

Hi guys...

How did a thread from 2006 get brought back?

Regards...

[oshunluvr]

I tried this, my issue isn't with changing the boot default, but rather I cannot stand the fact that my Kubuntu boot menu asks me if i want to boot "Ubuntu" just something that makes me cringe at boot up. so I wanted to edit the line to say Kubuntu...... instead. However first attempt from the Ubuntu side I got "kdesu file doesn't exsit" then I noticed this thread was started in 2006. I got down to the last entry here, a nice 2012 entry date, and i tried your method, I got "gedit file doesn't exist" so i changed gedit to kate and tried it again, and now i get... QDBusConnection: session D-Bus connection created before QCoreApplication. Application may misbehave.
Error: "/var/tmp/kdecache-jamie" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
Error: "/tmp/kde-jamie" is owned by uid 1000 instead of uid 0.
and kate pops up empty
can anyone lend a hand on this? or point me to a gui editor even, not that i mind using Konsole just if there is one

You should never run a GUI application with "sudo" and "kdesu" is out-of-date (the problem with resurrecting a 6 year old thread). Use "kdesudo kate" to edit /etc/grub/default and your release info is in /etc/lsb-release. You can change it to whatever you want and run update-grub to insert into the grub menu.

[bubblecruntz]

yeah, but if newbs like me don't ressurect old threads then every noob to follow will have out of date info. however my issue wasn't the same as the op. I only wanted see if i could change the name on the grub from "Ubuntu ? .??.??" to "Kubuntu Linux .??.??" or whatever. Just thought it would be nice to have Kubuntu take a step away from Ubuntu since they seem to want us to, and add a bit of polish by adding that small amount of text to grub, changing the kickoff button to a kubuntu icon (which i have done btw) and possibly adding a community wallpaper to the exsiting kde wallpaper in the package, one wallpaper won't eat up to much cd room should it?

[Snowhog]

I only wanted see if i could change the name on the grub from "Ubuntu ? .??.??" to "Kubuntu Linux .??.??" or whatever.

Edit /etc/default/grub as root and change the following line:

GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`

to

GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`Kubuntu'
(or to what ever you want: 'Kubuntu Linux' or ...)

Save the file and then run:

sudo update-grub2

[bubblecruntz]

cool thanks snowhog,and oshunluvr i was in there looking at that line and my noobishness said better not mess with that lol. Ok so i changed the lines in lsb-release so it says Kubuntu whereever it said Ubuntu, and the grub looks as I expect, now I assume this will revert back when 12.04 hits? and why isn't that done anyway?

[Snowhog]

Because the K in Ubuntu stands for the Desktop Environment, KDE. Take the DE away and you are running Ubuntu. Factually, those running Ubuntu are running the Gnome Desktop on top of the Ubuntu OS.