ZachSchneider [dot] com

Editing /boot/grub/menu.lst to change the GRUB boot menu

Here’s a helpful reference. And here’s what I did:

The GRUB boot menu configuration is in the file
/boot/grub/menu.ls

1. backup menu.ls:
sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst-backup

2. edit menu.ls:
sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

3. Move the paragraph with the WinXP options up the list.

4. Change default to 1 (was 0)
default 1

5. comment out the lines about “Other operating systems“

So now I have the following options when booting:

• Microsoft Windows XP Professional
• Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic
• Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic (recovery mode)
• Ubuntu, memtest86+

…and the second option is automatically selected and boots-up after 10 seconds if I don’t do anything.

Here is the contents of the resulting file (showing only the uncommented lines)

default 1

timeout 10

title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/sda5 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
quiet
savedefault
boot

title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=/dev/sda5 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
boot

title Ubuntu, memtest86+
root (hd0,4)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet
boot