Changing GRUB boot order in Ubuntu 11.04

I recently downloaded and installed a copy of the new Ubuntu 11.04. The new interface is truly awesome. I have slowly grown to love the idea of Linux. Yes and yes, Linux doesn’t have as much support as the other proprietary operating systems as of now. So once in a while I am still forced to go back to my Windows partition when I need to get some other work done.

The interesting thing about Ubuntu is that GRUB changes the boot sequence to Linux options first, leaving the Windows to be the last option.

I did quite a bit of search on the internet and most of the solutions did not work for me because they offered solutions for GRUB and not GRUB2 which is what’s loaded on Ubuntu 11.04. You can find a list of solutions for GRUB by clicking any of these links:

• makingtheswitch
• LinuxQuestions
• Ubuntu Help

For the earlier version of GRUB, you would have to do this:

sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_backup

That has changed now. With GRUB 2 you can no longer edit /boot/grub folder. You now have to go to /etc/default/ folder. To do that run this command in terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

That will bring out a list of configurations similar to this:

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT=”quiet splash”
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=”"

# Uncomment to disable graphical terminal (grub-pc only)
#GRUB_TERMINAL=console

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo’
#GRUB_GFXMODE=640×480

# Uncomment if you don’t want GRUB to pass “root=UUID=xxx” parameter to Linux
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID=true

# Uncomment to disable generation of recovery mode menu entrys
#GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY=”true”

Where GRUB default = 0, you change it to your value. 0 means the first option in your list. UPDATE: If Windows is on the 5th option, then you change that to 4.

After changing that, its important for you to update by running:

/boot/grub/grub.cfg

Or your changes won’t be made.

Have fun!