TIP: Set the default GRUB entry to boot from GRUB menu
Suppose you have multiple kernels installed on your Linux system and your GRUB menu looks something like this:
Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-deb-ws - Kernel 0
Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-deb-ws (single-user mode) - Kernel 1
Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-1-amd64 - Kernel 2
Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-1-amd64 (single-user mode) - Kernel 3
Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686 - Kernel 4
Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686 (single-user mode) - Kernel 5
Now whenever you restart your machine, by default the first kernel (Kernel 0) – Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-deb-ws – will boot after the default 5 seconds timeout.
Now what if you would like to boot from the third kernel (Kernel 2) instead – Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.26-1-amd64 – every time you restart your machine without manually selecting this kernel? To do this simply edit the file:
# nano /boot/grub/menu.lst
and set the parameter “default” like this in the beginning of the file where the following text is :
# 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 2
Note that the GRUB counts the kernel listed from “zero” and not “one” and therefore we specify “2″ to boot from the third listed kernel.
Similarly you can set:
default 5
to boot from the last kernel (Kenrel 5) – Debian GNU/Linux, kernel 2.6.24-etchnhalf.1-686 (single-user mode)
Happy Grub’ing
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June 19th, 2009 at 7:27 am
[...] easily set the default GRUB entry to boot to in in Debian or Ubuntu by editing [...]
October 24th, 2010 at 2:47 pm
Great article!
Finally it makes sense, and someone writes an understood article that really helps to cooperate with grub’s default OS.
Thanks a million!
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