Change Grub default boot choice

English Install/Boot/Login
#1

Hi everyone -

I’ve just installed 11.4 and it’s working fine and multibooting onto an existing XP/98/PE setup. I’d like to find a way to have the system automatically default boot to Windows - currently, I need to select Windows 1 from the boot menu and that passes control to Window’s boot.ini. Can I modify menu.lst to accomplish this and if so, what program do I use to edit it? I have searched and read a lot of threads but wasn’t able to find the answer.

Thanks for the help.

System: 1998 Gateway GX-400, 384M RAM (maxed), Nvidia 6200, 2+ terabytes storage.(go ahead and laugh, I don’t mind)

#2

Yes just use any text editor. You must be root to edit the file though. I use joe which is a simple text editor from the command line.

su
enter the root password

joe /boot/grub/menu.lst

#3

You can edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst file and change the default at the top of the text file:

default 1
timeout 8
##YaST - generic_mbr
gfxmenu (hd0,3)/boot/message
##YaST - activate

The default number starts at 0 which is first, the second entry is 1 and the third entry is 2 and so forth. The timeout value is in seconds and sets how long before the default is selected. In kde you can edit the file as root using the command:

kdesu kwrite /boot/grub/menu.lst

The default boot selection can also be changed in YaST.

YaST / System / Boot Loader. - Select the one to be default with your mouse and then press the default button on the bottom right and then press OK.

Thank You,

#4

That worked perfectly. Thank you both for the quick and accurate responses.

#5 
                                               That worked perfectly. Thank you both for the quick and accurate responses.

Happy to help Xavier_C and welcome to the openSUSE forums. Please, if you require anything else, just let us know.

Thank You,