Make WinXP Default in Grub

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Default to Windows

So, you've added Freespire to your WinXP computer and let Grub take over the Master Boot Record. Now you do not want Herself to blow a gasket the next time she turns the computer on and it boots to Freespire. You NEED WinXP to be the default boot option. Well here you go.

First thing you have to do is, Create a Root Login Account.

Note: Enabling the root account is not required. In Freespire 2.0+ simply browse to the file in need of editing, right click and select actions and then 'edit as root'.

Now that you have that done, as root (or using sudo), open the File Manager (konqueror) and browse to /boot/grub .

Now, with your favorite text editor, open up the menu-normal.lst file in /boot/grub . This is a typical menu-normal.lst file for WinXP on hda1 and Freespire on hda5 (extended partition).

Warning: do not use any of the above text trying to sort out your own install, it has been modified for this example.

You will see the following text;

default=0
timeout=10
color cyan/green magenta/green
splashimage=/boot/grub/bootsplash.xpm.gz

The "default=0" is which entry will boot as the default (note: grub starts with 0). The "timeout=10" is the time till it boots. Now, in the nice screenshot I put up, you will notice that Freespire is the first entry & that the default is set to 0, meaning that Freespire is the default boot option. In my example, Windows is the fourth entry, thus, the default needs to be changed to 3. Save. That's it, you're done, and if you have the timeout set quick enough, Herself might never notice that you added Freespire.

This is correct in theory, however in my case, I also had to edit the file: menu-hdb=hd1.lst I installed Freespire on a seperate slave drive on the same IDE channel in my system. If you create the ROOT account as shown above, you can access all these files through the File Manager (Konqueror) and then just double click each file and it will open in the Kwrite text editor. In ALL files that have the above text, you will need to change the default to whatever your Windows XP is in the list using zero as your first digit. I also deleted the Back-Up files. (Your Choice) I did not want Jiffyboot to have any files to copy old defaults from. Now with these files edited and saved, you need to open a Konsole and run this command to prevent Jiffyboot from overwriting the changes. Just type in: chmod a-x /sbin/jiffy* Then hit <Enter>

Note: The above example shows the files in Tree Mode View. My Freespire installed with the files in Icon View by default. To change this setting select View>View Mode>Tree View from the Konqueror window. I personally did not have any success trying to make these changes as a SUDO user. I created a ROOT account and got this business taken care of and then just disabled the ROOT until I need it again. I set my timeout for 4 and Windows boots right away unless you are quick to hit the up arrow key and select Freespire.