jebus197 Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Hi I installed XBMCUbuntu on a partition. I will only use it occasionally. However it's installed on a slightly older laptop (3 years old) which is connected via HDMI to a large screen TV which is several feet away. The lid on the laptop is always closed and as it's ona shelf under the TV its fairly innacessible and impractical to keep getting up to open the lid to select either Windows or XBMC whenever I want to boot into either. Is there therefore any Windows based software and/or any XBMCUbuntu scripts that will allow me to select which OS to boot each time I restart? I can't generally see the bootup screen on my HDTV until half way through boot up of either Windows or XBMCUbuntu, so selecting manually at the grub command line isn't practical either unfortunately. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggis Veteran Posted August 13, 2014 Veteran Share Posted August 13, 2014 Press Alt+F2, type gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub press Enter and enter your password. You will see the following contents: 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="" You can change the default from 0 to any number, corresponding to the entry in the Grub bootup menu (first entry is 0, second is 1, etc.)You can change the "hidden timeout" (no menu); and also display the countdown (TIMEOUT_QUIET=false) You can force the grub menu to show by commenting out the two GRUB_HIDDEN lines with a # at the beginning of the line And set the grub menu timeout (default is 10 seconds)Make your changes, press Ctrl-S to save and Ctrl-Q to exit.Important: Open a terminal with Ctrl-Alt-T and type sudo update-grub to apply the changes you just made.Reboot and you should see your timeout/default entry change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jebus197 Posted August 14, 2014 Author Share Posted August 14, 2014 I know you are trying dude and I really appreciate it. I mean honestly I do. But did you even read my post? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggis Veteran Posted August 14, 2014 Veteran Share Posted August 14, 2014 yes i did you want it to automatically boot a particular OS every time you reboot To do this you need to gegt up and get the laptop out off the shelf, edit the grub line (Which you only need to do ONCE) Them save it all reboot and stick it back on the shelf There is no way the laptop is going to know what OS you want to boot into, it cant read minds so either you boot into one OS all the time or you select it manually I fail to see what i have missed there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sikhwarrior Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 I am guessing you want something similar to Mac bootcamp option where from windows you can select to boot in to OS X or Windows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(Account no longer active) Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 I am guessing you want something similar to Mac bootcamp option where from windows you can select to boot in to OS X or Windows? That's what I understood. The trouble seems to be that GRUB will only display on a primary monitor (not clone over VGA/HDMI). A closed laptop lid is the primary monitor in this case. Perhaps there's a BIOS setting to change this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haggis Veteran Posted August 15, 2014 Veteran Share Posted August 15, 2014 Have a look at this you can make grub boot to another default only once then revert back at all other boots https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/legacy/Booting-once_002donly.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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