Edit GRUB Defaults

Have you installed Linux in your computer recently? Would you like to mark a particular operating system as the default, other than your Linux? If yes, this tutorial is for you. 

 Command line method:

First, open the terminal. Copy and paste the given command in the terminal, and hit enter:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

You may be asked for a password if you're a non-root user. Enter your password now.

 After entering your password, you'll get a screen as follows:

(Note: this screen may change within distributions. This is the one found in Fedora 33).

 Here, find the line GRUB_DEFAULT and replace it with a number at which, your OS is found in the bootloader. In my case, Windows is found at the 4th place. In order to select Windows as default, I must enter 3 (since the order begins with 0, 1, 2, and so on).

 After editing, save the file by pressing Ctrl + X, then press Y, and hit [Enter].

Confirmation dialog to save file (press Y)

 

 

Press enter to save file and exit

 

After editing the file, run this command:

[Debian based]

 [pranav@hcl-c2duo ~]$ sudo update-grub

OR
 [pranav@hcl-c2duo ~]# update-grub

 

[Arch based]

 [pranav@hcl-c2duo ~]# grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
 

Reboot your computer for the changes to occur. It may look like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Using GRUB Customizer:

 If you prefer using the GUI method, you may look for the GRUB Customizer. 

To install GRUB Customizer in Ubuntu: sudo apt install grub-customizer

To install GRUB Customizer in Arch: sudo pacman -S grub-customizer

To install GRUB Customizer in Fedora: sudo dnf install grub-customizer

Once you open a GRUB Customizer, it may look like this (you may have to enter admin password):

GRUB Customizer (General Settings)

Check for the default entry section. Select the predefined option, open up the drop-down menu, and select one of the entries.

 

Select your entry from dropdown

 After selecting your desired entry, click save. Once the configurations are updated, you can reboot your system now, and look for the changes. 

So, I hope this tutorial helps you. If you're experiencing problems, feel free to mention them in the comments section. Follow my website for more Linux tutorials. 

Happy Linuxing :)

[P.S: GRUB Customizer looks a bit different in my case, since it's running Fedora. It may vary from distro to distro :) ]