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I have a dual boot system of Ubuntu 12.10 and Windows 7. Stupidly, I set my default boot OS to Windows 7 using this method and set GRUB_TIMEOUT=0. Now when I boot, the Ubuntu red/purple screen flashes on and off and proceeds with booting Windows 7, effectively locking me out of Ubuntu.

Is there any way to:

  1. Change the "booter?" to Windows 7, which would not have the timeout.
  2. Hold down a key to over-ride the timeout? I've already tried shift without success.
  3. This link is exactly the problem I've been having, however I don't completely understand the part about booting from a live cd.
Community
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Joel
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3 Answers3

4

You can boot from an Ubuntu live CD. And then follow the instructions given in the link.

The idea behind using a live CD is to give you access to Linux partition via terminal. Earlier you changed the Grub configuration, You need to do it again. But you cannot (easily) do it from Windows.

So the easy way is to use Ubuntu Live and then when you boot in to it, use the terminal to edit the /etc/default/grub file.

Update the grub so that changes are taken into effect: update-grub

abhishek
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3

Does Esc work for you? Also note that you have to hold Shift down for a while before the menu appears.

Source: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

Glutanimate
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I have kali linux installed a month ago,and Ive forgot the user password on a new msi board. The grub menu is about 1.5 seconds before its gone. Others say to hold the escape key- nope. Or just hit random keys- nope Hit- e yep! We're in!

But,just as the MSI MOBO INTRO,JUST GIVES YOU ABOT 2.5 SECONDS WAIT TILL YOU SEE GRUB,HIT "e" immediately. If you miss,repeat the process till the Grub screen opens up. IF YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT MOBO,WAIT TILL GRUB SHOWS UP,REPEAT TILL YOU GET IN!

Now,this is WHY I DETEST GRUB REPLACING THE LILO BOOT LOADER....IT'S 250 MEGABYTES OF SOFTWARE, AND IS PRACTICALLY ANOTHER OS,THAT CONTROLS LOGIN! It will allow you to change the root password! Which in turn,will allow you to modify any passwords, change users and groups,etc. It doesn't give you an ez editor to adjust the boot time,change root password, find the user's login passwords! The above,I must admit,never bothered to learn! Now you can just ask Netscape how to do all the above!

david russell
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