It is may be as you are probably using Ubuntu. For Ubuntu, you have to change the 'GRUB_DEFAULT' definition in a different file, namely, /etc/default/grub and run 'update-grub' afterwards to update the
/boot/grub/grub.cfg file. Be aware you have to have root privilege to edit the /etc/default/grub file and run 'update-grub'.

I am trying to do this using the ubuntu grub bootloader and I have no clue what I am doing. Can someone please tell me step by step how to make windows the default boot option?

It's under grub.cfg and I manage to change the default number to my liking thanks to this thread
Note again that the number starts from 0... first boot item is 0.

Hi All, I had Linux and Window XP. Mistakenly selected Linux installed drive and formatted the hard drive. Now i do not have good running Linux OS. I want to change the Boot order or cleanly remove my Linux and make windows as only OS. Please help me.

First of all, you should start a new post for your problem.

That's not clear. Did you format a drive and install Linux or did you format a drive and install windows?
If you formatted the entire drive, whatever you had on it may or may not be recoverable.

Use whatever Linux CD you have and boot it and open a terminal. Enter sudo fdisk -l(Lower case Letter L in the command) if you are using Ubuntu or one of its derivatives. If you are using another Linux system use: su (hit the enter key) and then type the above command and post the output here. This will show drive/partition information.

It's a bit more complicated when files like menu.lst are "conveniently" generated by tools like Anaconda. You have to figure out how the software that's re-generating the file is doing it.

Ultimately, Grub finds this file and reads it in order to build the screen display. Remember that in Grub's world everything counts upward from zero, not one.

Grub is specifically designed to be a versatile loader program that is easy to configure. But it does oblige you to specify all of the necessary information correctly, and that can be tricky.

as root
ls /boot/grub

post the results and there should be a file named menu.lst or grub.conf or grub.cfg.

Sorry, disregard, missed page #2 and later posts

All you people are just guessing. You're screwing with peoples systems and of course their so pissed off afterwards they don't even respond to your willy nilly responses that you've posted. My IT teacher once told me their are people who KNOW HOW TO DO STUFF, and PEOPLE WHO JUST GUESS!

http://www.expertslogin.com/linux-ad...nux-in-detail/
This is a good link for Linux boot process. May be you can get some help from here

yes it worked thanks but in my system there are two o.s
In my grub file it showing
linux and other
how can i change other name to windows xp plz help me.........

If you are using Grub Legacy with a menu.lst or grub.conf file, just edit the file as root user in a text file and make the change. If you are using a Linux distribution with Grub2 and have a grub.cfg file, post the name of the distribution as the method varies a bit between distributions.

redhat linux 5.5
how to change the name of "other" to windwos

Just change the 'title' line to whatever you want.

if i change the title other to windows(grub.conf)
when system starting it displaying same output i.e
redhat
other
so how to change name of other to windows xp .....
plz help me

The grub.conf file is a text file which you can edit with any text editor on Red Hat. Just boot Red Hat, open a terminal as root, go to the /boot/grub/grub.conf file and change the line which says: title other to title windows. I don't understand the difficulty doing this?