tell grub to reboot specific entry without being there

bobwall · 08-30-2007, 04:02 PM

Is there any way to make tell grub to boot a specific entry the next time the computer boots. This would be very convenient for me because often when I want to reboot to Windows, it takes minutes for Linux to write back cached files to the disk so I either have to be there when it reboots or go away and comeback finding it has rebooted back to Debian.

pixellany · 08-30-2007, 04:26 PM

some distros now have an option built into the shutdown menu to select a different OS on reboot. I don't think this helps you if it is re-booting unattended.

The brute force way to do this is to simply edit /boot/grub/menu.lst to set the default to the desired OS. If you do this often, you could write a small shell script with GUI (eg Zenity) to make it easier.

acid_kewpie · 08-30-2007, 04:28 PM

nah, you're on the right track pixellany, it's not unattended as in over night, just unattended while the kettle boils...

http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/man...-once_002donly

exvor · 08-30-2007, 05:42 PM

Why not just set windows to be the first bootable system? then after a timeout you suggest it would boot windows.

Somthing like this

Code:

 
# Begin /boot/grub/menu.lst

# By default boot the first menu entry.
default 0

# Allow 30 seconds before booting the default.
timeout 30

# Use prettier colors.
color green/black light-green/black

# The first entry is for windows.
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

#For linux does not auto boot after time out 
title linux 
root (hd0,1)
kernel /boot/kernel-2.6.5 root=/dev/hda2

bobwall · 08-30-2007, 06:25 PM

It works like a charm acid_kewpie. You guys are awesome. This feature will surely save me time. Now if I can only get Windows to reboot back to Windows without me being there, that would even be better. Maybe someone can port grub-set-default to Windows?

nan0meter · 08-30-2007, 06:56 PM

Oh, i wish i had time to write a GTK2 app to allow you to switch between certain grub options. But well i still go to school so i don't have a lot of time. Maybe someday i will when i really need it my self!