change boot up default

Asked by Dulcinea

I need to change by bootup default after a recent Ubuntu upgrade. My dual boot system is defaulting to memtest86+. I followed instructions I found in another Q&A here (dual boot ranking 2006) on how to edit menu.lst, changing the “default 0” to the default I want (based on the list of boot options at the end of the textfile). When I save the file I get the message: "Could not save the file /boot/grub/menu.lst. You do not have the permissions necessary to save the file. Please, check that you typed the location correctly and try again."

This is my personal computer and I'm the only user. How else can I get permission to edit a file? And what location is the error message referring to? I didn't set up the partition (Windows and Linux) and I didn't load Ubuntu. I'm new to Linux.
Thank you.

Question information

Language:
English Edit question
Status:
Solved
For:
Ubuntu grub Edit question
Assignee:
No assignee Edit question
Solved by:
Ralph Janke
Solved:
Last query:
Last reply:
Revision history for this message
Best Ralph Janke (txwikinger) said :
#1

Thanks for your question.

You need to change the file as super user. You can do this by using ALT+F2, enter "sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst". The password requested is the same as the one you use for logging in.

I hope this helps.

Revision history for this message
Dulcinea (celeryb) said :
#2

Thanks Ralph Janke, that solved my question.

Revision history for this message
johnfisher39 (john-johnfisher39) said :
#3

I have tried the instructions posted by Ralph on 2007-05-10 but still cannot get access to the folder menu.lst to edit it.
I want to make windows the second option instead of being at the bottom of a long list of options.