Ubuntu loads directly no dual boot option to load Windows XP

In your Ubuntu system, open a Terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run this command:

sudo os-prober

You may be prompted for your password. As you enter it, you won't see any placeholder characters, like *. That's OK, just type it in and press enter.

Then, when you get a $ _ prompt again, run this command:

sudo update-grub

Then select all the text in the Terminal (Edit > Select All), copy it to the clipboard (Edit > Copy), paste it into a document and save it in case you need it later if this doesn't work (you can use the Text Editor for this), and then shut down and reboot your computer and see if that fixed the problem.

If it did, you can mark this question as Solved. If it didn't, then please provide all the text from the Terminal that you saved, and please also open a new Terminal window, run this command, and provide the text from this Terminal window:

df -h; echo; mount; echo; sudo fdisk -l

Eliah thanks for your assistance. It did not work. Ubuntu still loaded directly after the reboot. This is what I got when I ran the update-grub:

Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.38-8-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-2.6.38-8-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Windows XP Media Center Edition on /dev/sda1
Found Windows NT/2000/XP on /dev/sda2
done

This is what I got after I ran the fdisk -l:

Filesystem Size Used Avail Use% Mounted on

/dev/sda5 71G 2.9G 65G 5% /

none 1.5G 660K 1.5G 1% /dev

none 1.5G 264K 1.5G 1% /dev/shm

none 1.5G 96K 1.5G 1% /var/run

none 1.5G 0 1.5G 0% /var/lock

/dev/sda5 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)

proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

none on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)

none on /sys/kernel/debug type debugfs (rw)

none on /sys/kernel/security type securityfs (rw)

none on /dev type devtmpfs (rw,mode=0755)

none on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=0620)

none on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)

none on /var/run type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)

none on /var/lock type tmpfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)

gvfs-fuse-daemon on /home/tito/.gvfs type fuse.gvfs-fuse-daemon (rw,nosuid,nodev,user=tito)

Disk /dev/sda: 250.1 GB, 250059350016 bytes

255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 30401 cylinders

Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes

Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes

Disk identifier: 0xcab10bee

   Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System

/dev/sda1 * 1 19661 157920567+ 7 HPFS/NTFS

/dev/sda2 29408 30401 7984273+ c W95 FAT32 (LBA)

/dev/sda3 19661 29407 78289921 5 Extended

/dev/sda5 19661 29024 75211776 83 Linux

/dev/sda6 29024 29407 3077120 82 Linux swap / Solaris

Partition table entries are not in disk order

If you hold down the Shift key while booting, do you get a boot menu in which you can select your Windows system?

I tried the Shift key but it did not work, Ubuntu loads directly. I may have to reinstall Ubuntu to see what happens but not now, I have something to do. I did a backup of my windows files so if the reinstall of Ubuntu does not work I will reinstall Windows too. Thanks.

maybe auto. boot time been set to zero. Go to terminal sudo nano /etc/default/grub
Check the time.default is 10.if it 0 change it to something u want. Ctrl x save then sudo update-grub

See second part of https://answers.launchpad.net/grub/+faq/1682 and How to make Windows showing in Grub2 menu https://answers.launchpad.net/grub/+faq/1677

@Eliah: I just read your message. Sorry, I'm very busy this week.
@Tito: I suspect you got the menu, but it was not displayed. I suspect you have the new Gnu 1.99 which use native resolution of monitor instead of default fixed screen resolution. And it's nice when ... monitor is properly detected. Else you get a black screen instead of displayed menu, and finally the default boot entry. The solution in previous post is to restore this default screen resolution.

Duncan and delance, thanks for your assistance. I did not have the chance to read your comments on time. Saturday night I wiped everything and reinstalled Windows XP. But I am going to reinstall Ubuntu again on Thursday. I may try Kubuntu instead. I did like KDE when I installed Caldera Linux on one of my PCs 10 years ago.