Hi,
The current setup has Ubuntu starting by default. I would really set timeout to -1 so the boot manager waits forever for a response. I have also seen boot managers from different hardware manufacturers that will intercept the grub boot loader and create one based on its settings. So, it would look like this with a grub intercept: * Start your computer. * The (you think) grub menu appears. * Choose (you think) Windows, which is correct. * The computer starts in (you think) windows. Unfortunately, you originally chose Windows boot loader that has Ubuntu as its first option. * Since the current timeout is 1 second, there is no time to respond. It is always weird when a manufacturer will tell grub it isn’t allowed to be the primary boot loader. Instead, the system will manage it on its own, offering both grub and windows boot manager as load options. In this case, get sighted help to figure out the menu structure. From: Al Puzzuoli <alp...@gmail.com> Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2023 5:24 PM To: sonfir...@gmail.com; ubuntu-accessibility@lists.ubuntu.com Subject: RE: Tips for accessibly Managing/Navigating Grub2 in a Dual boot Scenario? Thanks! I understand this in principle now; but either something is odd or more likely, I’m still just confused. When I run efibootmgr, I get the following: BootCurrent: 0001 Timeout: 1 seconds BootOrder: 0001,0000,0004,0005,0002,0003 Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager Boot0001* ubuntu Boot0002* Generic Usb Device Boot0003* CD/DVD Device Boot0004* UEFI: PXE IPv4 Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (17) I219-LM Boot0005* UEFI: PXE IPv6 Intel(R) Ethernet Connection (17) I219-LM So: Since Boot0000* Windows Boot Manager is the first item in the list, I should be able to make the machine boot to Windows by setting GRUB_DEFAULT=0, and then running update-grub, right? Only problem is GRUB_DEFAULT is already set to 0, and with this setting, the machine boots to Linux. Therefore, I tried grub_default=1, but the machine still boots to Linux. I also tried grub_default=saved, and then playing with the grub-set-default command. Whether I set it to 0 or 1, I still end up in Linux. Playing with the grub-reboot command yields similar results. No matter what values I use for any of these commands, I either end up booting to Linux, or to a place where I don’t have a screen reader and can’t figure out what’s going on. If I didn’t know any better, I would almost think that I am actually booting to the Windows Boot manager, but the Windows boot manager is defaulting to load Ubuntu. Is that even possible? I can’t imagine the Ubuntu 23.04 installer would have modified the Windows boot manager as well as installing Grub? At this point, I may have to connect a monitor and resort to sighted assistance. Very bizarre indeed. Thanks again, --Al From: Ubuntu-accessibility <ubuntu-accessibility-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com <mailto:ubuntu-accessibility-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com> > On Behalf Of sonfir...@gmail.com <mailto:sonfir...@gmail.com> Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2023 12:51 PM To: ubuntu-accessibility@lists.ubuntu.com <mailto:ubuntu-accessibility@lists.ubuntu.com> Subject: RE: Tips for accessibly Managing/Navigating Grub2 in a Dual boot Scenario? Hi, I can directly edit the grub config file. In my setup, I turned on the beep, set timeout to -1 which will wait for a response forever, and also set the menu to visible instead of hidden. Also disable all of the extra recovery options. When you are in a terminal window, type sudo efibootmgr and provide your sudo password. This will tell you what order the boot managers are in and which one is the default. After the setup, the menu will wait forever, displaying the menu and only give you the active boot options <windows or ubuntu>. It will also beep when it is ready for a response. You can also use the efibootmgr to determine what menu option to use for the default OS option. From: Ubuntu-accessibility <ubuntu-accessibility-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com <mailto:ubuntu-accessibility-boun...@lists.ubuntu.com> > On Behalf Of faginbagin Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2023 12:27 PM To: ubuntu-accessibility@lists.ubuntu.com <mailto:ubuntu-accessibility@lists.ubuntu.com> Subject: Re: Tips for accessibly Managing/Navigating Grub2 in a Dual boot Scenario? On 6/11/2023 12:17 PM, faginbagin wrote: On 6/11/2023 11:57 AM, Al Puzzuoli wrote: Hi all, On one of my machines, I have installed Ubuntu 23.04 alongside Windows 11. By default now, the machine boots into Linux. My issue is that I’m not sure how to reliably boot to Windows when I want to do so. I’ve enabled the Grub beep, and after the beep, I’ve experimented with pressing down arrow and then enter, pressing down arrow twice, and then enter, etc. Maybe I need to down arrow 3 or 4 times, but the upshot is I’m just not sure. I’m guessing there are a number of entries I could care less about such as Memtest 386 and older kernels will get added as time passes. What’s the best way to deal with this these days? Sounds like you’re no longer supposed to edit grub.conf directly. I’ve seen talk about the grub-customizer tool but I’m having issues installing that in 23.04. Seems like this used to be easier 15 or 20 years ago with the old Grub. Ah well. Thanks, --Al Would it help if grub saved your last boot option? In other words, if you do boot into Windows, the next time you reboot, the default choice will be windows? If so, the attached patch might help (if the list allows text format patches). It's from a 22.04 system (I don't have 23.04 installed), but /etc/default/grub has not seen a lot of changes over time. I hope it helps. Forgot to mention that this patch also disables the splash screen and makes sure there's a 10 second timeout. If you don't want those changes, but do want to save your last boot as the next default boot option. you only need to change GRUB_DEFAULT and add GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT as shown in the patch. I did comment out GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE but I'm not sure it is needed. For more details see the grub documentation, especially section 6.1: https://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub/grub.html#Simple-configuration HTH
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