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How do I change the default OS in dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu?

Author

Emma Newman

Published Feb 28, 2026

How do I change the default OS in dual boot Windows 7 and Ubuntu?

In the left pane, click on the Advanced system settings link. Under the Advanced tab, click on the Settings button under Startup and Recovery. Under System Startup, select a operating system from the drop down menu to be the new default operating system, then click on OK.

Similarly, you may ask, how do I change my default Windows 7 to dual boot?

Set Windows 7 as the Default OS on Dual Boot System Step-By-Step

  1. Click Windows Start button and type msconfig and Press Enter (or click it with the mouse)
  2. Click Boot Tab, Click Windows 7 (or whichever OS you want to set as default at boot) and Click Set as Default.
  3. Click either box to finish the process.

Likewise, how do I set Windows as Default OS when Dual Booting Ubuntu? Typically it's always going to be 4 on a default dual-boot configuration. Change this value to 4, and then save and reboot your machine. You should go into Windows instead of Ubuntu automatically. Note: The blocks at the bottom of the file match the items in the menu.

Besides, how do I change the default OS in dual boot Windows 10 and Ubuntu?

Set Windows 10 As Default OS When In Dual Boot With Ubuntu

  1. Method 1 of 2.
  2. Step 1: First of all, get Grub2Win software from this official page.
  3. Step 2: The setup file will start downloading all the files required to install the software.
  4. Step 3: Next, select a target partition (we recommend the “C”).

How do I change my default boot OS?

  1. Open the Start Menu, type msconfig in the search line, and press Enter.
  2. Click on the Boot tab. (
  3. Select a listed operating system that is not already set as the Default OS, and click on the Set as default button to make the selected OS the new default instead. (
  4. Click on OK. (
  5. Click on the Restart button. (

How do I select dual boot OS?

You should try holding down the Shift key after you would hit F12, example, don't hit F12 just hold down Shift and it should bring up the grub menu. This should allow you to choose which option to boot into, if that works you should boot into Ubuntu and run the Startup Manager to change the timeout.

Can you switch between operating systems?

Dual Booting Explained: How You Can Have Multiple Operating Systems on Your Computer. Google and Microsoft ended Intel's plans for dual-boot Windows and Android PCs, but you can install Windows 8.1 alongside Windows 7, have both Linux and Windows on the same computer, or install Windows or Linux alongside Mac OS X.

How do I make Windows default to dual boot?

Configuring GRUB to Boot Windows by Default
  1. Turn on your PC and take a look at the GRUB screen.
  2. Log into your user account and open the terminal (Menu> Use the command line).
  3. Type or copy>paste the command below in the terminal window and hit return (enter).
  4. In the file editor, look for GRUB_DEFAULT= command.

How do I change boot options in Windows 7?

To specify the boot sequence:
  1. Start the computer and press ESC, F1, F2, F8 or F10 during the initial startup screen.
  2. Choose to enter BIOS setup.
  3. Use the arrow keys to select the BOOT tab.
  4. To give a CD or DVD drive boot sequence priority over the hard drive, move it to the first position in the list.

How do I remove choose an operating system to start?

Fix #1: Open msconfig
  1. Click Start.
  2. Type msconfig in the search box or open Run.
  3. Go to Boot.
  4. Select which Windows version you'd like to boot into directly.
  5. Press Set as Default.
  6. You can delete the earlier version by selecting it and then clicking Delete.
  7. Click Apply.
  8. Click OK.

How do I choose my operating system on startup?

Yes, go to Start > Control Panel > Advanced System Settings then under Startup and Recovery click Settings. At the top, under System Startup, you can change the Default Operating System on the drop-down and set it to display and change how long it displays the list of operating systems at boot up.

How do I switch between Windows operating systems?

To switch between Windows 7/8/8.1 and Windows 10, just restart your computer and choose again. Go to “Change a default operating system” or “Choose other options” in order to choose which operating system you want to boot by default, and how much time will pass before the computer automatically boots the default one.

How do I switch between Linux and Windows without restarting?

Is there a way to switch between Windows and Linux without restarting my computer? The only way is to use a virtual for one, safely. Use virtual box, it is available in the repositories, or from here (). Then run it on a different workspace in seamless mode.

How do I make Windows default to boot?

Click the "Settings" button in the Startup and Recovery section to open the Startup and Recovery window. Select Windows 7 in the "Default Operating System" box to make it the default OS. Click "OK" to apply the new settings and "OK" again to close the System Properties window.

How can I tell how many operating systems my computer has?

Look for an "About Windows" window to appear.
The name of the OS should be in the top portion of the window. The version number of the operating system will be shown after the word "Version" and any service pack that has been installed as an upgrade will be displayed in parentheses.

How can I boot from USB?

Boot from USB: Windows
  1. Press the Power button for your computer.
  2. During the initial startup screen, press ESC, F1, F2, F8 or F10.
  3. When you choose to enter BIOS Setup, the setup utility page will appear.
  4. Using the arrow keys on your keyboard, select the BOOT tab.
  5. Move USB to be first in the boot sequence.

How do I make Linux default to boot?

Configuring the Boot Menu in Ubuntu
  1. Press Alt-F2 (or open a terminal) and paste in the command.
  2. When prompted, enter your password, as you'll be editing a system file.
  3. You should notice GRUB_DEFAULT=0 (which means Ubuntu is the default boot entry, as it is the 0th entry).

How do I change my boot OS order?

Step 1: Open up a terminal window (CTRL+ALT+T). Step 2: Find the Windows entry number in the boot loader. In the screenshot below, you'll see that "Windows 7" is the fifth entry, but since entries start at 0, the actual entry number is 4. Change the GRUB_DEFAULT from 0 to 4, then save the file.

Can Windows 10 dual boot with Linux?

Dual Boot Linux with Windows 10Windows Installed First. For many users, Windows 10 installed first will be the likely configuration. In fact, this is the ideal way to dual boot Windows and Linux.

How do I make Windows default in grub?

You need to edit the /etc/default/grub file to set Windows as your default OS. You will then select the Windows partition, in my case "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)" including the double quotes and copy it. It will open the /etc/default/grub file with gedit.

How do I change the default OS in dual boot Windows 8 and Ubuntu?

Press Alt+F2, type gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub press Enter and enter your password. You can change the default from 0 to any number, corresponding to the entry in the Grub bootup menu (first entry is 0, second is 1, etc.) Make your changes, press Ctrl-S to save and Ctrl-Q to exit.

How do I change Ubuntu OS to Windows 10?

Steps to Install Windows 10 on existing Ubuntu 16.04
  1. Step 1: Prepare partition for Windows Installation in Ubuntu 16.04. To install Windows 10, it is mandatory to have Primary NTFS partition created on Ubuntu for Windows.
  2. Step 2: Install Windows 10. Start Windows Installation from bootable DVD/USB stick.
  3. Step 3: Install Grub for Ubuntu.

How do I boot Windows from Linux?

Just reboot your computer and you'll see a boot menu. Use the arrow keys and the Enter key to select either Windows or your Linux system. This will appear every time you boot your computer, although most Linux distributions will boot a default entry after about ten seconds if you don't press any keys.

Can you run two versions of Windows on the same computer?

Computers normally have a single operating system installed on them, but you can dual-boot multiple operating systems. You can have two (or more) versions of Windows installed side-by-side on the same PC and choose between them at boot time. Typically, you should install the newer operating system last.

How do I bypass Windows Boot Manager?

Go to start, type in MSCONFIG and then go to the boot tab. Click Windows 7 and make sure it is the default and then change the timeout to zero. Click Apply. When you restart, you should be directed directly into windows 7 without the boot manager screen.

Where is the boot INI file in Windows 7?

Boot. ini is a text file located at the root of the system partition, typically c:Boot. ini.

How do I change GRUB boot options?

Navigate to the file /boot/grub/grub.
Then double-click grub. cfg to open the file in a text editor. In the file you will find the line ( set default="0" ). Edit the 0 to the line number in Grub that you want to load.

How do I edit boot manager?

Editing Boot Options
To edit boot options in Windows, use BCDEdit (BCDEdit.exe), a tool included in Windows. To use BCDEdit, you must be a member of the Administrators group on the computer. You can also use the System Configuration utility (MSConfig.exe) to change boot settings.

How do I change the boot order in command prompt?

  1. Restart the computer.
  2. Press the F8 key to open Advanced Boot Options.
  3. Select Repair your computer. Advanced Boot Options on Windows 7.
  4. Press Enter.
  5. At the System Recovery Options, click Command Prompt.
  6. Type: bcdedit.exe.
  7. Press Enter.