Xfce alongside windows, but it always boots to linux

[trail schooner]

Hi, I'm enjoying my first Linux Mint experience. I chose to install it alongside windows, but get no boot menu. It's an old HP laptop, and its bios only allows selecting the HD to boot, not individual partitions, so my thoughts of trying to select a boot manager type partition went out of the window(s) (hohoho).

There is nothing vital on the Windows side, but I'd like to test things like video playback as Mint struggles even doing 720p youtube and I don't recall windows having such issues.

But how can I get it to boot Windows again, ideally having a boot selection menu?

[idle sky]

Hey there, do you get a menu if you hold shift during boot?

[trail schooner]

Yes I do and that works, thanks. I didn't come across this simple trick when searching!

Now I just have to wait about 4 years before it has updated windows so I can compare the speed.. 🙂

[idle sky]

So you can get to windows from grub menu?

[trail schooner]

Yes it gives me a list of what to boot

[idle sky]

And the problem is that you don't see that menu at every boot?

[trail schooner]

indeed, and it defaults to Linux.

But the hold shift trick is fine, I consider the issue solved. And the laptop is just so slow, neither windows or linux can play 720p youtube without dropping most frames.

I suppose the boot screen is a mini partition that ideally it defaults to booting from?

[idle sky]

I got it, let's make it so that it shows the menu at every boot for say 5 seconds

in the terminal type

sudo xed /etc/default/grub

[trail schooner]

grub default 1, timeout 5?

[idle sky]

In the opened file change these lines:

GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5

save the file and close the editor. Then type

sudo update-grub

[trail schooner]

Thanks, that worked. Wouldn't it make more sense if that is the default behavior when choosing to install it next to windows?

[idle sky]

Maybe? Point is you can change things to what you need

[trail schooner]

After finding helpful people online that is 🙂

[idle sky]

you did )

[trail schooner]

Thanks again, I'm going to use it a bit but already feel it would be more than fine putting it on a few systems in my house later this year when MS has completed digging its own grave.