How to change the GRUB boot order in Zorin OS/Ubuntu

If you using Zorin OS or Ubuntu along with Windows or any other OS in dual boot. Then you might want to change the GRUB boot order. So that your system will automatically boot into your preferred OS without you manually selecting it every time you start the system.

Along with changing the boot order, you can also reduce the wait time, and other settings to suit your needs. This can reduce the system boot time making your system boot faster. So let’s see how you can change the boot order in Ubuntu or Zorin. Although these instructions are also applicable similarly on any other Linux distro also.

Note: For those who don’t know what is GRUB?. GRUB is the default boot loader that you can find with almost every Linux distro.

To make these changes in the GRUB boot loader you need to install a tool called GRUB customizer. So first let’s begin with installing the GRUB customizer on Zorin or Ubuntu.

Installing Grub Customizer

To install Grub Customizer open the terminal, either by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T keys together or by searching for Terminal in the search panel. Then in the terminal enter the command below to add the GRUB customizer repository.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer

To enter the above command you can copy it and paste (Ctrl + Shift + V) it into the terminal. Once you enter the above command it will ask for the sudo password, just type the password, and then press enter. Now you need to update your system’s repository index to install the GRUB customizer.

sudo apt-get update

Type the above command in the terminal and then press enter. Then the last step is to install the GRUB customizer. To install the GRUB customizer enter the command below and press enter.

sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

This will start the installation of the GRUB-customizer on your system. It will ask for your confirmation as Do you want to continue, type y and then press enter to proceed with the installation. Wait for some time and this will install GRUB customizer on your system.

How to use GRUB customizer to change boot priorities

Open GRUB customizer by searching for it in the main search menu. When you click on it, it will ask you for the password, type your sudo password and press enter. In the GRUB customiser you will see three different tabs. Let’s see what you can do within each of it.

1. List Configuration

In this tab you can all the boot entries present in GRUB boot loader on your system. From this tab you can make changes to boot entries on your system. So as to decide which boot entry is listed on top and which entry is listed at last.

To make changes all you need to is click any boot and entry and then click on UP or Down arrow to move that particular entry upwards or downwards. If you don’t want any specific entry in that list you can also remove it by clicking on remove.

2. General Settings

Now as the name suggests this tab includes general settings like which the default entry. Now if you want any specific entry to be the default you can select that in predefined. Although by default the first entry is default entry.

Or the other option you have is to select previously booted entry. This option automatically boots the previously booted entry every time you boot the system. Until you manually select to boot into any other entry in the list.

You can also change the boot default entry after time in this tab. This is the time that the system waits before automatically booting into the default entry.

3. Appearance Settings

In this tab, you can change fonts and colors to suit your preference. Do you like making appearance changes, here is how you can change the color of the Linux terminal in your Linux OS.

How to change Boot order using GRUB customizer

If you want to change boot order there are two things you can do. First if you only want to change the default boot entry, then just navigate to General Settings and select the boot entry that you want to make default. This is the easiest option to make any entry default.

But if you want to change the boot order list then navigate to List configuration. Click on any entry and then click on the Up or Down arrow and move that entry upwards or downwards. Through this, you can customize the GRUB boot order list according to your preference.

Conclusion:

In this article, we have seen how we can change the GRUB boot order. With this tool GRUB customizer, we can even change the appearance and default wait time before the default option gets booted.

Thank you for reading hope you like the article. Share this article with your friends who also use multiple operating systems.