Windows & Ubuntu dual boot.No menu to choose OS?

Question

I just installed Ubuntu alongside Windows 7. Now I cant boot Windows 7 because it automaticaly boots Ubuntu without displaying boot menu. How can I get menu with options to choose which Os to boot? Can anyone help?

Solution

According to Ubuntu documentation, you should be able to see boot menu by pressing any key. Try also pressing shift early in the boot.

IF that doesn't work, try editing /etc/default/grub . If you want to edit it in gedit, run this command at terminal and enter your password:

gksu gedit /etc/default/grub &

You should see line like this:

GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0

Now remove the zero from the end:

GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=

According to documentation, this should cause GRUB to be visible every time you boot.

Now save the file and update grub with following command:

sudo update-grub

If everything went correctly, you should now see GRUB2 (boot menu) every time you boot.

Comments

[Admin]

Are you sure you installed alongside Windows 7, and not over it? Have you tried holding shift or pressing ESC while booting?

[Admin]

Yes I'm sure. Esc and shift don't help.

[Karan]

Repairing the Windows bootloader will allow the OP to access Windows again, but not Ubuntu. In that case he'll need to reinstall Grub2 anyway, so why not directly add Win7 to the Grub2 menu?