Generally, we install Linux system after Windows and then find that the default start-up is Linux. But for many ppl we would like to start Windows firstly, so how to make it? In this article I do not mind to share some ways as following with you. (the Linux I refer to is Ubuntu 9.04)
The most used way is to modify the file "/boot/grub/menu.lst", since this file is system start-up files in Ubuntu 9.04. We can choose a kind of tool to edit it(i.e. gedit is easier for most Windows users to use). Once you open the file that you will find there are quite a few lines beginning with "#" symbol, which indicates that these lines won't be carried out by system, so do not mind it. Except for these lines there are still some lines we should pay attention to. If you are so careful you will find the remaining lines with "title" are shown in a start-up menu when you are starting the system. That is to say, there are some choices to decide which system or mode to start. It's easy to modify the default start-up sequence by setting number after "default", i.e. "default 0" means the system will carry out the first "title" command as following. If we wanna set Windows to be default you can set the corresponding number after "default". Note that the number begins with "0" not "1". Let me give you a concrete example, provided that the lines like
default 4
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.XXX
title Ubuntu, kernel 2.6.XXX (recovery mode)
title Ubuntu, XXX
title Other operating systems:
title Microsoft Windows XP Professional
If the file be set like above, the default start-up item will be Windows. It's not so difficult to understand. However there are more easier ways for some newbies to make it by installing professional software to help you complete it. Like
sudo apt-get install startupmanager
sudo apt-get install qgrubeditor
sudo apt-get install grub-choose-default
etc. Or you can find them in ur synaptic manager software to install. After that you can conveniently set what you want in a GUI way. Have fun, good luck!