2

I've used Ubuntu using WUBI for a couple of months and decided that this was not what I wanted and that Ubuntu should have its own partition. I have it set up like that now. My dilemma deals with what bootloader to use as the primary one.

As it is now, after my laptop's splash screen, Grub 2 shows up and one of the options is Windows. My concern is that some problem with either Ubuntu or Windows would make it so the respective bootloader won't work and the operating system that is perfectly fine won't be able to be accessed because of the failure of one of the bootloaders.

So, I was wondering if there is a general consensus as to which bootloader to have in charge. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: So one bootloader is not inherently more secure than the other? I have read that holding shift on boot makes Grub appear but would this be the case even if something happened to the Ubuntu install? Or do I not have much to worry about because Ubuntu is pretty stable, as long as I stay with the 6 month release cycle?

4 Answers 4

2

Depends, both work well, use the one you feel most comfortable with.

If you want support from the Linux / Ubuntu community , use grub.

If you use the windows boot loader, your support will be either Microsoft or the Windows community.

2

I personally would recommend GRUB to you as it automatically detects all installed OS (as you can see) and has more options (I mean possibilities to configure it as you want). By the way it definitely looks nicer, especially when you personalized it using Grub-customizer. It's a GUI tool for Ubuntu that makes the configuration super easy. Just google how to install it (3 lines of terminal input) and have fun. You can rename entries, put them in subdirectories, configure the screen resolution, fonts, colors, background image, delay, default option etc.... And it is a free open-source software which is (almost) always better than commercial stuff (personal opinion). Besides, as you recently installed Ubuntu, GRUB is your current bootloader anyway, why should you change it? You still can do this (using a rescue bootcd/stick) when/if ever something happened. Additionally, my personal experience is, that it is much easier to make Windows fail booting than Linux. This usually does not mainly depend on the bootloader but on what happens later, but you see what I mean...

0

I've been dual booting using grub on 7 systems (actually 5 different people / families) for a couple of years, have been through several upgrades. Some of them keep a version for 3 releases then have to do multiple upgrades at the same time. I have personally never had a problem and since all these systems just have the non Ubuntu OS available because it was installed anyway and will only be used on rare occasions we stick with grub and Ubuntu as the default boot. I always take comfort from knowing that unless the hard drive totally dies, I can rescue either system (the data anyway) using an Ubuntu live boot with my handy USB.

As a side note I should mention that recently a installed Ubuntu for someone who wanted to seriously try it but wanted Windows as the default and found that Startup Manager is really handy for making this change.

0

The windows boot manager will show only the windows versions of os only but not the other Where as the GRUB will show all the operating systems present the hard disk my my advice is to use only GRUB.

2
  • 1
    Windows boot manager can be configured using configuration files or tools like EasyBCD to show other operating systems. Apr 27, 2013 at 1:28
  • 1
    +1 because can be configured is not same as automatically detected Aug 1, 2020 at 5:39

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .