GRUB-SET-DEFAULT(8)

💖 GRUB-SET-DEFAULT 💖

okay bestie, welcome to the GRUB-SET-DEFAULT(8) page from the System Administration Utilities collection, and lemme tell you, this one is short, sweet, and extremely powerful. it's the little tool that decides which boot entry your computer picks by default. that's main character energy for real. 💅

---

✨ NAME ✨

grub-set-default — set the saved default boot entry for GRUB 🎀

---

🌸 SYNOPSIS 🌸

grub-set-default [OPTION] MENU_ENTRY

---

👑 DESCRIPTION 👑

so basically, this sets the default boot menu entry for GRUB. that's the one it'll auto-pick when the menu times out. it's giving "choose your own adventure" but the choice is permanent-ish. ✨

⚠️ HEADS UP BESTIE: this only works if you've set GRUB_DEFAULT=saved in /etc/default/grub. no that line, no vibes. this command literally requires it. don't skip it fr fr. 😭

• -h, --help — prints this message and bails out. the classic "wait what does this do again" button 🫶
• -V, --version — prints the version info and exits. flex the version, then leave 🌈
• --boot-directory=DIR — tells it to look for the GRUB images under DIR/grub instead of the usual /boot/grub directory. iykyk for when your boot stuff lives somewhere custom 💀

and about that MENU_ENTRY argument — it's not just a number, bestie. it can be:

• a number 🔢
• a menu item title 📝
• or a menu item identifier 🏷️

so you've got options, literally. slay. 💜

---

🦋 REPORTING BUGS 🦋

found a bug? not the vibe, but okay, tell the devs: bug-grub@gnu.org. they'll handle it. 🐛

---

💫 SEE ALSO 💫

• grub-reboot(8)
• grub-editenv(1)

also!! the full documentation for grub-set-default lives in a Texinfo manual. if the info and grub-set-default programs are properly installed on your system, then this command:

info grub-set-default

should give you access to the complete manual. go get that lore 📚✨

---

and that's the whole page, babe. no cap, that was it. 🍓

this icon of a manpage is from GRUB 2.14-2ubuntu3 and it was dated July 2026 — big legacy, big slay, periodt. 💖🧚‍♀️