Windows menu item to access Ubuntu

[Matt Oquist]

There could be a Windows menu item to either 1) instruct the user to reboot and select "Ubuntu" from the boot menu (the idea of a "boot menu" should also be described) or 2) set Ubuntu to be the default selection in the menu either 1) once or 2) permanently. For example:

You have installed Ubuntu on this computer, but you'll need to reboot to use it. (You can always boot Windows again afterwards.) You have three easy ways to do this:
1) Click here to reboot, and make sure you select "Ubuntu" in the boot menu. (See screenshot here.)
2) Click here to reboot and make Ubuntu the default selection just this once.
3) Click here to reboot and make Ubuntu the default selection permanently. (You can always select Windows again if you wish.)

[Agostino Russo (ago)]

Good point, not critical, but it will improve the user experience.

[Laurence (l-d-anderson)]

According to:

http://technet2.microsoft.com/WindowsVista/en/library/08d64d13-4f45-4a05-bd86-c99211a93dd91033.mspx

its possible to temporarily change the boot order for the next boot only (Vista and above). So you could have an icon to say "Reboot into Ubuntu" and the user wouldn't have to do anything at the boot menu, and next time their computer would go into Windows as normal.

I guess you could even have an option to not change the boot menu at all, so on normal boot the user doesn't see anything different, and only running the program in the start menu would temporarily change the boot order and reboot into Ubuntu. Then it would really look like Ubuntu has been installed as a "normal" Windows program, and would not concern the user that they now get this strange textual menu every time they start their computer.