I have been dual-booting Windows 11 with Solus 4.4 for about the past week or so (this is my first adventure with Solus). I want to be able to configure the clr-boot-manager/systemd-boot to remember/save the current OS when I reboot the system and select it following a restart, so when I restart from Windows 11, Windows 11 is selected and when I restart from Solus, Solus is selected. As you know, the default setting is to select the most currently updated/installed version of Solus.
When I initially installed Solus version 4.4 alongside Windows 11 (choosing the option to resize my Windows partition), the configuration defaulted to booting directly into Solus with no dual-boot selection menu visible. I learned that I can set a timeout value greater than zero seconds to see the menu using cir-boot-manager, and my settings change is respected following updates. I suggest that in a dual-boot scenario, displaying the boot menu should be enabled by the installer (set the timeout to some value - perhaps 5 could work)
Returning to the point of my request, I see no configuration option in clr-boot-manager's help to save the current OS. Perhaps an option 'set-default' could be added, so the user can choose Solus, another OS (e.g.: Windows), or saved (the option I want).
While researching how to accomplish my goal, I learned that I can re-mount the EFI partition, then edit the /boot/loader/loader.conf file, changing the default setting to contain 'default @saved'. This works very well until I install updates, and the boot manager configuration is reverted back to selecting the newest update of Solus in all circumstances. Is there a way to configure cir-boot-manager to save the current OS, so the updater respects my loader.conf changes? If not, can I hold out hope that this will change soon or in the next release?
**UPDATE 07/25/2023 **
There has been no response from the developers or anyone at Solus for four days so I'm assuming no response is forthcoming. Please know that I made these suggestions as constructive criticisms, intended to help improve Solus, especially for users new to the distribution.
For others who read this and want to have the boot-manager configuration I want (or a configuration of their own) survive updates, etc. I have found a way to accomplish that end.
In the terminal emulator window mount the EFI using:
clr-boot-manager mount-boot
Edit /boot/loader/loader.conf with your desired configuration:
sudo nano/boot/loader/loader.conf
My configuration is:
timeout 5
default @saved
The boot manager menu is visible for five seconds. When I restart from Solus, it is selected and when I restart from Windows, it is selected.
Save your changes:
press key combination CTRL+X, enter 'y', press ENTER (exits nano, saving changes.
Next create a backup of your custom configuration in /boot/loader/loader.conf:
sudo cp /boot/loader/loader.conf /boot/loader/loader.conf.bak
Finally create a bash alias to update Solus. The alias command (named 'update') is:
alias update='sudo eopkg upgrade && sudo clr-boot-manager mount-boot && sudo cp /boot/loader/loader.conf.bak /boot/loader/loader.conf'
This alias upgrades the system, mounts the EFI partition on /boot, and copies /boot/loader/loader.conf.bak as /boot/loader/loader.conf, overwriting the existing file, preserving your custom loader configuration. After updating your system, you should restart the computer to make any update changes effective as well as to make sure the EFI is not mounted (default Solus behavior).
This is working O.K. for me but YMMV, so make a backup of your Solus installation if you have anything you don't want to risk losing in the event something goes wrong.
Ernie
