Ubuntu and Windows Boot at Same Time?

[TinGodz]

Title is slightly misleading. Whenever I restart/start my PC and select Windows, it loads properly to the Welcome screen. However I noticed that twice now if I leave the PC alone and simply let it sit there, it will automatically restart on its own. Of course these eventually brings back up the grub menu and defaults to Ubuntu when left alone. Thus it boots Ubuntu and sits at the Welcome screen until touched.

I have not seen this occur when I immediately log into Windows, but then again I have no restarted this PC enough times to truly get a baseline. However, as aforementioned, the only two occurrences were when I left Windows at the Welcome screen. The thing is, both systems are currently loaded at this point. Once Ubuntu is shutdown, it brings me back to the current Windows session that is loaded, i.e. it "Resumes Windows session" instead of saying "Starting Windows session." Another reason I know both systems are online simultaneously is because I use two different computer names and MACs for each and both are currently connected to my WAP.

Any idea on what is going on and how I can fix this? I was always under the impression dual boot meant you could install 2 OSs, but does it mean you can literally boot both simultaneously? If so, how can I switch between the two?

Thanks. Running Windows 7 and Ubuntu 12.04 btw.

[TinGodz]

Bump. Would really like to know the answer to this issue.

[Pedroriel]

Hey mate. Dual boot doesn't literally mean at the same time. To switch between the two OS's you must go back to the selection screen that grub puts up. Also, to stop the shut down restart problem, maybe tell Windows not to shut down-hibernate ever. Then the computer wont go back through the boot menu I believe. But first, try running a program called boot repair, or upgrade to version 12.10 Secure Remix. This includes boot repair and fixes most common dual boot problems automatically. I hope this helps.

[TinGodz]

Thanks for the response and information. I will try your suggestions.

I was 99.9% certain that I knew what dual boot meant, but I wanted to make sure because I had never encountered this issue ever before. I found out it extremely odd that both OSes would be able to be "online" simultaneously. It is actually convenient and would be awesome if it was as easy as pressing a hotkey to switch between Windows and Linux on the fly and never have to worry about shutting down one OS to boot another.