I rebuilt my system the other day and took the opportunity to switch from grub to systemd-boot, the new default. I set it to remember what I booted from last so I don’t really have to pay attention to the boot menu, except when the kernel updates. The lts kernel is listed first so after a kernel update I have to select the newly installed one otherwise it will default to lts. How can I prevent this? I have a couple of machines that I run headless and update via ssh. With grub it’s not an issue because the boot options says Linux not linux-version number. If I were to migrate them from grub to systemd-boot, being headless would become an issue. How do I fix this, or do I have to remove the lts kernel. Note even though I have it installed I’ve never actually had to boot into it, but I’ve kept it thinking it’s good practice.
You can examine the contents of /efi/loader/entries, identify the kernel you wish to set as the default boot option, and change the default line in /efi/loader/loader.conf accordingly. See the example in this thread:
That will not change the order the kernels appear in the list, but it will allow you to control what is set as the default.
Highlight the one you want to boot from and hit “Shift D” on the keyboard.
Ooh, I like that–that looks easy. 
That will break as soon as there is a kernel update.
The solution recommended by @BluishHumility above is more effective. That is the same thing recommended in the wiki.
Been using it for years on Arch base OS and never failed me yet. 
It works with manually created entries where the names don’t change.
We use kernel-install, provided by systemd, which dynamically create the entries as new kernels are removed and installed. As a result, the entry names change.
My loader.conf is different then as I use this.
timeout 3
#console-mode keepconf and arch
default arch-*
and have my arch.conf and arch-lts.conf in my entries directory
If the entry is dynamically created, how can I set it up as the default? Sorry if it’s a stupid question I’m still working through these entries to figure it out
The method that will survive the kernel being renamed is the one described in post 2: Systemd-boot and multiple kernels - #2 by BluishHumility
I also found the wiki entry dalto mentioned, which bears the same explanation: https://discovery.endeavouros.com/installation/systemd-boot/2022/12/
How to change the default entry to boot
There is a
defaultentry inside/efi/loader/loader.confthat determine the default boot entry.On a new install, it will look something like this:
default 665eca4ae83246df8ec17d1cbc6a1763*That first string of characters is you entry token which identifies the install. That is important if you are dual-booting with another Linux, otherwise it can be replaced with
*. That line supports wildcards and so if you want to boot the LTS kernel by default you could use something like this:
default 665eca4ae83246df8ec17d1cbc6a1763*lts.confAlternatively, if you want to boot the mainline kernel by default, something like this should work:
default 665eca4ae83246df8ec17d1cbc6a1763-*-arch?-?.confThese changes will take effect on the next reboot and nothing else is required except modifying the file.
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