The only way to switch between Windows and Ubuntu is by restarting the
computer and selecting the required OS - that's how dual-boot works.

However, when booted into Ubuntu you can mount the Windows partition
and have read/write access to it so all your documents / pictures /
music etc will be available for use in Ubuntu. There's no need to copy
everything from one to the other :-)

There is a program to enable read access for Ubuntu files when booted
into Windows but generally Windows cannot see the Linux file system
and write access is flaky so not recommended ( it can screw up the
Linux OS !! ). FWIW, NTFS access in Linux also was flaky on writing
but this has been sorted a long time ago and you can write to NTFS
partitions without fear of causing errors.

However, when booted into Ubuntu you can mount the Windows partition
and have read/write access to it so all your documents / pictures /
music etc will be available for use in Ubuntu. There's no need to copy
everything from one to the other

I understand the above but not how to execute it. Can someone elaborate in
more detail? I've been in, I think it's, Libre Word or Write but can't find
my MS Words docs from there.

To manually mount the Windows partition click on the 'Home' icon on
the Launcher and you'll see the partitions listed using the same names
that you will see in Windows ( Note: not drive letters, only Windows
uses drive letters such as C: D: etc ). Click on the drive to mount it
and then double click the 'User' folder to find the files related to
your Windows login, i.e. Desktop, Documents, Pictures, Music etc...

Once you've mounted the drive then programs in Ubuntu can use 'File /
Open' to locate files on the Windows partition or you can navigate to
the relevant file and double click to open it.

It is possible to auto-mount the Windows partition when you start
Ubuntu if you need but easy enough to click on the drive as and when
you need to once you know how.

You need to use the file system browser, Nautilus depending
on which Ubuntu you are using, I use Xubuntu 12.04. On my
system there is an icon named "File System" a double click
brings up the a view of all the file systems and directories
on your PC. You should be able to see the mountable file
systems and you can double click on them and they will be
mounted and you can explore them. Once you drill down to your
pictures/music you can copy files to your Ubuntu home directory.

The "black screen" is the Grub (Grand Unified Boot Loader) menu. It can be
modified from within Ubuntu to lengthen the timeout before it goes
automatically to the default operating system. You'll have to get advice
from others about the details as I am a Kubuntu user, but it involves
editing /etc/default/grub, as root, to increase the grub timeout. You can
also change the default. After any changes it is necessary to run
update-grub to make the changes permanent.

There is no easier way to switch from Ubuntu to Windows than by rebooting,
unless you run one operating system in a virtual machine within the other.

If this is all Greek to you please ask for clarification!

There is a file named grub.cfg at /boot/grub directory.
You can edit that file with a text editor and change
a field several lines down like this

set default="0"

If you change it to

set default="Num"

The Num is a number is what you get by counting from the
top of the black screen down to your windows OS, counting
from zero of course.

Another tip is that when the black screen is up you can press
a down arrow and the count down will stop and you can read
the stuff on the screen and choose what you want to boot.
Comes in handy when you have several bootable partitions
of various OS's, in your case you have Windows and Ubuntu.
I have a windows and Xubuntu partitions and another I had
Mint 13 in and am trying to load Kubuntu in but it fails.

I hope this helps if you need to ask more questions feel
free to ask direct if you want.

. lengthen the timeout before it goes
automatically to the default operating system. You'll have to get advice
from others about the details as I am a Kubuntu user, but it involves
editing /etc/default/grub, as root, to increase the grub timeout. You can
also change the default.

Can someone tell me the steps to changing the default from Windows Vista to
Ubuntu 12.10.

Usually Ubuntu is set to be the default, i.e. the one that will be
loaded if nothing is done during the time-out. There's a tool you can
install called Grub Customizer that allows graphical control over all
the parameters - link below:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1664134

This should address any Grub configuration issues :-)

BM> Can someone tell me the steps to changing the default from Windows
BM> Vista to Ubuntu 12.10.

I'll just leave it along. Way over my head. I appreciate you
putting up with my questions.

Here's an example: I run LibreOffice Writer and I select File/Open. One of the
items which appears is "63 GB Filesystem." I happen to know that it is the drive
for the other operating system, so I click on it, then navigate to the file I
want.

You could open up the file browser in another window and copy'n'paste as many as
you want to the Linux Home folders. You can also have two open file browser
windows to do this, while out of the document. It's very like what you do with
Windows Explorer when housekeeping and organizing.

OK, so far no luck on finding my Windows Files, Pix, Music, etc. I should
have mentioned this is Ubuntu 12.10.

On the left menu, I think it's Launcher, I have Dash Home, and Home Folder.
In Dash Home I find the Home Folder, an app I downloaded much the same File
Manager PCManFM, and some other apps under Applications. Below Applications
is a category Files & Folders in which their are a few jpgs and docx files
that I emailed to myself from Windows - that being the result of my own
goofy attempt to move this stuff. It is actually now a mess, but no problem
removing them as I have backups. For now I'll leave them there. I've click
all around but no Windows files. So I'm not finding that partition
obviously.

The only place I find File System is further down the Launcher inside of
Factory Image. I've clicked all around to no avail, there is even a folder
named Windows, it has numerous icons mostly labeled protect.english,
protect.czech, protect.danish, etc., etc. Obviously, not the right pathway.

I'll keep clicking around.

I left the original message below. I've got the switching from Windows to
Ubuntu and back again part, but not figured out the migration of files,
pix, etc. from Win over to Ubuntu