Grub 2 Basics

[daodeltaforce]

Grub2 os-prober detects recovery partition in Windows Vista on /dev/sda2. How do I edit the os-pober to remove this entry? I want to keep os-prober rather than create a custom file.

[ranch hand]

A>your recovery partition is supposed to be bootable, if it is not delete it as it is of no use
B>if you buils a custom menu and name it 06_custom it will be at the top of your menu - no need to disable anything.

[drs305]

Grub2 OS prober is detecting HDD1 recovery partition 2 in Windows Vista as OS but it is just a 12GB recovery partition, there is no bootable OS in this partition. Grub2 detects it as Windows Vista on /dev/sda2. How do I edit the OS Prober to remove this entry? I want to keep OS Prober (rather than create a custom file).

You can hide any partition, and if you don't want a custom menu, this is probably the easiest thing to do. The method is detailed in Grub 2 Title Tweaks. See Number 3.

The thread looks a bit intimidating but in fact all you will do is add a few lines to your /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober file.

Section 4 details how to hide any partition you don't want included in the menu.

[tidan]

A>grub0.97 is no longer supported
B>grub0.97 could no longer be patched to function with new storage devices and file systems
C>every distro will be going to grub 1.xxx (1.98 is in the Lenny repo now)
D>if you, very simply, make a custom entry menu it will never need editing
E>if you are unwilling, or can't learn to use grub 1.xxx follow these directions

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1298932

Thanks RH!
A~B: so couldn't grub have been rebuilt AND still utilize the simple menu.lst method?!
Maybe I just don't understand the proceedure correctly with Grub2...but from what I'm seeing its way more time consuming and more complicated - two things I personally don't need since I'm very busy most the time.

[zika]

Thanks RH!
A~B: so couldn't grub have been rebuilt AND still utilize the simple menu.lst method?!
Maybe I just don't understand the proceedure correctly with Grub2...but from what I'm seeing its way more time consuming and more complicated - two things I personally don't need since I'm very busy most the time.

In a normal usage of Ubuntu You do not spend a lot of time fiddling with Grub. That time might be bigger when using development release, but with ordinary one, that is, in my opinion, less that time it took me to type this reply. In special occasions when problem occur that might become an issue... But new Grub is going to be more resistant to problems and more versatile so that is a small price to pay. Just my .002$.

[daodeltaforce]

Thanks drs305.

For my installation I added the following script to os-prober and it worked perfectly.

# Added to remove Windows Recovery
if [ "$LONGNAME" = "Windows Vista Home Premium 32 SP2" ] && [ "${DEVICE}" = "/dev/sda2" ] ; then
continue
fi
# End Added

[ranch hand]

Thanks RH!
A~B: so couldn't grub have been rebuilt AND still utilize the simple menu.lst method?!
Maybe I just don't understand the proceedure correctly with Grub2...but from what I'm seeing its way more time consuming and more complicated - two things I personally don't need since I'm very busy most the time.

Read the link in my sig it should help give you an over view of the new grub.

The second link I provide in my post is the link to this thread because it is the best in depth documentation you will find.

The first link is the only real documentation that existed when we were thrown grub1.96 in 9.10-testing alpha2. That was kind of a rough ride for a while.

I think that if you think back to your first experience with grub0.97 you will remember a good bit of frustration and nervousness. If you search the archives for when it was introduced you will find it very much disliked.

This is true of any new system and, with time and practice, I believe you will come to see that grub1.xx is actually easier to use and much more flexible (I use grub1.xx because I am not sure what you are using. I am mainly using 1.98 on 10.04-testing installs.)

A good example is the ability to change the screen menu background. This was, in grub0.97, a pain and very limited in the number of colors so that it looked poor. I preferred the black. In grub1.96 I found that it was easy to put a high quality image in and use the wallpaper of each install for that and xsplash/gdm (9.10,9.04) and plymouth and gdm in 10.04.

If you want to change the the OS you are using for boot/root it is very simple. In grub0.97 you need to go to the LiveCD and run 5 commands in terminal. In grub1.xx you boot to the chosen OS and type one command in its terminal ("grub-install /dev/<the drive with your mbr>" in my case that would be "grub-install /dev/sda" and you are done)

It is true that there are a lot of scripts responsible for generating /boot/grub/grub.cfg. Each one is editable to meet your needs and wishs. I use a custom menu with symbolic menu entries. These point to the partition and boot the newest kernel there. You can format and install another, Debian based, OS on that partition and the old menu entry will boot it with no editing (I do usually edit the title for my convenience).

Burg is making the screen menu have a different look completely and it works well. See;

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1371288

I do not use it because I prefer the simple text menu but it is a very nice piece of work.

[tidan]

Read the link in my sig it should help give you an over view of the new grub.

The second link I provide in my post is the link to this thread because it is the best in depth documentation you will find.

The first link is the only real documentation that existed when we were thrown grub1.96 in 9.10-testing alpha2. That was kind of a rough ride for a while.

I think that if you think back to your first experience with grub0.97 you will remember a good bit of frustration and nervousness. If you search the archives for when it was introduced you will find it very much disliked.

This is true of any new system and, with time and practice, I believe you will come to see that grub1.xx is actually easier to use and much more flexible (I use grub1.xx because I am not sure what you are using. I am mainly using 1.98 on 10.04-testing installs.)

A good example is the ability to change the screen menu background. This was, in grub0.97, a pain and very limited in the number of colors so that it looked poor. I preferred the black. In grub1.96 I found that it was easy to put a high quality image in and use the wallpaper of each install for that and xsplash/gdm (9.10,9.04) and plymouth and gdm in 10.04.

If you want to change the the OS you are using for boot/root it is very simple. In grub0.97 you need to go to the LiveCD and run 5 commands in terminal. In grub1.xx you boot to the chosen OS and type one command in its terminal ("grub-install /dev/<the drive with your mbr>" in my case that would be "grub-install /dev/sda" and you are done)

It is true that there are a lot of scripts responsible for generating /boot/grub/grub.cfg. Each one is editable to meet your needs and wishs. I use a custom menu with symbolic menu entries. These point to the partition and boot the newest kernel there. You can format and install another, Debian based, OS on that partition and the old menu entry will boot it with no editing (I do usually edit the title for my convenience).

Burg is making the screen menu have a different look completely and it works well. See;

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1371288

I do not use it because I prefer the simple text menu but it is a very nice piece of work.

Maybe your right. I do remember being a bit overwhelmed with the early Grub, but once I got it figured out and added my custom splash screens and several OS's, I got comfortable with it. It just seems that everytime I turn around now, Ubuntu changes entirely the way something is handled I have to spend hours learning the new method which oftentimes seems way worse than the original method! If the days were longer and we lived more years I'd probably have more patience with these things, but I'm always in a race against the clock it seems

[bforbes]

According to some of the GRUB 2 developers, in Ubuntu the menu will not be hidden any time there are other OSs found by os-prober, regardless of this setting. This is in keeping with the Ubuntu Team's goal towards booting: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopExper...pec#Bootloader

Is there any way around this issue, I really do NOT want the menu displayed.

[ranch hand]

Try here;

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1287602