Grub 2 Basics

[drs305]

I did a pretty dumb thing, but was pretty proud of myself for being able to fix it. Thanks to this thread and the Ubuntu community.

Glad you were able to figure it out. The information in this thread is at least in part also reproduced in both the Ubuntu Grub 2 wiki and the community documentation. Each has differing format requirements and capabilities so I'm glad you were able to discern the differences and found a workable solution.

[Foxcow]

How do you extend the time(>10s) in the menu to choose?

You can change the "grub timeout" from the default 10 seconds to anything you want. Make sure to run update-grub afterwards for the changes to take effect.

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

[Azazel]

Alright, this is what worked for me.

1- I have created an bootable Grub2 iso file...

grub-mkrescue --output=rescue.iso /boot/grub

http://members.iinet.net/~herman546/...l#GRUB2_CD-ROM


2- Using one of the Iso editing software I have altered the "grub.cfg" file. You can use Iso Master on Ubuntu (thx Peter) or UltraIso on windows, or whatever your choice of utility to edit the files inside the Iso image without altering its structure and bootable status.

I used a very simple and basic "grub.cfg" file sample and edited it to my needs and according to my setup.
http://grub.enbug.org/grub.cfg


3- Now the most important part, where I have wasted too much time myself. Which "grub.cfg" file needs to be altered inside the iso?

In the Iso image structure there is one at the root of the image "/" and one another on the "boot/grub/i386-pc/" path. The answer is "None" of them. You dont edit those "grub.cfg" files but you place a new one on the path of "boot/grub/"

Thats about it...

wow, this looks great! im going to try it out as soon as i have some free time and i will let you know how it turns out, thanks!

[peter b]

@drs305

going back to #496 and subsequent. as said last re this problem, it WAS my intention/decision to remove karmic and lucid and reinstall just lucid. well, lately I didn't find/think this solution, kind of gunshot approach, a fine, elegant solution- it is rather an amateurish kind of solution. I thought about other methods, specifically targeted at the crippled sda MBR that for whatever reason does not want to get fixed as explained in my posts.

given facts, - I have a perfectly good/working part table on sda (BUT there is a crippled MBR) AND I do have a perfectly good working grub2 198 floppy disk that I'm currently using to get the pc booted either on karmic or lucid.

so, in a few words, I said/asked myself, why not get the good floppy MBR (446 Bytes) to an image file, then, remove the sda MBR (less the part table) and, finally, get the floppy MBR image saved before to sda.

the details/commands that it is my intention to use in order to accomplish the above are spelled out on the attached MBR-restore.txt file.

drs305, and anyone that feels comfortable working with MBR in conjunction with grub2 198 kindly check this procedure out and give me your best opinion. any input greatly appreciated before implementation.

[zika]

Quick question:
Single OS (10.10) install on laptop. How to make Grub2Menu visible on start-up by default (it works with Shift pressed)...?

Feel free to correct with red...

I've got several minutes spare and this works...

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
#GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT_QUIET=false
GRUB_TIMEOUT=2
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""

[Chame_Wizard]

GRUB_TIMEOUT=10

It's in seconds only?

[Cavsfan]

...

[Foxcow]

GRUB_TIMEOUT=10

It's in seconds only?

As far as I know yes. If you want a minute put in 60 seconds or 180 for three minutes etc...

[derrickr]

I recently carried out several Ubuntu installs, all with dual boot in Vista / Win7, but unfortunately found the standard GRUB2 menu to be a confusing for the users, so wanted to update it to their requirements as I had easily achieved under legacy GRUB. However, I found GRUB2 to be quite a bit different and I've had to learn new procedures.

Like a lot of people, I'm impatient when it comes to my system and want to get to the end goal without spending inordinate amounts of time having to read manuals, especially when the manual seems to be considerably overwhelming.

I had hoped to fast-track and easily be able to customise my system's GRUB2 configuration for my own needs without putting in the required time and effort. I was wrong.

I therefore had to carry out some trial and error experiments and a lot of reading. So a massive thanks goes to drs305 for his very thorough GRUB2 guide at the beginning of this thread, and also the very useful GNU GRUB2 pages at the Illustrated dual boot site.

Thankfully, all the installations I carried out are now working as required with the simple menu entries and personal splash screens. However, since I don't expect to be customising GRUB2 on a regular basis, I thought it a good idea to write up my notes and experiences in to the attached, extremely simple, 'recipes'.

This is not meant to bypass all the great work before me, but merely serve as an aide memoir for future reference.

Hopefully this will help others like me to achieve the simple GRUB2 customisations they require.

[drs305]

This is not meant to bypass all the great work before me, but merely serve as an aide memoir for future reference.

Hopefully this will help others like me to achieve the simple GRUB2 customisations they require.

Derrick,

Thanks for taking time to put your efforts into a pdf file. You might consider creating a new thread with an appropriate title (Grub 2 Customizations, etc) to highlight your work. When threads such as this one get very long many users may not find it - and the length of the original post may put off many newbies as well.

I'm not a fan of reinventing the wheel, but there is always room for more documentation on Grub 2. Thanks again.