Customizing Grub2 boot menu

[johns996]

The grub boot menu Ubuntu uses has bothered me since I first saw the SUSE implementation of grub. So, after installing the latest 9.10 beta, I decided it was time to figure out how to get rid of that awful black grub menu. Two days later, here is what I have figured out.

Find an image

I used the cool heron image from a previous release of ubuntu. Find it here. My desktop resolution is 1280X1024 so that's what I trimmed down this image to match.

You'll have to save this image in PNG/TGA format. You'll see why later so just make sure this is the format you use.

Set the default grub resolution

Grub2 uses a collection of files to set the various settings it uses. You can specify your desired resolution in the /etc/default/grub file. Edit it with this command:

gksudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Look for the line #GRUB_GFXMODE=640X480. Remove the # and set your desired resolution. Here's what I did:

GRUB_GFXMODE=1280x1024

For whatever reason, one that I don't totally understand, this is not all you have to do to change the resolution grub uses. As I discovered in this blog, there is one more change you need to make.

Edit this file: /etc/grub.d/00_header with the command:

gksudo gedit /etc/grub.d/00_header

You are looking for the line that consists of:

set gfxmode=${GRUB_GFXMODE}

After that line, add:

set gfxpayload=keep

your block of code will look like:

if loadfont `make_system_path_relative_to_its_root ${GRUB_FONT_PATH}` ; then
  set gfxmode=${GRUB_GFXMODE}
  set gfxpayload=keep
  insmod gfxterm

With this new line, your resolution will now be displayed by grub. If you ran the sudo update-grub command you could reboot and witness the glorious resolution. Since I want to add a background, I won't run this command yet.

Set a background image and change the highlighting colors

To set a background in grub you have to edit the debian theme file stored at /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme. Edit this file with the command:

gksudo gedit /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme

First, look for the line:

use bg=false

change it to:

use bg=true

Next you are looking for the "for" statement just below the use bg piece of code we just changed. This for statement will show you the directories that grub will look for your background image in. I added another directory, emphasized in bold, to this list so my entry looks like this:

for i in {/boot/grub,/usr/share/images/desktop-base,/usr/share/images/grub}/xxxxxxxxxx.{png,tga} ;

Make sure your image is in either png or tga format and then copy it into one of the directories listed above. I just used /usr/share/images/grub. I named my image ubuntu for ease of use, so I replaced the previous image name (the x's in the example above) with my image name.

for i in {/boot/grub,/usr/share/images/desktop-base,/usr/share/images/grub}/ubuntu.{png,tga} ;

Finally, depending on your preferences, you might want to adjust the colors grub uses for text and highlighting. With background images enabled, grub defaults to black text with magenta highlighting. To change this scroll down to the bottom of the file and look for the code:

if background_image `make_system_path_relative_to_its_root ${bg}` ; then
  set color_normal=black/black
  set color_highlight=magenta/black
else

You'll want to keep the color after the slash, for both instances, set to black. It seems this makes the foreground transparent allowing your to see your handsome new background. You can see a list of available colors in the grub manual. This is what I used for my brown-heavy image.

if background_image `make_system_path_relative_to_its_root ${bg}` ; then
  set color_normal=white/black
  set color_highlight=brown/black
else

One last thing
In order for all of this stuff to work, you'll have to recompile the grub configuration file. Do this by running:

sudo update-grub

All that's left is to restart and behold the wonder. Enjoy.

[bodhi.zazen]

A fair amount has changed with grub2

Please see : Grub2 - Community Ubuntu Documentation

[KroniKlepto]

Well, everything went well until updating grub...

Generating grub.cfg ...
No path or device is specified.
Try ``grub-probe --help'' for more information.
No path or device is specified.
Try ``grub-probe --help'' for more information.

I'm running 9.10 64.

Any ideas? Is any more information required? Thanks.

[daemian57]

im getting the exact same error on 32 bit

i noticed that if i change the line

use bg=true

back to:

use bg=false

update-grub works, but the image is not shown in grub

[zreed20]

That means that you have an invalid file path in your configuration file. I'm going to guess that when you edited this line...

for i in {/boot/grub,/usr/share/images/desktop-base,/usr/share/images/grub}/ubuntu.{png,tga} ;

You forgot to put a comma after /usr/share/images/desktop-base. So, instead, you have an invalid file path. If you do have the comma, the other thing I can think of is that you forgot to create the /usr/share/images/grub directory.

Hope that helps.

[daemian57]

ahhh dangnabbit I had

for i in {/boot/grub,/usr/share/images/grub}/ubunutu.{png,tga} ; do

this is why spelling is important in school...

thanks for helping me find the problem

[Cryptog]

It is not necessary nor recommended to change use bg=true in the script. This is used as a flag for the loop logic.

One thing I haven't tested and people should be aware of if they have problems:

Suppose you put your image under the /usr directory tree. Does this need to be available at boot time? Some people create a large single partition that holds everything, including /boot. In that case there is no issue. But what if you put boot in its own partition like many people do? Will grub still find the image if it is in /usr and not mounted? Does the image get copied during "update-grub" or is it read at boot time? The safe thing would be to put the image in /boot/grub where grub can get to it no matter what.

[KroniKlepto]

Still a no-go. Here's the offending line:

use_bg=true
if [ "$GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT" = "gfxterm" ] ; then
  for i in {/boot/grub,/usr/share/images/desktop-base,/boot/grub}/tux.{png,tga} ; do

[robo_rat]

Is there any way to increase the font size after setting a high resolution?

[gonzorg]

I tried the directions listed to change the resolution. When I restart the screen re-sizes as it should, but I no longer can see the login prompt.

If I leave the gfxpayload=keep out, the machine boots ok, but back at the old resolution.

I am running Ubuntu Server 9.10 in Virtual Box 3.0.10.

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you