How to: Create a Customized GRUB2 Screen that is Maintenance Free.

[Cavsfan]

I have 4 questions :

- How to know my grub resolution (i am Ubuntu 11.10)
- How to customize the top title in the GRUB (see attachments)
- If i want to remove these settings is it safe to remove the 06_custom file
- I have another Linux distribution (linux-deepin) so how to make the 4 lines-box for it ???

1) Step 1 page one sets the Grub2 resolution in the /etc/default/grub file.
2) I am not aware that there is a way to change the top title.
3) Yes, you could just delete the 06_custom file. But you want to make sure you have made /etc/grub.d/10_linux executable
first via this command sudo chmod +x /etc/grub.d/10_linux
The same would apply to /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober and /etc/grub.d/20_memtest86+ if you want that to be displayed too.
Then of course you want to enter sudo update-grub after changing anything in Grub2.
4) As far as adding the other distros; I am not exactly sure.
You could pose that question in drs305's Grub2 Thread. I am sure he would know the answer. He knows quite a bit about Grub.
The Grub 2 Guide by drs305

Post #105 in this thread shows my current Grub2 screen.
I have made these changes to Jaunty Jackalope Ubuntu 9.04, Karmic Koala Ubuntu 9.10, Lucid Lynx 10.04 and Maverick Meerkat 10.10,
but I decided to revert back to Lucid Lynx 10.04 LTS.
I have not heard any complaints that this tutorial will not work on the more recent versions,
I plan on switching to Precise Pangolin 12.04 after it has been out a while.

Good luck and if there is anything about this tutorial I can help you with other than adding other distros, feel free to post here.

[drs305]

@ Naruto Man,

I read your Question #4 and then downloaded the 11.12 version of linux-deepin. I can't read Chinese so I couldn't review the documentation, but I did mount the ISO and inspect it's contents.

linux-deepin is based on Debian and apparently Ubuntu, and the ISO file structure is the same as Ubuntu's. That leads me to believe the installed version will be very similar to Ubuntu.

If that is the case, you can create a custom menu and use the example Cavsfan provides in his first post. Just change the items in red, make the custom file executable (or add the contents to an existing custom menu) and I am fairly confident it will boot.

[Naruto Man]

@drs305
you mean something like that :

echo "Linux Deepin 11.12" >&2
cat << EOF
menuentry "Linux Deepin 11.12" {
         set root=(hd0,4
         linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda4 ro quiet splash
         initrd /initrd.img }
EOF

and i want to know the meaning of these 2 lines :

search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 1cfc7a8dfc7a60c6
chainloader +1

and this line from Linux box :

initrd /initrd.imgand

@Cavsfan
i didn't want to set GRUB resolution but i want to know the GRUB resolution from a command line or something else

Thanks

[Cavsfan]

@drs305
you mean something like that :

echo "Linux Deepin 11.12" >&2
cat << EOF
menuentry "Linux Deepin 11.12" {
         set root=(hd0,4
         linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda4 ro quiet splash
         initrd /initrd.img }
EOF

and i want to know the meaning of these 2 lines :

search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 1cfc7a8dfc7a60c6
chainloader +1

and this line from Linux box :

initrd /initrd.imgand

@Cavsfan
i didn't want to set GRUB resolution but i want to know the GRUB resolution from a command line or something else

Thanks

Thanks drs305 for providing that information. That makes sense.

Naruto Man, if you do not change the resolution and leave that line commented out (default)
the resolution is 640x480.
I don't know of a way at boot up (displaying Grub2 menu) to display the possible resolutions. I don't think
it is possible.


Here is a bit of information on changing resolutions:
Changing resolutions in Grub2.

There is a lot of information about Grub2 on that page. Just above that spot is the possible colors that you can change the text to.

[Cavsfan]

and i want to know the meaning of these 2 lines :

search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 1cfc7a8dfc7a60c6
chainloader +1

and this line from Linux box :

initrd /initrd.imgand

Those 2 lines pertain to and are necessary for booting into Windows.

I am not sure about the other line or where you got that from. We'll wait on drs305 for that answer.

[drs305]

@drs305
you mean something like that :

echo "Linux Deepin 11.12" >&2
cat << EOF
menuentry "Linux Deepin 11.12" {
         set root=(hd0,4)
         linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda4 ro quiet splash
         initrd /initrd.img }
EOF

Don't forget the parenthesis I've added in bold red the second line of the menuentry.

and i want to know the meaning of these 2 lines :

search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 1cfc7a8dfc7a60c6
chainloader +1

The 'chainloader' line is, as CavsFan states, normally used for Windows. It passes control to another bootloader. It can actually be used to pass control to a Grub installation on a partition rather than the MBR, but you don't want to do this.

The 'search' line is used by Grub to look for some of the Grub files, Since you already know where the files are, and are making a custom entry for them, you may not need to add this line but it won't hurt and can help in some situations. If you do add the 'search' line make sure you substitute the UUID of the linux-deepin partition for the one in the example.

and this line from Linux box :

initrd /initrd.imgand

@Cavsfan

That looks like a typo in which an extra "and" was typed on the line. The last line in the menuentry should be:

initrd /initrd.img

i didn't want to set GRUB resolution but i want to know the GRUB resolution from a command line or something else
Thanks[/QUOTE]

If you haven't made any changes in the /etc/default/grub file, the resolution is set automatically by grub. Grub is supposed to set the 'optimum' resolution but I don't know how it determines which is optimum - I don't know if it's the highest supported resolution or something else.

You can check the supported resolutions available to Grub as the computer boots by going to the Grub command line. When you see the Grub menu, press 'c' to go to the command line. Then type "vbeinfo" and all the resolutions available to Grub should be displayed. Typing "set" shows the current settings.

[Cavsfan]

I just updated it to triple booting Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04, Xubuntu 12.04 and Windows 7.
I'll try to add a picture as soon as I can.

[Cavsfan]

I just added a picture of my latest tri-boot grub2 screen at the bottom of the How to. It will never have to be touched.
The text that is displayed for each menu entry is entirely up to you. I left off the version numbers and just put the names.

[Cavsfan]

Here is my newest grub screen. It never has to be modified.
My grub files are on Lucid Lynx. It defaults to Windows 7 for my wife in case it reboots.

[ChinaJustin]

Ran into a problem when I ran ¨sudo update-grub¨. Here´s the output:

Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-25-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-25-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-24-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-24-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.2.0-23-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-3.2.0-23-generic
Found memtest86+ image: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Found Microsoft Windows XP Professional on /dev/sda1
error: syntax error.
error: Incorrect command.
error: syntax error.
error: line no: 74
Syntax errors are detected in generated GRUB config file.
Ensure that there are no errors in /etc/default/grub
and /etc/grub.d/* files or please file a bug report with
/boot/grub/grub.cfg.new file attached.
done

Here is my current 06_custom file:

#!/bin/sh
exec tail -n +3 $0
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
echo "Lubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04" >&2 
cat << EOF
menuentry "Lubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04" {
    set root=(hd0,msdos2)
        linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda2 ro quiet splash
        initrd /initrd.img
}
EOF
echo "Lubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04 (Recovery Mode)" >&2 
cat << EOF
menuentry "Lubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04 (Recovery Mode)" {
    set root=(hd0,msdos2)
        linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda2 ro single
        initrd /initrd.img
}
EOF
echo "Windows XP" >&2 
cat << EOF
menuentry "Windows XP" {
    insmod ntfs
    set root='(hd0,msdos1)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 9AB84DC1B84D9C9F
    chainloader +1
}
EOF

I haven´t rebooted yet, because I´m afraid of grub not liking the error and having issues. Ideas?