adding boot option in menu.lst

[Physicist]

When I upgraded from 7.10 to 8.04, I chose to use my own copy of menu.lst instead of the maintaner's.

I have been using kernel


Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic

before the upgrading.

After the upgrading, I verified in Synaptic Package that a newer kernel


kernel 2.6.24-16-generic

is installed. However, when I restart the computer, it is NOT shown in the boot menu options.

So, I did some Google research on this. I tried


$ sudo update-grub

It printed out


Searching for GRUB installation directory ... found: /boot/grub
Searching for default file ... found: /boot/grub/default
Testing for an existing GRUB menu.lst file ... found: /boot/grub/menu.lst
Searching for splash image ... none found, skipping ...
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic
Found kernel: /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic
Found kernel: /boot/memtest86+.bin
Updating /boot/grub/menu.lst ... done


But the menu.lst file is not really updated. It still looks like


# menu.lst - See: grub(8), info grub, update-grub(8)
# grub-install(8), grub-floppy(8),
# grub-md5-crypt, /usr/share/doc/grub
# and /usr/share/doc/grub-doc/.

## default num
# Set the default entry to the entry number NUM. Numbering starts from 0, and
# the entry number 0 is the default if the command is not used.
#
# You can specify 'saved' instead of a number. In this case, the default entry
# is the entry saved with the command 'savedefault'.
# WARNING: If you are using dmraid do not change this entry to 'saved' or your
# array will desync and will not let you boot your system.
default 2

## timeout sec
# Set a timeout, in SEC seconds, before automatically booting the default entry
# (normally the first entry defined).
timeout 30

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu

# Pretty colours
color cyan/blue #white/blue

## password ['--md5'] passwd
# If used in the first section of a menu file, disable all interactive editing
# control (menu entry editor and command-line) and entries protected by the
# command 'lock'
# e.g. password topsecret
# password --md5 $1$gLhU0/$aW78kHK1QfV3P2b2znUoe/
# password topsecret

#
# examples
#
# title Windows 95/98/NT/2000
# root (hd0,0)
# makeactive
# chainloader +1
#
# title Linux
# root (hd0,1)
# kernel /vmlinuz root=/dev/hda2 ro
#

#
# Put static boot stanzas before and/or after AUTOMAGIC KERNEL LIST

### BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST
## lines between the AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST markers will be modified
## by the debian update-grub script except for the default options below

## DO NOT UNCOMMENT THEM, Just edit them to your needs

## ## Start Default Options ##
## default kernel options
## default kernel options for automagic boot options
## If you want special options for specific kernels use kopt_x_y_z
## where x.y.z is kernel version. Minor versions can be omitted.
## e.g. kopt=root=/dev/hda1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8=root=/dev/hdc1 ro
## kopt_2_6_8_2_686=root=/dev/hdc2 ro
# kopt=root=UUID=afd641ba-718b-4c03-b6c8-6811af092b94 ro

## Setup crashdump menu entries
## e.g. crashdump=1
# crashdump=0

## default grub root device
## e.g. groot=(hd0,0)
# groot=(hd0,5)

## should update-grub create alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. alternative=true
## alternative=false
# alternative=true

## should update-grub lock alternative automagic boot options
## e.g. lockalternative=true
## lockalternative=false
# lockalternative=false

## additional options to use with the default boot option, but not with the
## alternatives
## e.g. defoptions=vga=791 resume=/dev/hda5
# defoptions=quiet splash

## should update-grub lock old automagic boot options
## e.g. lockold=false
## lockold=true
# lockold=false

## Xen hypervisor options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenhopt=

## Xen Linux kernel options to use with the default Xen boot option
# xenkopt=console=tty0

## altoption boot targets option
## multiple altoptions lines are allowed
## e.g. altoptions=(extra menu suffix) extra boot options
## altoptions=(recovery) single
# altoptions=(recovery mode) single

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

## should update-grub create memtest86 boot option
## e.g. memtest86=true
## memtest86=false
# memtest86=true

## should update-grub adjust the value of the default booted system
## can be true or false
# updatedefaultentry=false

## should update-grub add savedefault to the default options
## can be true or false
# savedefault=false

## ## End Default Options ##

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=UUID=afd641ba-718b-4c03-b6c8-6811af092b94 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic
quiet

title Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic (recovery mode)
root (hd0,5)
ernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.17-10-generic root=UUID=afd641ba-718b-4c03-b6c8-6811af092b94 ro single
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.17-10-generic

title Ubuntu 7.10, memtest86+
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/memtest86+.bin
quiet

### END DEBIAN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title Other operating systems:
root


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda1
title Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader) (System Recovery)
root (hd0,0)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1


# This entry automatically added by the Debian installer for a non-linux OS
# on /dev/sda2
title Windows Vista/Longhorn (loader) (preload OS)
root (hd0,1)
savedefault
makeactive
chainloader +1



Not knowing what to do, I inserted the following into menu.lst:


title Ubuntu 8.04, kernel 2.6.24-16-generic
root (hd0,5)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-16-generic root=UUID=afd641ba-718b-4c03-b6c8-6811af092b94 ro quiet splash
initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-16-generic
quiet


At restart, I can now boot into 2.6.24-16 kernel, however, that UUID is copied from


Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.17-10-generic


I am wondering

* would my UUID be a problem for anything ?

* how to automatically generate the menu.lst so it has all the available boot options (including my current Windows Vista installation) ?

Thanks!

[Curtisc]

* would my UUID be a problem for anything ?
If the UUID did not change during the upgrade (and I'm not sure why it would), then you should be fine. If you want to double check, you can try:

sudo vol_id -u /dev/yourrootdevice (sda1, sdb1, etc)
The UUID is just a hard link to the disk ID, instead of /dev/sd*, which could potentially change with removable drives.

As to your second question, I'm not sure - my auto-generated menu.lst was wrong when I initially installed Hardy (it swapped my drives for some reason), so I'd like to know the answer as well.

[dmj99]

I was having some similar issues. I think you need to delete your menu.lst file and then do sudo update-grub again. This way it will write a new menu.lst file. Be sure to back up menu.lst first in case you need to restore it (sudo mv menu.lst menu.lst.bak). You may also have to manually edit the new menu.lst file to put in any dual booting options.