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

[Cavsfan]

OK, so I finally had to reboot my computer, and the font is HUGE! I know it's set at 24 in your instructions, but is that based on a high resolution? I need to go in and see what I can set mine to, and maybe that will help... but right now the menu is just a small rectangle, and I can't see ANY options! I'll try the resolution fix first, but then if I have to resize the font, do I need to delete it first, or will the new font size change overwrite it?

I have a 28" monitor and when I sent it in to be fixed I used a 17" monitor in the mean time.
I had the same problem but, rather than change the font size I changed the resolution in grub.
Enter gksu gedit /etc/default/grub in terminal and set this up

GRUB_GFXMODE=1366x768-24 (24 is color bit depth)

In my grub file I have this:

# The resolution used on graphical terminal
# note that you can use only modes which your graphic card supports via VBE
# you can see them in real GRUB with the command `vbeinfo'
#backup monitor size
#GRUB_GFXMODE=1366x768-24
GRUB_GFXMODE=1920x1200-24

I added the 1366x768-24 when I was using the 17" monitor and commented it out when I got my big monitor back.
I left it commented out in case I ever have to use the 17' monitor again.
I hope this helps.

Although I don't think you need to change the font size I thought I mention what I have found about grub2 font size:
The size doesn't conform to dpi it is more of a point size. See this link:
http://myunster.com/blog/server-administration/18.html

[ChinaJustin]

Slowly but surely getting this figured out!

OK, first, I changed the resolution AND the 'size' value, and it worked great.

Second:

And then you will need to edit this file with this command gksu gedit /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme
Any time you wish to change the picture you will have to edit this file and place the name of it here:
WALLPAPER="/usr/share/images/desktop-base/rain.tga" They can be png, tga, jpg or jpeg.
You will add this after the first else at the top of the file if there is not one already there and make sure there is no # to the left of it.
Then the colors are right after the above line. Here are my current colors:
COLOR_NORMAL="light-cyan/black"
COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="white/black"

Now, when I go to the 05_debian_theme file, my first 'else' is down in step 5 (not "at the beginning of the file"), but it looks right:

# Step #5: Check if GRUB can read the background image directly.
	# If so, we can remove the cache file (if any). Otherwise the backgound
	# image needs to be cached under /boot/grub/.
	if is_path_readable_by_grub "${1}"; then
		rm --force "${BACKGROUND_CACHE}.jpeg" \
			"${BACKGROUND_CACHE}.png" "${BACKGROUND_CACHE}.tga"
	elif cp "${1}" "${BACKGROUND_CACHE}.${reader}"; then
		set -- "${BACKGROUND_CACHE}.${reader}" "${2}" "${3}"
	else
		return 5
	fi

Question: do I replace 'return 5'? Add it before/after?

And again, thanks for all the help. Really enjoying all this tweaking I can do with Ubuntu... just gotta keep playing with it!

[Cavsfan]

And again, thanks for all the help. Really enjoying all this tweaking I can do with Ubuntu... just gotta keep playing with it!

This is sort of embarrassing but Grub2 v 1.99 is a lot simpler than what I have been using in Lucid.
I guess I should have checked it out before but, look at the comment above step 2 and you will see what you have to do.
All you do to /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme is change the colors if you want.
You have to edit the picture with Gimp (at least I always have had to) as the green note in step 2 mentions.
Then all you have to do is move your picture to /boot/grub/ and you only want to have one picture in there.
There is no need for WALLPAPER="/usr/share/images/desktop-base/rain.tga"

Edit: I am going to have to investigate further on the text colors because when I added the font line, the colors went white.

[Cavsfan]

ChinaJustin, I think I have it all fixed now. It is sort of convoluted as I am trying to maintain version 1.98 of Grub (prior to Natty)
and version 1.99 Natty up to Precise.
You should just have to start at the green note above step 2 through step 2.

Let me know if you have any problems.

[Cavsfan]

If are using Grub2 version 1.99 on Natty through Precise your /etc/grub.d/06_custom file would look like this:
(Except the (hdx,x) and sdax instances and the UUID for Windows are modified to match your sudo blkid output.)
Mine works perfectly except when I select the Windows 7 entry, it displays an error and to press any key but, after a few seconds goes into windows w/o a problem.

#!/bin/sh
echo 1>&2 "Adding Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04, Precise Pangolin 12.04 and Windows 7"
exec tail -n +4 $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.
menuentry "Lycid Lynx 10.04" {
    set root=(hd0,3)
        linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 ro quiet splash
        initrd /initrd.img
}
menuentry "Lycid Lynx 10.04 (Recovery Mode)" {
    set root=(hd0,3)
        linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 ro single
        initrd /initrd.img
}
menuentry "Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04" {
    set root=(hd0,5)
        linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro quiet splash
        initrd /initrd.img
}
menuentry "Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04 (Recovery Mode)" {
    set root=(hd0,5)
        linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro single
        initrd /initrd.img
}
menuentry "Debian Squeeze" {
    set root=(hd0,9)
        linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda9 ro quiet splash
        initrd /initrd.img
}
menuentry "Debian Squeeze (Recovery Mode)" {
    set root=(hd0,9)
        linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda9 ro single
        initrd /initrd.img
}
menuentry "Windows 7" {
    insmod ntfs
    set root='(hd0,1)'
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 1CFC7A8DFC7A60C6
    chainloader +1
}

[ChinaJustin]

I'm glad you mentioned you get an error on your Windows 7 selection, 'cause I get one on the XP selection, too... something about "undefined argument: press any key to continue". Glad to know it wasn't me this time. I do wonder what it's referring to, though; gotta be something from grub, right?

[drs305]

For Win 7, try replacing "chainloader +1" with:

ntldr /bootmgr

I'd do it by editing the menuentry live (press 'e' on the Grub menu) first just to see if it makes a difference before committing it permanently.

[Cavsfan]

I'm glad you mentioned you get an error on your Windows 7 selection, 'cause I get one on the XP selection, too... something about "undefined argument: press any key to continue". Glad to know it wasn't me this time. I do wonder what it's referring to, though; gotta be something from grub, right?

So, I guess you seen my updates and got it working. Good!

For Win 7, try replacing "chainloader +1" with:

ntldr /bootmgr

I'd do it by editing the menuentry live (press 'e' on the Grub menu) first just to see if it makes a difference before committing it permanently.

Drs305, it did not make any difference. it still said undefined argument. press any key to continue but, without touching anything it went into Windows 7.

I tried editing the line when grub displayed but did not know what to do to get it to accept the changes.
So, I edited 06_custom and sudo update-grub and reboot and nothing changed.
Thanks though!

[Cavsfan]

Here is my latest quad-boot grub2 screen with Lucid, Precise, Debian Squeeze and Windows 7:

[Cavsfan]

I just replaced Debian Squeeze with Quantal Quetzal 12.10. This is the contents of my /etc/grub.d/06_custom file.
It still gets an erroneous error when selecting windows but, without touching any key it still boots into windows just like it should.
Everything else works great.
The (hdx,y) x and y values will depend on the output of sudo blkid.
You can also label each partition like this: sudo tune2fs -L Quantal /dev/sda9.

#!/bin/sh
echo 1>&2 "Adding Ubuntu Lucid Lynx 10.04, Precise Pangolin 12.04, Quantal Quetzal 12.10 and Windows 7"
exec tail -n +4 $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 (unless on Natty or later then change +3 to +4).
menuentry "Lycid Lynx 10.04" {     
    set root=(hd0,3)         
           linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 ro quiet splash         
           initrd /initrd.img 
} 
menuentry "Lycid Lynx 10.04 (Recovery Mode)" {     
    set root=(hd0,3)         
           linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda3 ro single         
           initrd /initrd.img 
} 
menuentry "Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04" {     
    set root=(hd0,5)         
           linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro quiet splash         
           initrd /initrd.img 
} 
menuentry "Ubuntu Precise Pangolin 12.04 (Recovery Mode)" {     
    set root=(hd0,5)         
           linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda5 ro single         
           initrd /initrd.img 
} 
menuentry "Quantal Quetzal 12.10" {     
    set root=(hd0,9)         
           linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda9 ro quiet splash         
           initrd /initrd.img 
} 
menuentry "Quantal Quetzal 12.10 (Recovery Mode)" {     
    set root=(hd0,9)         
           linux /vmlinuz root=/dev/sda9 ro single         
           initrd /initrd.img 
}
menuentry "Windows 7" {
    insmod ntfs     
    set root='(hd0,1)'     
    search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set 1CFC7A8DFC7A60C6     
    chainloader +1
 }