Changing Load Screen Resolution

**wootah** · May 22nd, 2008

Hey there!

If you are referring to the loading screen that displays the Ubuntu Logo and the progress bar that appears before you can login, then the change needs to be made in /boot/grub/menu.lst. If the logo is off centre, too large, or you can't read the text, then we need to configure a kernel boot option, but don't worry because it's wicked simple!

You need to edit the /boot/grub/menu.lst using anything you like, nano, gedit, whatever. The permissions on this file are root:root, 644 so you will need to use sudo for nano or gksudo for gedit. Before you start, make sure you backup menu.lst!

Find the the following lines:

Code:

<snip>
## ## End Default Options ##

title           Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root            (hd0,1)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=df1efe7b-4feb-4dc9-bf44-4bb294cffc18 ro splash
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

We are interested in the kernel line. Here we need to append an option called vga. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VESA_BI...o_mode_numbers to view the correct number to use. Ex: for 1280x1024 @ 24 bit we use 795 or for 1024x768 @ 24 bit we use 792. All we have to do is append vga=<number>:

Code:

title           Ubuntu 7.10, kernel 2.6.22-14-generic
root            (hd0,1)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.22-14-generic root=UUID=df1efe7b-4feb-4dc9-bf44-4bb294cffc18 ro splash vga=792
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.22-14-generic
quiet

Save your changes and reboot! After setting it to the correct number, things should be ok!

Good luck, and don't forget to backup your menu.lst before hand!

**MatthewPlanchard** · May 22nd, 2008

Thanks, that worked perfectly. I ended up using 352 for 1280x800. At first I didn't see it on the list, to my dismay, but then discovered it hiding in the footnotes.

Thanks again.