I recently installed LinuxMint on my very old computer (1998) for testing purposes and i would like to install it discretely on the family computer but there is one problem. On the old computer, when i boot, it shows the grub menu with a timeout and everything.

On the new computer, I would like to customize GRUB to hide that menu and boot automatically to XP, except if i hit a specific key (a little bit the same way that the bios is hidden (i have to hold F1). Is it possible?

Thanks.

yes it is possible...

open linux mint ...
in it goto /boot/grub in which u will find menu.lst..
open it...
in it u will find 2 options timeout and default..
set the timeout to 0.
now seee where windows is written in front of tittle.
count the tittle number starting from 0 .eg...
suppose
Tittle : Linux Mint
--------blah blah----
--------blah blah----
--------blah blah----

Tittle : Linux Mint recovery
--------blah blah----
--------blah blah----
--------blah blah----

Tittle: Mint Memtest
--------blah blah----
--------blah blah----
--------blah blah----

Tittle: Windows
--------blah blah----
--------blah blah----

in this case ur windows tittle is at 3 starting from 0..
now set defaults to 3...
save the file and restart..



In linux mint u have to grant permissions to menu file to save it. u can do it by giving command "chmod 777 /boot/grub/menu.lst at the terminal..
enjoy

Sorry, I didnt understand a single word of what you were saying (not natively english speaking). Can you tell me concretely what to do? All i want to change is to hide the grub menu (except if i press a button) and boot windows as default.

Just some little additions:

• In order to have the system boot into WinDoze, you'll have to put that entry first (or define it as default [#] ("#" being the number of the WinDoze menu entry).
• Set hiddenmenu 1. Look for more information on how to format the entries here: http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/manual/grub.html
• To be able to hit a key (in terms of: have enough time) I'd use timeout 2 - "0" being a bit on the fast side of doable
• Oh, and it's "title" - I don't want to appear narrow-minded or anything, but in this case, precision helps...

Edit:

Okay, I'll try to reiterate:

You'll have to edit the file /boot/grub/menu.lst as root or, in the case of Mint, using "sudo". Open a terminal and type
After entering your password, an editor will open the file in question. The menu items are on the bottom (you'll see a busload of automatically generated and default stuff). But first, look for "timeout" first and set it do something small, but not "0" (you want to be able to press a button, don't you?). Then look for "hiddenmenu". It'll be (most probably) commented out with a "#" in front of the line in question. Remove the "#" and add a "1". If it isn't there at all, just add a line "hiddenmenu 1" to the file before the actual menu items.

Then either change the order of the menu items so that the whole entry for WinDoze comes before the one(s) for Mint or add a suitable menu entry for WinDoze (for all I know, there's already one there, you'll only have to move it).

I hope that's better...

M.

Can i set the timeout to zero and just hold (not press) the button while the tiny timeout is happening?

Frankly, no idea - in my eyes, however, "0" means *no* timeout whatsoever, thus, no opportunity to press a button. If you have a live CD at hand, you can try, though - and fix it if it's not possible. "1" should be acceptable (most people aren't watching the screen anyway!) and *is* safe for what you want ("2" is better for your nerves, however... ).

M.