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Old 08-11-2012, 07:28 AM   #1
leosubhadeep
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Angry Which grub am I using?


Hi.

I had Ubuntu 12.04 LTS on my laptop, yesterday I installed Fedora 17 after resizing a partition from Ubuntu and then installing FC into that. Now I have both Linux in my system, with a bootloader which waits for 2-3 seconds before I choose.
I can recall Ubuntu gives an option about how long should one want to see the bootloader. Unfortunately, Fedora didn't give me an option (or probably I missed) during installation.
However, I want to edit my existing Grub/Grub2 bootloader. Where to look for it? In Ubuntu, or in Fedora? FYI, I have not installed grub in MBR.
How can I extend my bootloader's timeout option, the unnecessary entries in it (I don't know why, but it shows Fedora and Ubuntu entries 3 times! ) and if possible use a cool wallpaper (optionally) for it?
 
Old 08-11-2012, 07:37 AM   #2
alfredo10
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Hi!
Please see seeley's help, chapter 6.1:
http://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopi...28#p366328/url
It was written in Jan. 2011, but maybe you will find a hint (e.g. "findgrub").
 
Old 08-11-2012, 07:53 AM   #3
pan64
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you have only two choices, so you can easily try both. Fortunately you can mount any filesystem, so you should be able to see both grub installation using either ubuntu or fedora.
see /etc/default/grub for timeout settings

I would rather install grub2 again (from your preferred os) and you will know the answer. There are a lot of resources to help you, for example this: http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/grub.html and there is a good collection of links can be found at the end of that page.
 
Old 08-11-2012, 08:00 AM   #4
kedarp
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Hello,

I am using Ubuntu 9.10, and my bootloader options are in /boot/grub/grub.cfg
I think you can also find it for 12.04 in /boot.

Regards.

Last edited by kedarp; 08-11-2012 at 08:03 AM.
 
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Old 08-11-2012, 08:10 AM   #5
TobiSGD
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grub.cfg is not meant to be edited. Any changes you make will be overwritten the next time an update launches the update-grub command. You have to customize grub using the files in /etc if you want to make your changes persistent.
 
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Old 08-11-2012, 09:04 AM   #6
kedarp
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Quote:
How can I extend my bootloader's timeout option, the unnecessary entries in it (I don't know why, but it shows Fedora and Ubuntu entries 3 times! ) and if possible use a cool wallpaper (optionally) for it?
You will see the timeout="value" option in it.
You can remove the "menuentry" if you don't want. But I think the 3 entries are not same.
One could be "recovery mode" and the other will be _________ no idea.
No idea about wallpaper.

There is a warning "YOU SHOULD NOT EDIT THIS FILE".
But, I don't know any other method other than editing the grub.cfg file.
Then you can again edit the grub.cfg file again after update-grub.
 
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Old 08-11-2012, 09:20 AM   #7
leosubhadeep
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Lightbulb It works!

Quote:
Originally Posted by kedarp View Post
Hello,

I am using Ubuntu 9.10, and my bootloader options are in /boot/grub/grub.cfg
I think you can also find it for 12.04 in /boot.

Regards.
As guided by all, I first edited the /etc/default/grub file and set a longer timeout. After a reboot, nothing changed.
Then I used the process quoted above: edited the /boot/grub/grub.cfg (It was written NOT to edit the file, but I didn't obey !). After a reboot, the grub menu timeout is set to the specified one!!

Thanks for the help. Now please tell me if I can customize the black & white bootloader screen. If yes, how??

You people are real genius, I must conclude.
 
Old 08-11-2012, 10:05 AM   #8
leosubhadeep
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Unhappy

Quote:
Originally Posted by TobiSGD View Post
grub.cfg is not meant to be edited. Any changes you make will be overwritten the next time an update launches the update-grub command. You have to customize grub using the files in /etc if you want to make your changes persistent.
This is right, also. After posting my last post, I had a sequence of updates including kernel. I changed the timeout options suggested by everyone in this thread, and (hopefully) got a persistent timeout.
But why does the bootloader display all the unnecessary options, like fedoraXXxx (current kernel), Fedora xxXX (older kernel)? Why doesn't it overwrite the old value? I have, as I have already mentioned, Ubuntu also. So if Ubuntu gets a newer kernel, another entry to grub? Anyway, if it's not automatic, how can I persistently choose my bootloader entries? And what about getting rid of the B & W grub? Any themes or such things out there?
 
Old 08-11-2012, 10:33 AM   #9
TobiSGD
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If you make changes to the config files in /etc you have to run
Code:
update-grub
to generate a new grub.cfg with the changes.
That you see the older entries has a simple reason: Those kernels are still on your system. If the kernel is upgraded the older kernels are not deleted, so that you can still boot the system if there is a problem with the newer kernel. If you want to remove those entries just remove the older kernels using your systems package-manager and launch the
Code:
update-grub
command again.

Regarding themes for Grub 2 have a look here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1534689

Last edited by TobiSGD; 08-11-2012 at 10:35 AM. Reason: added info
 
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Old 08-11-2012, 11:55 AM   #10
kedarp
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Quote:
You have to customize grub using the files in /etc if you want to make your changes persistent.
Thanks for above info on grub.

Last edited by kedarp; 08-11-2012 at 12:05 PM.
 
Old 08-11-2012, 06:14 PM   #11
leosubhadeep
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Thumbs up

Quote:
Originally Posted by TobiSGD View Post
That you see the older entries has a simple reason: Those kernels are still on your system. If the kernel is upgraded the older kernels are not deleted, so that you can still boot the system if there is a problem with the newer kernel. If you want to remove those entries just remove the older kernels using your systems package-manager and launch the
Code:
update-grub
command again.

Regarding themes for Grub 2 have a look here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1534689
Thanks a ton, TobiSGD. It was very helpful of you! Worked for me!! I have managed to delete the old kernel.
The link you provided was also a gem.
 
  


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