many grubs, which one in charge

notbob11 · 03-02-2024, 08:34 PM

I have a Lenovo ideapad 330 with a 1 terabyte hard drive. It is broken up like this

sudo fdisk -l

Code:

Disk /dev/sda: 931.51 GiB, 1000204886016 bytes, 1953525168 sectors
Disk model: WDC WD10SPZX-24Z
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: gpt
Disk identifier: B2009593-7DD1-42EA-B0E2-5F69273B46D1

Device          Start        End   Sectors   Size Type
/dev/sda1        2048    2254847   2252800   1.1G EFI System
/dev/sda2     2254848   20686847  18432000   8.8G Linux swap
/dev/sda3    20686848  266446847 245760000 117.2G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda4   266446848  471246847 204800000  97.7G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda5   471246848  717006847 245760000 117.2G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda6   717006848  921806847 204800000  97.7G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda7   921806848 1167566847 245760000 117.2G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda8  1167566848 1372366847 204800000  97.7G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda9  1372366848 1618126847 245760000 117.2G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda10 1618126848 1822926847 204800000  97.7G Linux filesystem
/dev/sda11 1822926848 1953523711 130596864  62.3G Linux filesystem

I installed Manjaro, then Fedora, then Mint. Each distro uses the 117 gig partition as root, and the 97 gig as home. Don't ask me to explain why the home partitions, 'cause I don't know. I allowed each install to install a bootloader. (considering I wasn't given the option not to, I allowed it)

I tried to modify the /etc/default/grub to add a background image in the Fedora, but had no success.

Question 1) is, which of the bootloaders is in charge of the boot process? I imagine that would be the one to configure.

Question 2) is, where should I store the background image? I put it in /boot while running Fedora, where the EFI partition got mounted, so I assumed that would be /dev/sda1.

When I reboot, I get mint only in the grub menu. And updating grub doesn't help

In Mint
sudo update-grub

Code:

Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/50_linuxmint.cfg'
Sourcing file `/etc/default/grub.d/init-select.cfg'
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found background: /boot/grub_splash.png
Found background image: /boot/grub_splash.png
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.15.0-97-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.15.0-97-generic
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.15.0-91-generic
Found initrd image: /boot/initrd.img-5.15.0-91-generic
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Its output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done

As you can see, the OS prober detected no other OS's.

syg00 · 03-02-2024, 10:15 PM

Let's see "efibootmgr -v"

yancek · 03-03-2024, 07:33 AM

The output of the efibootmgr command should tell you which is first in boot priority on an EFI system. The default location for a background image file is in /boot/grub. Other locations require the full, complete path to where the image file is. You can put it in the EFI partition but that is a bit odd for a location. You would obviously then need a complete path to that location in /etc/default/grub. The link below discusses background images with Grub.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Displays

Quote:

I tried to modify the /etc/default/grub to add a background image in the Fedora, but had no success.

Posting exactly what you tried and how you did it and the results would have been helpful. Also, why did you select to try it on Fedora?

If update-grub from Mint does not detect your other OS's, does efibootmgr detect them? When you look in the /boot/efi/EFI partition, do you see entries for Manjaro and Fedora?

notbob11 · 03-03-2024, 11:22 AM

When I look in Mint /boot/efi/EFI/ I see folders for boot, fedora, manjaro, ubuntu

This is Mint

Code:

cat /etc/default/grub
GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=5
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR=`lsb_release -i -s 2> /dev/null || echo Debian`
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX=""
GRUB_BACKGROUND="/boot/grub/grub_splash.png"
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

When I do this in Mint.
efibootmgr -v

Code:

BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0003,0005,0002,0001,2001,2002,2003
Boot0001* Fedora        HD(1,GPT,e3f01b51-ed79-4ed2-8ac7-33611a162c0a,0x800,0x226000)/File(\EFI\fedora\shim.efi)RC
Boot0002* Manjaro       HD(1,GPT,e3f01b51-ed79-4ed2-8ac7-33611a162c0a,0x800,0x226000)/File(\EFI\Manjaro\grubx64.efi)
Boot0003* Fedora        HD(1,GPT,e3f01b51-ed79-4ed2-8ac7-33611a162c0a,0x800,0x226000)/File(\EFI\fedora\shimx64.efi)
Boot0004* Windows Boot Manager  HD(1,GPT,b07ceb13-c081-4098-a399-c5e149496984,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}...s................
Boot0005* ubuntu        HD(1,GPT,e3f01b51-ed79-4ed2-8ac7-33611a162c0a,0x800,0x226000)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)
Boot2001* EFI USB Device        RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM RC
Boot2003* EFI Network   RC

Windows boot manager must be some left over junk, as I don't use Windows.

I can show the output for the same command from all three distros, if needed. Also show the grub config files, and output when updating grub.

The only way to not boot into Mint was to access the boot settings in the system setup, so when I got to Fedora I tried to add the background.

Code:

GRUB_BACKGROUND="/boot/grub2/grub_splash.png"

Since then I have added the line (or similar) to all three grub config files.

Updating grub in Fedora then provided a proper grub boot menu, mostly. But no background.

Manjaro has a line when I update-grub,

Code:

Found initrd image: /boot/amd-ucode.img /boot/initramfs-6.6-x86_64.img

which is changed to read in the menu when I look at it.

Code:

/boot/amd-ucode.img^/boot/initramfs-6.6-x86_64.img

Note the hat between file names. I have to edit the listing to replace the hat with a space or it won't boot. What's with that?

I hope this helps you help me. Sometimes I do a hundred different things and only notice when something changes.

mrmazda · 03-06-2024, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by notbob11

Code:

# efibootmgr -v
BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0003,0005,0002,0001,2001,2002,2003
Boot0001* Fedora        HD(1,GPT,e3f01b51-ed79-4ed2-8ac7-33611a162c0a,0x800,0x226000)/File(\EFI\fedora\shim.efi)RC
Boot0002* Manjaro       HD(1,GPT,e3f01b51-ed79-4ed2-8ac7-33611a162c0a,0x800,0x226000)/File(\EFI\Manjaro\grubx64.efi)
Boot0003* Fedora        HD(1,GPT,e3f01b51-ed79-4ed2-8ac7-33611a162c0a,0x800,0x226000)/File(\EFI\fedora\shimx64.efi)
Boot0004* Windows Boot Manager  HD(1,GPT,b07ceb13-c081-4098-a399-c5e149496984,0x800,0x82000)/File(\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi)WINDOWS.........x...B.C.D.O.B.J.E.C.T.=.{.9.d.e.a.8.6.2.c.-.5.c.d.d.-.4.e.7.0.-.a.c.c.1.-.f.3.2.b.3.4.4.d.4.7.9.5.}...s................
Boot0005* ubuntu        HD(1,GPT,e3f01b51-ed79-4ed2-8ac7-33611a162c0a,0x800,0x226000)/File(\EFI\ubuntu\shimx64.efi)
Boot2001* EFI USB Device        RC
Boot2002* EFI DVD/CDROM RC
Boot2003* EFI Network   RC

This output tells you Fedora's bootloader is in charge. Use efibootmgr if you wish the priority changed or the Windows entry removed. Or, go directly into BIOS setup to make such changes.

jadaja · 03-11-2024, 04:56 PM

when i want to make changes to grub I use grub-customizer. i don't know what distros have it in their repositories except the ubuntu ones but you can still get it. it's a GUI app for grub. grub-customizer will save and update everything to do with grub.