Hi guys,

I have a quick question. How do I configure CentOS so while booting it shows boot steps instead of the CentOS logo? When the CentOS logo comes up I hit the up arrow key and it shows me what's loading. I want this to happen automatically without having to press the up arrow key.
I tried googling this but the only thing that comes up is how to modify the boot loader.

thank you and happy new year!!!

edit: I hope whoever knows more of this answer will still post, despite my attempt at answering. I just checked one of my Centos6.5 systems and the kernel command line change only got rid of the initial switch from text to splash screen. It switches to a splash screen anyway at some point later (but still before X starts), when I would prefer to stay in text.

It would be easier to answer with specifics, if you post your kernel line from the file
/boot/grub/grub.conf

To get most of the behavior you want in my Centos 6.5, I removed a couple items from that line. But at the moment I don't recall what they were.

You might google search each of the parameters given on that line and decide which you don't want. One I didn't want was quiet, but I think that controls how much info is there, rather than whether it is hidden by a splash screen.

I also added vga=ask to that line so that on next boot it would let me see a list of VESA display resolutions in my display card. I picked a decent resolution for my monitor (because that determines the Linux console resolution) and on next boot changed the ask to 0x307 (I think) the one I had selected from the list provided by ask.

BTW, on both systems where I installed Centos 6.5 it installed legacy grub, not the current more common grub. I have been told that Centos 6.5 defaults to the newer grub. If that is correct, I don't know why it gave me legacy grub. For your topic, if you have the newer grub you are not supposed to directly edit grub.conf. Instead you are supposed to edit the files it is derived from and then rerun the program that sets it up. If you have legacy grub installed, directly editing grub.conf is correct.

Thanks for your response. I will post /boot/grub/grub.conf as soon as I get a chance. Also, I will google each line.

Thank you

It is individual parameters on the kernel line that matter for this question, not other lines in the file.

remove this from the boot line in the grub.conf
"rhgb quiet"

BUT !!!
when a kernel is updated you will have to re remove "rhgb quiet" from the boot line
UNLESS you edit the config file that is used TO MAKE the /boot/gurb/grub.conf


and that is /etc/grub.conf
MAKE A BACK UP BEFORE EDITING THIS FILE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I did that, on one of my Centos 6.5 systems it just delayed the start of the splash screen. The splash screen still started long before X started and the splash screen covered console output I prefer to see.

So I think somewhere early in the sequence of init 5 scripts something else turns on the splash screen if it wasn't already on from boot. I might have even fixed that already in my other Centos 6.5 but forgot what I fixed. I'm not sure (the startup on the one that might have that fixed is ripped up at the moment as I experiment to improve some display issues).

As mentioned earlier in this thread, the Centos 6.5 installer installed legacy grub on my systems not the current grub. I don't know which the OP has.
In legacy grub, /etc/grub.conf is just a symlink to /boot/grub/grub.conf. It is not the config file used to make /boot/gurb/grub.conf

In legacy grub, I don't know a way to avoid needing to re edit the kernel line in grub.conf after each update of the kernel.

You can just remove rhgb from kernel parameter in /boot/grub/grub.conf file. Its same as you press up-arrow or escape key while booting. Removing also quiet shows a-lot of messages, which i feel is too much information and kinda unnecessary.