I have a laptop running Linux and Windows in a dual boot configuration.

I have configured the Linux boot up to automatically mount a network drive (nfs) on start up by adding a line to the /etc/fstab/ file. All works well.

However, when I take the laptop to another location (i.e. where the network drive is not physically connected), it takes an age to boot up. Eventually it does, but I have to wait over a minute. (Presumably it's spending this time looking for the network drive before giving up.)

Am I stuck with this? Ideally, at the boot menu, I would like options that say
1. Linux (ignore network drives at start up)
2. Linux
3. Windows

At the moment, the boot menu only gives me options 2 and 3 to choose from.

Hi

The "menu" you're referring to is probably the boot menu, right?

If yes, then in that menu you'll be able to configure only stuff related to the kernel and its modules.
The "mount" of nfs happens only later, once the rootfs has been mounted and the options of /etc/fstab have been read and are being executed.
Therefore, most probably you cannot fix your problem by creating an additional menu-entry or changing how the existing ones work.

To cut it short you might be able to fix your problem by specifying in /etc/fstab some additional options for your nfs-mount. Basically what you want is that it shall not "block" if there are "problems" mounting the remote share.
The options that might be relevant for your are e.g. "bg" and "soft".
More informations e.g. in this thread.

Fyi, if at a certain point you'll have to manage more remote "stuff", then you might want to have a look at "glusterfs" - it has e.g. great non-blocking management of remote shares that (for any reason) keep on get offline and then back online.

Cheers

Other options are to not mount the network drive i.e. use noauto,users so it can be manually mounted as desired.

Use autofs or auto.systemd to only mount the network drive when you access its mount point. After a timeout period it is automatically unmounted.

Thanks for your suggestions.

The nobootwait option in /etc/fstab didn't work for me. I shall experiment with the other solutions that you have proposed

I think the noauto option works. I get the same problem with USB drives in fstab.

I can confirm that the solution mentioned by both michaelk and AwesomeMachine is what you're looking for : the noauto option in fstab. I solved the exact same problem you had 5 years ago that way and I still use that option for network shares in my fstab on laptops that are sometimes out of the house. The only thing you must remember is that the shares will be unmounted at boot, even when you are connected to your network, until you access them. I prefer this in any case, personally.

Cheers :-)