Newbie grub editting question

a5y

Hi, I'm kinda new (installed Ubuntu 7.10 yesterday for the first time, and upgraded to 8.04 this morning)* to Ubuntu, and I've a question on GRUB.

I've a desktop that is dual booting XP (one 80GBish partition) and Ubuntu 8.4. When its booting up grub gives me this:

Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu 8.04.1, memtest86+
Other operating systems:
Microsoft Windows XP home Edition

Grub has been like this since I upgraded, and I want to fix it. If I open a run application window in Ubuntu and enter

gksudo gedit boot /grub/menu.lst

and delete the repeating part of the code out at the bottom of the file, will it it change it so grub displays instead this:

Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)
Ubuntu 8.04.1, memtest86+
Other operating systems:
Microsoft Windows XP home Edition

OR will it just make my computer crash and not boot any operating systems?

charlesD

This should work, but make sure you make a copy of menu.lst first.

If you do run into problems, you can use the Ubuntu CD to boot the computer, but I usually use http://www.sysresccd.org/Download , which boots a scaled down version of linux and is great for fixing errors.

a5y

Thanks for the quick reply!

charlesD wrote: »

This should work, but make sure you make a copy of menu.lst first.

Right so, off to work I go

If you do run into problems, you can use the Ubuntu CD to boot the computer, but I usually use http://www.sysresccd.org/Download , which boots a scaled down version of linux and is great for fixing errors.

I might be needing that, when I've ran linux from the CD I don't think I've been able to do much with the hard disk, other than edit the partitions. I probably need to read up alot more about the command line before trying anything too adventurous anyway.

I'll give the backing up and editting a lash now anyway.

a5y

Yep, success. Thanks again.

# This is a divider, added to separate the menu items below from the Debian
# ones.
title		Other operating systems:
root

I smell interesting possibilities. I think its time I tried fixing something til it breaks...

title		This was a triumph!
root

title		I'm making a note here
root

title		"huge success!!"
root

title		It's hard to overstate
root

title		my satisfaction.
root

title		Aperture science
root

title		we do what we must
root

title		because we can.
root

title		For the good of all of us.
root

title		Except the ones who are dead.
root

title		But there's no point crying
root

title		over every mistake.
root

title		You just keep on trying
root

title		til you run out of cake.
root

title		And the science gets done.
root

title		And you make a neat gun
root

title		for the people who are
root

title		still Alive
root

If you don't know the first song, you might recognise the second.

title		We're no strangers to love
root

title		You know the rules and so do I
root

title		A full commitments what Im thinking of
root

title		You wouldn't get this from any other guy
root

An Fear Aniar

Very good!

Or, I did this for a while:

Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic (recovery mode)

Other operating systems:
Smelly Windoze Junk

a5y

Heh heh. Its like writing graffiti in the boot sequence. I'm going to keep Rock Astley in for a while. I figure I may be able to rickroll some of the guys I'm living with it.

charlesD

I smell interesting possibilities. I think its time I tried fixing something til it breaks...

Next time I install windows, I might have to do that


Glad everything worked out.

The sysrescue cd has saved me a lot of times and is a great resource for repairing windows or Linux systems. If you do end up using it, just type 'startx' from the command line to start up a GUI interface with access to, among others, gparted, elinks(web browser), and clam antivirus.

KAGY

a5y wrote: »

Hi, I'm kinda new (installed Ubuntu 7.10 yesterday for the first time, and upgraded to 8.04 this morning)* to Ubuntu, and I've a question on GRUB.
<snip>

and delete the repeating part of the code out at the bottom of the file, will it it change it so grub displays instead this:

I'm using Kubuntu and there is a graphical interface called "start up manager". You'll probably find it in the repositories. You can even change the theme of the grub menu, set up defaults, etc.

Brian

Is it possible to have GRUB not display unless I hold down a button at start up? What I basically want is that my Ubuntu kernel boots straight away by default, and if I want to boot Windows I have to hold down a button when starting to show GRUB and select it.

KAGY

Baza210 wrote: »

Is it possible to have GRUB not display unless I hold down a button at start up? What I basically want is that my Ubuntu kernel boots straight away by default, and if I want to boot Windows I have to hold down a button when starting to show GRUB and select it.

Definitely, uncomment the #hiddenmenu line in the menu.lst (remove the # form the third line below

## hiddenmenu
# Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
#hiddenmenu