How to Configure the Linux Grub2 Boot Menu the Easy Way

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We, like many Linux geeks, have had some trouble making the transition to Grub2, or for some of us, learning how to configure it from scratch. Fortunately, a new graphical tool has made this process easy and straightforward!

Photo by e_monk.

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Installing Grub Customizer

The tool in question is called Grub Customizer, created by Daniel Richter. He’s provided a PPA to make installing the tool quick and easy.

Open a terminal window (Ctrl+Alt+T or Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and type in the following commands.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

Grub Customizer will now show up in the Applications > System Tools menu.

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Or you can open it from the command line.

gksudo grub-customizer

Hide Boot Menu Options

Over time, your boot menu can get cluttered with old versions of the Linux kernel. In a previous article, we showed you how to remove these manually; Grub Customizer makes this process much easier.

When Grub Customizer starts up, you’ll see a list of all the items that show up in the boot menu.

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To hide entries that you don’t want to see anymore, simply uncheck the checkbox next to them.

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Click the Save button at the top-left to make your changes permanent.

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You can uncheck entire sections if you don’t want Grub2 to probe for new operating systems, or give you the option to test your computer’s memory.

Note that, unlike the manual method, this process does not actually remove the kernels from your computer, it just hides them from the boot menu.

Customize Grub Behavior

Grub Customizer can do much more than hide boot menu entries! Opening up the Preferences window lets you customize almost every aspect of Grub.

For example, you can set the default boot menu entry to a certain position, or a specific item.

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If you’re bored by the default white-text-on-black-background look of Grub2, you can add a background image and customize text colors.

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And, for Grub2 experts, you can set advanced settings much more easily than by editing the configuration files manually.

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Grub Customizer is a great addition to any Linux installation that uses Grub2!

Thanks to How-To Geek commenter Hugues for recommending this program!

See this Ubuntu Forums post for more detailed information on Grub Customizer.

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