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Changing LinuxMint's multiboot screen...

2K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  1002richards 
#1 ·
I first installed XP Professional on this computer, then I installed LinuxMint, asking it to share the hard drive with Windows. It repartitioned things as it needed to, and the installations are fine (Windows complained about its file system breaking, but it scanned it and got over it), but I'm not liking LinuxMint's multiboot screen.

First of all, it's set to 10 seconds, which means if I'm doing something while the computer is starting (say, plugging this laptop in), it's going to boot into LinuxMint. This wouldn't be a big deal if I could make the computer choose Windows by default, which I'm sure I can--I just don't know how. Is there a file I can tinker with or something of that nature to fool around with the file's settings?

Also, is it possible to change the background for this boot screen?
 
#2 ·
First of all, it's set to 10 seconds, which means if I'm doing something while the computer is starting (say, plugging this laptop in), it's going to boot into LinuxMint. This wouldn't be a big deal if I could make the computer choose Windows by default, which I'm sure I can--I just don't know how. Is there a file I can tinker with or something of that nature to fool around with the file's settings?
I would suggest you do a bit of googling about the file named Grub.conf (/boot/grub/grub.conf). It is also sometimes called Menu.lst, and is the file used to edit this menu.

Also, is it possible to change the background for this boot screen?
I have a vague feeling that if you find that you can replace the picture file with one of your own, but I've never tried it.
 
#4 ·
It is somewhat. You shouldn't go messing round unless you have a reason, but here you clearly do have a reason.

The big thing that you will want to insert or modify is the keyword default. That should be set to the numerical position of your Windows system in the grub.conf file starting from 0.
For example on my system I have a line
default 1
because my menu has Debian on top and Windows in second place. Debian is therefore 0 and Windows is 1.
The Windows section is typically pretty easy to identify just from the name, but when counting remember to only count lines starting with title and to ignore any line that starts with a # (a comment)
 
#6 ·
One other thing, though I don't know enough about Mint to say how it will apply to you. For my Debian I need Root privileges to open or edit that file.
 
#7 ·
I shouldn't have any problems editing the file. (About to go check.) I opened up the file and went to tinker with it, but decided against it. Since I'm just going to be changing one thing, I'm comfortable making the changes now. I suppose I'll find out soon whether or not I need privileges, but Mint usually prompts me and allows me to give any privileges necessary when doing something like this.
 
#8 ·
In any Linux you can become the Super user by a terminal command either
Code:
su
or
Code:
sudo su
The root privilege terminates if you exit the terminal.

Grub control the default system to be booted by the line starting with command "default" and the time waiting for the user to make the decison which system to boot by the line starting with "timeout".

Either or both lines can be temporarily disable by adding a "#" in front of it.
 
#9 ·
It seems LinuxMint has some sort of script built into its GRUB. Said script sets Default to 0 even if I change it in the file. I tried turning the script that I thought did that into a comment, but that didn't fix the problem.

There are several configuration utilities in the /etc/GRUB/(I think) folder, but I'm not sure how to use them.
 
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