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I am triple booting linux: Ubuntu 10.04, Ultimate Edition 2.6 and PC/OS 10.1. My boot menu is almost three pages long and I want to edit it. Two versions (Ultimate and Ubuntu) return a blank menu.lst file when I use gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst in terminal mode.

The third, PC/OS returns the following messages:

robchuk@robchuk-desktop:~$ gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
/usr/share/themes/pc-os-daylight/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:96: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.

robchuk@robchuk-desktop:~$ gksudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
/usr/share/themes/pc-os-daylight/gtk-2.0/gtkrc:96: Murrine configuration option "gradients" is no longer supported and will be ignored.

robchuk@robchuk-desktop:~$ sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst
sudo: gedit: command not found

Where is my grub boot menu? What am I missing? How can I find and edit this file?

2 Answers 2

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/boot/grub/menu.lst is the location of the Grub 1 configuration file on Ubuntu. Since Ubuntu 9.10, the default bootloader is Grub 2, whose configuration file is /boot/grub/grub.cfg. (You might still have Grub 1 if you upgraded, but new installations get Grub 2.)

With both Grub versions, the configuration file is normally generated by the update-grub command. There is some information on simple configurations on the Ubuntu website: Grub 1, Grub 2.

If you wish to write your own Grub configuration file, make sure not to run update-grub. In particular, edit /etc/kernel-img.conf to remove any line mentioning update-grub (these lines indicate commands that are run each time you install, upgrade or remove a kernel).

Ignore the message about a “Murrine configuration option”, it's harmless.

I don't know Ultimate Edition or PC/OS, but since they're heavily based on Ubuntu, they probably haven't changed the bootloader configuration much.

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  • Thanks. I just ran grub-install -v and it returned version 1.98 which means I have Grub2...Now I just have to figure out how to edit those three screens of boot information! Seems as tho you can't edit the main file /boot/grub/grub.cfg, so I will do some further research and see what options I have.
    – rob
    Nov 26, 2010 at 1:30
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Throw the poor Ubuntish grub2 out of your systems and never touch it again. What a messy things are grub and syslinux: dozens of config files and screwed-up bootloader code.

Try using grldr + grldr.mbr from grub4dos project, or loading grub.exe from that project via lilo:

lilo.conf
    boot=/dev/sda
    vga=normal
    lba32
    image=/boot/grub.exe
          label=grub4dos

Do a single lilo install with this config, remove lilo and never more touch bootsector - ever. At no cost + a removal of (BADLY CODED) grub2 you get an ability to:

  • boot .iso's, PXE, ntldr (any version), FreeDOS, DFSee (ISO images), Dariks Boot and Nuke (from iso);
  • keep it on Windows partition (via bootmgr/boot.ini) *
  • use /menu.lst for config - at any partition.

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