GRUB

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GRUB 2 (GRand Unified Bootloader version 2), sometimes stylized as GRUB2 and commonly referred to as GRUB, is a multiboot secondary bootloader capable of loading kernels from a variety of filesystems on most system architectures. GRUB supports PC BIOS, PC EFI, IEEE 1275 (Open Firmware), SPARC, and MIPS Lemote Yeeloong.

GRUB replaces the original GRUB Legacy boot loader with an entirely separate code base featuring a new shell-like syntax for advanced scripting capabilities.

For a quick setup approach, see GRUB2 Quick Start.

If migrating a system from GRUB Legacy to GRUB2, see GRUB2 Migration.

Installation

Prerequisites

The GRUB_PLATFORMS variable in make.conf controls what target GRUB will use with grub-install. The amd64 architecture includes a profile default which works for most systems.

FILE /etc/portage/make.confExample of setting the GRUB_PLATFORMS variable for EMU, EFI, and PC platforms
GRUB_PLATFORMS="emu efi-32 efi-64 pc"

The following platforms are supported depending on the target CPU:

Platform Target
i386 ia64 mips mipsel powerpc sparc64 x86_64
ARC No No No Yes No No No
Coreboot Yes No No No No No 32-bit
EFI Yes Yes No No No No Yes
EMU Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
IEEE 1275 (Open Firmware) Yes No No No Yes Yes 32-bit
Loongson No No No Yes No No No
Multiboot Yes No No No No No 32-bit
QEMU Yes No No No No No 32-bit
QEMU-MIPS No No Yes No No No No
PC Yes No No No No No 32-bit
Note
Whenever the values in the GRUB_PLATFORMS variable are adjusted GRUB will need to be re-emerged in order to build the changed binary. Be sure to use the --newuse --deep options as shown in the emerge section below.

The amd64 profiles enable support for (U)EFI functionality by default. When using a BIOS-based system, set GRUB_PLATFORMS variable to pc to avoid unneeded dependencies.

USE flags

USE flags for sys-boot/grub GNU GRUB boot loader

+device-mapper Enable support for devmapper. Required for LUKS or LVM volume detection.
+fonts Build and install fonts for the gfxterm module
+themes Build and install GRUB themes (starfield)
doc Add extra documentation (API, Javadoc, etc). It is recommended to enable per package instead of globally
efiemu Build and install the efiemu runtimes
libzfs Enable support for sys-fs/zfs
mount Build and install the grub-mount utility
nls Add Native Language Support (using gettext - GNU locale utilities)
sdl Add support for Simple Direct Layer (media library)
secureboot Automatically sign efi executables using user specified key
test Enable dependencies and/or preparations necessary to run tests (usually controlled by FEATURES=test but can be toggled independently)
truetype Build and install grub-mkfont conversion utility
verify-sig Verify upstream signatures on distfiles
Data provided by the Gentoo Package Database · Last update: 2024-09-21 13:11 More information about USE flags

Emerge

To install GRUB use the following emerge syntax:

root #emerge --ask --newuse --deep sys-boot/grub

Additional software

Optionally, the os-prober utility (provided through the sys-boot/os-prober package) can be installed to let GRUB probe and generate boot entries for other operating systems when running the grub-mkconfig command. In most instances, this will enable GRUB to automatically detect other operating systems including Windows 7, 8.1, 10, other distributions of Linux, etc.

root #emerge --ask --newuse sys-boot/os-prober

The GRUB (and optionally sys-boot/os-prober) installations do not automatically enable the boot loader's operation. These only install the boot loader software on the operating system. To install the boot loader to the system itself (so that it is used when booting the system), additional steps need to be taken, which are covered in the Configuration section.

GRUB Bootloader Installation

Installing GRUB as the system's boot loader depends on how the system is meant to boot (through which type of firmware, e.g. on PCs either the legacy BIOS or its successor UEFI) and how the disk on which the boot loader should be installed is partitioned (e.g. on a PC, whether it is using the MBR or the GPT partition layout).

This article covers the following situations:

Select the installation instructions appropriate for the system.

UEFI with GPT

Warning
Even though 64-bit x86 processors ("x86-64" or "x64") support running legacy 32-bit software, it is not possible for an EFI implementation to do the same. A 64-bit EFI will not be able to run 32-bit .efi loaders! It should be noted that some early 64-bit-capable systems, i.e. systems with an x64 processor (an x86 processor featuring AMD64 or Intel 64), used a 32-bit implementation of EFI, like some early MacBooks (Intel Core 2) and some pre-2010 Windows computers. In such cases, even though the processor is 64-bit, (U)EFI is implemented as 32-bit software making efi-32 the proper EFI target because, likewise, a 32-bit EFI cannot run 64-bit .efi loaders.
Note
If the UEFI-CSM is used, refer to BIOS with MBR or BIOS with GPT instead. CSM stands for "Compatibility Support Module" and is a BIOS emulation, making the UEFI behave like a BIOS. In the firmware setup it is often called "Legacy Mode" or "Compatibility Mode". UEFI-CSM has always been optional and was phased out on mainstream systems (such as PCs) in 2020.

Partitioning for UEFI with GPT

Important
For UEFI GPT boot, the system must have a dedicated EFI System Partition containing a FAT filesystem.

UEFI systems boot from efi files on their EFI System Partition (ESP). The EFI System Partition can be just about any size, with implementation considerations in mind.

The EFI System Partition can contain just the bootloader, or the bootloader along with support files. Typically, /boot contains the kernel along with additional EFI support files, while /boot/efi contains the actual EFI files, which tend to be small.

Note
The EFI System Partition can be made at either /boot or /boot/efi but it tends to be simpler to just use /boot. Using /boot/efi allows files like the kernel and bootloader support files to be stored on a separate partition and filesystem or the root filesystem itself; the later requires that GRUB can access the root filesystem and read the required files, which may not always be possible (like with root filesystem encryption).

If generating a standalone EFI System Partition, under /boot/efi, a size of 128MB is reasonable, this allows multiple efi files to be stored.

Note
There is little harm in keeping backups of working efi files, which could still be booted if a new one is installed.

Create the partition using the partitioning tool of choice.

Partitioning with fdisk
Note
As described in Preparing the disks Handbook section, /boot partition is used for ESP, which is formatted as FAT32. Depending on the preferred system configuration, a separate partition for /boot may be desirable, e.g. in the case of filesystem encryption.

If using fdisk to partition the boot partition, start by opening the disk for modification, in this example /dev/sda is used:

root #fdisk /dev/sda
Welcome to fdisk (util-linux 2.38.1).
Changes will remain in memory only, until you decide to write them.
Be careful before using the write command.

A new partition table can be created using "g":

Command (m for help):g
Created a new GPT disklabel (GUID: 4AB36B49-BAAD-D544-AC45-E3154565018D).

A new partition can be created using "n":

Command (m for help):n
 
Partition number (1-128, default 1): 1
First sector (2048-121012190, default 2048): 
Last sector, +/-sectors or +/-size{K,M,G,T,P} (2048-121012190, default 121010175): +128M
 
Created a new partition 1 of type 'Linux filesystem' and of size 128 MiB.

Once the partition is created, the ESP and Boot flags must be set, this can be done by setting the partition type to EFI System Partition. This can be accomplished with the t option, to change the partition type, and then selecting 1, which corresponds to the EFI System Partition type:

Command (m for help):t
 
Selected partition 1
Partition type or alias (type L to list all): 1
Changed type of partition 'Linux filesystem' to 'EFI System'.

Finally, the changes can be saved by running w:

Command (m for help):w
 
The partition table has been altered.
Calling ioctl() to re-read partition table.
Syncing disks.

With the partition created, it must be formatted to use the FAT32 filesystem, this can be done with:

root #mkfs.fat -F 32 -n efi-boot /dev/sda1
root #mkdir /boot/efi

To determine the partition uuid, or PARTUUID of the new partition, the following command can be use:

user $lsblk -o name,partuuid
lsblk -o name,partuuid
NAME         PARTUUID
sdd          
└─sd1       20f3d6cc-9781-3640-9232-0f5a8c662a60

To create a fstab entry for this partition:

FILE /etc/fstabAdding the /boot/efi mount entry
PARTUUID=20f3d6cc-9781-3640-9232-0f5a8c662a60       /boot      vfat    noauto,noatime  1 2
root #mount /boot
Note
It helps to set the GRUB_PLATFORMS variable in /etc/portage/make.conf. This will assist GRUB in determining what options to use when detecting the proper EFI target. For 32-bit UEFI systems use efi-32. For 64-bit use efi-64.
Important
In order for GRUB to install properly, the EFI directory must be mounted and the efivars kernel module must be loaded before the grub-install command will complete successfully.

Installing GRUB for EFI

Important
/boot, or the chosen ESP partition, must be available for an EFI GRUB install, if there is an entry for it in the fstab, it can be mounted with:
root #mount /boot

grub-install copies GRUB and related support files to /boot/grub. This should install GRUB to /boot/grub, copy the core bootloader image to /boot/EFI/gentoo/grubx64.efi, and call efibootmgr to add a boot entry.

root #grub-install --efi-directory=/boot
Installation finished. No error reported.
Important
The above command assumes a FAT formatted EFI System Partition (ESP) is mounted at /boot/. If a different ESP partition is being used, its path can be specified.
Note
By default, GRUB installs targeting the type of system which the command is executed on. If another system type is used, the --target option can be used to specify it.
Note
The --removable option can be used to install GRUB to /boot/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI, potentially enhancing compatibility, as this location is often checked by default.

BIOS with MBR

Note
When the system is meant to dual-boot with another (pre-installed) operating system, such as Microsoft Windows, make sure that the Linux bootloader can coexist or dual-boot both operating systems. On PCs it is recommended to use the same boot method as the pre-installed system, e.g. when Windows is using the legacy MBR partitioning, it is also booted in 'legacy BIOS' mode (UEFI calls it CSM, short for Compatibility Support Module, in essence a BIOS emulation). If the mode is changed, e.g. from EFI-CSM (BIOS mode) to native (U)EFI mode, the pre-installed system will most certainly no longer be bootable.

Make sure that the /boot location is available - if this uses a separate partition, make sure that it is mounted:

root #mount /boot

Run the grub-install command to copy the relevant files to /boot/grub. On the PC platform, this also installs a boot image to the Master Boot Record (MBR) or a partition's boot sector. If all goes well, after running grub-install an output such as the one below is to be expected:

root #grub-install /dev/sda
Installation finished. No error reported.

grub-install accepts a --target option to set the CPU architecture and system platform. If unspecified, grub-install will attempt to guess the proper values; on an amd64/x86 system it will use i386-pc by default. grub-install also accepts a --boot-directory option to tell the GRUB installer which directory to look for the boot files. This defaults to the current /boot but is useful when trying to move a root partition.

Partitioning for BIOS with MBR

Be sure to leave enough free space before the first partition. Starting the first partition at sector 2048 leaves at least 1 MiB of disk space for the master boot record. It is recommended (but not mandatory) to create an additional partition for GRUB called the BIOS boot partition. This partition just needs to be defined, but not formatted. It is only needed if the system is later migrated to the GPT partition layout. When sticking with MBR, this is not needed.

If the Gentoo installation instructions were followed, this BIOS boot partition will already be available.

BIOS with GPT

Warning
GPT was not designed for the legacy BIOS, yet with the protective MBR it includes a provision for it. Also, dual-boot with legacy operating systems designed to be booted from MBR, which is the de facto standard on computers with a BIOS, will need to access their partitions through the MBR, which can be accomplished by creating GPT/MBR hybrid partitions. This technique, however, has specific constraints.

On a BIOS system with GPT partitioning, GRUB relies on a partition called "BIOS boot partition". This partition is not formatted with a file system, instead grub-install will copy parts of the boot loader to it. The "BIOS boot partition" is not the same partition as a /boot partition.

Note
See also What is the BIOS boot partition? in the x86 Handbook.

If a /boot partition is needed, start by mounting the /boot partition:

root #mount /boot

If all goes well, after running the grub-install command an output such as the one below is to be expected:

root #grub-install /dev/sda
Installation finished. No error reported.

grub-install accepts a --target option to set the CPU architecture and system platform. If unspecified, grub-install will attempt to guess the correct values; on an amd64/x86 system in BIOS mode it will use i386-pc by default and in conjunction with a GUID partition table (GPT) a "BIOS boot partition" will be automatically used when present.

grub-install also accepts a --boot-directory option to tell the GRUB installer which directory to look in for the boot files. This defaults to the current /boot but is useful when trying to move a root partition.

Dual-boot with Windows

When the system is meant to dual-boot with Microsoft Windows installed in BIOS mode, full and native GPT partitioning isn't possible. Windows only allows to be booted from an MBR partition when in BIOS mode, which includes the BIOS emulation mode of (U)EFI called 'CSM'. For Linux however it is still possible to use a GPT partitioning scheme even from BIOS (or EFI-CSM) mode, but for the dual-boot with Windows this requires hybrid partitioning: up to four partitions can be defined in both the GPT and the MBR partition tables simultainiously.

Note
Traditionally x86-PCs used a BIOS as firmware. After the switch to (U)EFI on PCs (around 2005) there used to be a BIOS emulation called 'Compatibility Support Module' (CSM), PCs were therefore still compatible with existing operating systems. On mainstream PCs the EFI-CSM has been phased out since 2020. Even before 2020 some (U)EFI implementations, such as servers, lacked the CSM completely. 'Legacy BIOS mode' is therefore no longer available on modern UEFI systems. UEFI in its native boot mode demands the GUID Partition Table (GPT), a pre-installed operating system will therefore already be using a GPT partitioning scheme.

An already installed Windows will refuse to boot when the boot mode or the partitioning scheme is changed. Also, older Windows systems don't support GPT (or EFI) at all, demanding that a BIOS or the EFI-CSM along with an MBR must be used. If Windows supports EFI it can be re-installed in the native UEFI mode and the GPT partitioning scheme, as well as Linux; see section UEFI with GPT.

Hybrid partitioning between GPT and MBR creates both a valid GPT partition table and a valid MBR partition table at the same time, but limits the total number of hybrid partitions to four because of the four primary partition limit of the MBR. Since the ESP (the EFI System Partition holding the EFI bootloaders) takes up one partition this leaves only three shared partitions between MBR and GPT. When one partition is used for Windows and one for Linux, there is only one additional hybrid partition possible, like a separate Linux /boot partition or a shared data partition between the two operating systems.

Warning
Normally, a GPT partition table will always also create an MBR partition table which holds only one partition spanning over the whole disk. This will ensure that older software doesn't mistake the disk as 'empty'. The MBR with its protective partition is therefore called a 'protecive MBR' and is part of the GPT specification. By defining hybrid partitions, this protective feature of the GPT is sacrificed! Legacy software will no longer see used space when analyzing the hybrid MBR. Software that is unaware of the GPT and only sees the MBR may mistake undefined disk space as unused and empty space. Data written outside the defined MBR partitions may cause data loss to the underlying GPT partitions!

If there are two physical disks available to the system, a great solution is to have one disk use the GPT and the other the MBR partitioning scheme. Normally, the Windows installation uses only one partition as 'system partition' and 'boot partition', called 'drive C:'. When in BIOS mode the initial partition for booting, the 'system partition', must be an MBR partition. This applies to every Windows version since Windows XP and includes Windows 10. Since Windows Vista (actually Windows XP x64 Edition) the Microsoft operating system supports accessing GPT partitions. The solution is to relocate the 'system partition' part of an installation to the MBR partitioned disk, and convert the 'boot partition' (the one containing \WINDOWS) into a GPT partitioned disk. Windows can thereafter access all the GPT partitions on the one disk, and will continue to use the MBR partitions (or hybrid partitions) on the disk containing the 'system partition'. The Windows installation (containing \WINDOWS) would be a GPT partition, even when booted in BIOS mode. Windows 11 no longer supports BIOS/CSM/MBR mode.

Partitioning for BIOS with GPT

When a GPT partition table is present on the system, a small BIOS boot partition with type EF02 (which is different from the EFI System Partition (ESP) which has type EF00) will need to be available. 1 MiB will be enough to work, but 2-4 MiB is a safer option. This BIOS boot partition will hold the stage 2 of the bootloader. BIOS boot partitions do not need to be formatted with a filesystem; the grub-install command will overwrite any existing filesystem with one of its own.

Important
The BIOS boot partition is not the same partition that is commonly mounted at /boot. The /boot and BIOS boot are different partitions and should be handled separately. The BIOS boot partition should not be regularly mounted on the system (i.e., it should not be defined in /etc/fstab). The /boot partition can be regularly mounted with no issues and therefore can be present in the /etc/fstab file.

To set a partition as a BIOS partition use the command-line tool parted (sys-block/parted) by typing (change 1 to the number of the partition to mark as a BIOS boot partition!):

(parted)set 1 bios_grub on

With sys-apps/gptfdisk's cgdisk utility, this is accomplished by setting the partition type to 0xEF02 and giving it a label of gptbios.

An EFI System Partition is not required, but it would be sensible to make sure that the BIOS boot partition is large enough to be converted to one, should the system motherboard later be upgraded to an UEFI board.

The following is the output of pressing the p key using the gdisk utility on a GPT-partitioned disk with both a BIOS boot [0xEF02] partition and an EFI [0xEF00] partition:

root #gdisk /dev/sdc
GPT fdisk (gdisk) version 0.8.1
 
Partition table scan:
  MBR: protective
  BSD: not present
  APM: not present
  GPT: present
 
Found valid GPT with protective MBR; using GPT.
 
Command (? for help): p
Disk /dev/sdc: 976773168 sectors, 465.8 GiB
Logical sector size: 512 bytes
Disk identifier (GUID): AA369F4D-37A4-4C0D-A357-DC24B99A6337
Partition table holds up to 128 entries
First usable sector is 34, last usable sector is 976773134
Partitions will be aligned on 2048-sector boundaries
Total free space is 2014 sectors (1007.0 KiB)
 
Number  Start (sector)    End (sector)  Size       Code  Name
   1            2048       828377087   395.0 GiB   8E00  Linux LVM
   2       828377088       891291647   30.0 GiB    0700  Microsoft basic data
   3       891291648       975177727   40.0 GiB    0700  Microsoft basic data
   4       975177728       976754687   770.0 MiB   8300  Linux filesystem
   5       976754688       976756735   1024.0 KiB  EF02  BIOS boot partition
   6       976756736       976773134   8.0 MiB     EF00  EFI System
 
Command (? for help):
Note
The 0x hexadecimal prefix does not need to be entered for GPT when using fdisk.

Using the same setup, the parted utility gives output with slightly different syntax:

root #parted /dev/sdc
GNU Parted 3.0
Using /dev/sdc
(parted) print
...
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
  
Number  Start   End    Size    File system  Name                  Flags
 1      1049kB  424GB  424GB                Linux LVM             lvm
 2      424GB   456GB  32.2GB               Microsoft basic data
 3      456GB   499GB  42.9GB               Microsoft basic data
 4      499GB   500GB  807MB   ext2         Linux filesystem
 5      500GB   500GB  1049kB               BIOS boot partition   bios_grub
 6      500GB   500GB  8396kB               EFI System            boot
  
(parted)

Creating partitions in gdisk is straightforward for users familiar with the fdisk partitioning utility. After starting gdisk, type n (for new) in the main menu, provide beginning and end sectors (if needed), and set the partition type to EF00 for an EFI system partition.

Users who have followed the Gentoo installation instructions will already have the proper partitioning layout set up.

Open Firmware (IEEE 1275) on PowerPC

See GRUB on Open Firmware (PowerPC).

Install on encrypted partition

If the whole disk is encrypted, including /boot, extra steps need to be taken, to allow GRUB to decrypt and mount the device.

The device-mapper USE flag needs to be set when emerging thee GRUB package. Then the sys-fs/cryptsetup package needs to be installed. The partition needs to be encrypted as luks1 partition type.

After installing GRUB on the device, depending on the way the kernel is setup, initramfs might need to be modified in order for the system to boot completely. If a distribution kernel is installed, Dracut will be installed on the system as well and can be used to finish the configuration.

Configuration

Once GRUB has been installed, it can be configured to suit the specific system. In most cases, no additional configuration is required.

Main configuration file

The grub-mkconfig script is used to generate a grub configuration. It uses the scripts under /etc/grub.d/* together with the /etc/default/grub configuration file to generate the final /boot/grub/grub.cfg - the only configuration file used by GRUB itself.

File Format Edits recommended? Description
/usr/sbin/grub-mkconfig POSIX shell script No Installed as part of the sys-boot/grub:2 package. Run this script to generate /boot/grub/grub.cfg after configuring the files described below.
/boot/grub/grub.cfg GRUB shell script No The file generated by grub-mkconfig. This file is evaluated by GRUB's built-in script interpreter and doesn't necessarily support all POSIX commands or syntax. See the scripting reference in the GRUB manual for supported features. Be aware that modifications to this file won't persist to the next time grub-mkconfig is run.
/etc/grub.d/* POSIX shell scripts Maybe Each script under /etc/grub.d/* that has its execute bit set is evaluated in sequence, and the stdout is concatenated to form the final /boot/grub/grub.cfg (or whatever file is given to the grub-mkconfig -o option). These scripts use the current system shell and therefore can use any supported syntax. Ideally they should be POSIX-compatible scripts, and the output script must be compatible with the GRUB interpreter. It may be necessary to disable or add scripts. For instance, to add menu items that couldn't be automatically generated.
/boot/grub/custom.cfg GRUB shell script Maybe The /etc/grub.d/41_custom script will reference this file to be read in at boot time if it exists. This file provides a place to add additional entries or commands and does not require regeneration of the main grub.cfg file.
/etc/default/grub POSIX shell script Yes In most cases this is the only file that should be modified directly. It is mainly used to assign variables used by the scripts in /etc/grub.d to generate a working configuration file. See GRUB configuration variables or the official reference for supported variables.

GRUB does not require the administrator to manually maintain a boot option configuration (as is the case with boot loaders such as GRUB Legacy and LILO). Instead it can generate its configuration file (/boot/grub/grub.cfg) using the grub-mkconfig command. This utility will use the scripts in /etc/grub.d/ and the settings in /etc/default/grub.

Warning
The grub-mkconfig utility does not work properly when using software RAID. Manual configuration of the scripts in /etc/grub.d/ is necessary, as otherwise after installation the system will be left in a non-bootable state.

After modifying one or more settings, run the grub-mkconfig utility with the -o option pointing to the output file located at /boot/grub/grub.cfg (this is GRUB's default output location):

root #grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-3.3.0-gentoo
done

Each time the grub-mkconfig utility is called a new configuration will be generated.

Warning
If grub-mkconfig does not report any found entries then no entries were found. In this case GRUB will offer no boot selections when upon system restart which may be a tricky, time consuming situation to resolve. Make sure the output is satisfactory before restarting the system.

Setting configuration parameters

The following variables in /etc/default/grub are the most common ones to set to control how GRUB will function:

Variable Explanation Default value
GRUB_DEFAULT Defines the default menu entry selected on boot. May be a numeric index, a menu title, or "saved". Defaults to first detected entry.
GRUB_TIMEOUT Delay (in seconds) before booting default menu entry. Set to 0 to boot immediately or -1 to wait indefinitely. The default is 5 seconds.
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX Parameters to be passed on the kernel command line for all Linux menu entries. For instance, to support hibernation, users will need to add GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="resume=/dev/sdXY" with /dev/sdXY being the swap partition.
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT Parameters to be passed on the kernel command line for non-recovery Linux menu entries.
GRUB_DEVICE The initial root device (i.e. the kernel's root= parameter). Set this to override the grub-mkconfig command's root device auto-detection. For example, GRUB_DEVICE=/dev/ram0 will force root=/dev/ram0 to be used in the kernel command line.

For a more complete list, please refer to the configuration variables sub-page and as the info page of grub-mkconfig.

After modifying the parameters, regenerate the GRUB configuration file with grub-mkconfig.

Enabling or disabling configuration scripts

The directory /etc/grub.d/ contains the scripts that grub-mkconfig uses to generate a grub.cfg file. By default the contents of this directory should be similar to the following:

user $ls /etc/grub.d/
00_header  10_linux  20_linux_xen  30_os-prober  40_custom  41_custom README

GRUB will use all installed scripts that are marked as executable (which by default, they all are). To disable any of the scripts simply remove the executable bit from the script's file permissions using the chmod command. In the following example every script but 00_header and 10_linux are disabled:

root #chmod -x /etc/grub.d/{20_linux_xen,30_os-prober,40_custom,41_custom}

After modifying the scripts (or removing the executable bit), regenerate the configuration file using grub-mkconfig.

Manipulating configuration scripts

Some features or functionalities are only possible to be exploited by modifying the configuration scripts. For instance, to support dual-booting with FreeBSD, the following manipulation needs to be done.

Change the /etc/grub.d/40_custom script to:

FILE /etc/grub.d/40_customAdding an entry for dual booting
menuentry "FreeBSD" --class freebsd --class bsd --class os {
 insmod ufs2
 insmod bsd
 set root=(hd0,1)
 kfreebsd /boot/kernel/kernel
 kfreebsd_loadenv /boot/device.hints
 set kFreeBSD.vfs.root.mountfrom=ufs:/dev/ada0s1a
 set kFreeBSD.vfs.root.mountfrom.options=rw
 set kFreeBSD.hw.psm.synaptics_support=1
}

/dev/sda1 or (hd0,1) is the partition in which FreeBSD resides. If the normal UFS install was used for the FreeBSD partition then /dev/sda1 is a container (something like a logical partition). It consists of the swap and root partition. Verify the 40_custom script is executable by running ls -la /etc/grub.d/40_custom. If the executable bit is not set then set it using the chmod u+x 40_custom command.

Note
Users familiar with how GRUB Legacy numbered partitions should note partitions starting from 1, not 0, with GRUB.

Next install GRUB and update the configuration file:

root #grub-install /dev/sda
root #grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Extended features

GRUB 2 has many features that make it a very powerful boot loader. It supports:

  • Booting from UEFI platforms.
  • Booting from GPT partitioned drives without needing a hybrid MBR (hybrid MBR can enabled as needed for compatibility or portability).
  • Booting from a btrfs formatted /boot partition.
  • Booting from a ZFS pool.
  • Booting directly from a btrfs RAID set without needing an initramfs for early mount setup.
  • Booting directly from logical volume management (such as LVM2).
  • Booting with support for DM-RAID (RAID 0, 1, 4, 5, 6, 9 and 10).
  • Booting from encrypted devices (LUKS).

Some specific features are explained in more detail next.

Chainloading

GRUB 2 was built with a truly improved chainload mode when compared to GRUB Legacy. To chainload another boot loader, use the chainloader option.

FILE /etc/grub.d/40_customChainloading another bootloader
menuentry "Custom Super-bootloader example" {
     insmod part_msdos
     insmod chain
     chainloader (hd1,1)+1
}

For more information on chainloading, please see the Chainloading sub-page.

Password protection of GRUB menu

To secure GRUB so it is not possible for anyone to change boot parameters or use the command line, add a user/password combination to GRUB's configuration files. The program grub-mkpasswd-pbkdf2 generates password hashes for GRUBː

user $grub-mkpasswd-pbkdf2
Password:
Reenter password:

PBKDF2 hash of your password is grub.pbkdf2.sha512.10000.9CA4611006FE96BC77A...

Then, add the following toː

FILE /etc/grub.d/35_auth:
# Grub user
echo 'set superusers="<username>"'
# Grub password
echo 'password_pbkdf2 <username> <password-hash>'

The above may lock all Grub menu entries, even the default entry. In that case, to allow users to boot some menu entries without a password, see Securing the grub boot loader.

The permissions for the file need to be properly set before doing grub-mkconfig:

root #chmod 755 /etc/grub.d/35_auth

Using framebuffer display

To have GRUB use a framebuffer graphical display, re-emerge GRUB with the truetype USE flag enabled. This will install a default True Type font as well as a font conversion utility.

root #emerge --ask --newuse sys-boot/grub:2

Proceed to configure the default configuration file located at /etc/default/grub. For example:

FILE /etc/default/grubFramebuffer related settings
# Set resolution and color depth
GRUB_GFXMODE=1366x768x32
 
# Keep resolution when loading the kernel
GRUB_GFXPAYLOAD_LINUX=keep
  
# Set a background image
GRUB_BACKGROUND="/boot/grub/bg.png"
 
# Use a custom font, converted using grub-mkfont utility
GRUB_FONT="/boot/grub/fonts/roboto.pf2"
 
# Set the menu colors 
GRUB_COLOR_NORMAL="light-blue/black"
GRUB_COLOR_HIGHLIGHT="light-cyan/blue"

HiDPI displays

On modern displays with high DPI ("HiDPI"), e.g. UHD (3840x2160), the standard font will look very small. If you like to have the same font as the kernel, Terminus can be used, which resembles a BIOS built-in textmode font.

To select this font in-kernel, CONFIG_FONT_TER16x32 has to be enabled.

KERNEL Kernel compiled-in fonts
Library routines  --->
      [*] Select compiled-in fonts
      [*] Terminus 16x32 font (not supported by all drivers)

The same font is available as media-fonts/terminus-font, which can then be used for GRUB as well.

root #emerge --ask media-fonts/terminus-font
root #grub-mkfont -s 32 -o /boot/grub/fonts/terminus32b.pf2 /usr/share/fonts/terminus/ter-u32b.otb

In the above example the filename chosen for grub-mkfont output is terminus32b.pf2. The font's path has to be accessible to GRUB during boot, so it should reside in the same mount point as GRUB does; this example uses /boot/grub/fonts. The font then has to be set as GRUB_FONT in /etc/default/grub in order to be used.

FILE /etc/default/grubFramebuffer related settings
# Use a custom font, converted using grub-mkfont utility
GRUB_FONT="/boot/grub/fonts/terminus32b.pf2"

Updating the GRUB configuration file grub.cfg will then activate the configuration with the new font.

root #grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg

Troubleshooting

Note
For more troubleshooting, please refer to the Troubleshooting sub-article.

Most of the issues can be resolved by ensuring that the partition layout is correct. Make sure enough space is available before the first partition of the disk, or optionally make sure that a BIOS boot partition is available. Also verify that /boot/grub/grub.cfg was correctly generated with grub-mkconfig, or generate one with a custom menu entry.

os-prober not running

When running the grub-mkconfig command, os-prober is not running as expected, even though it is installed:

root #grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.11.14-gentoo-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/amd-uc.img /boot/initramfs-5.11.14-gentoo-x86_64.img
Warning: os-prober will not be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
Systems on them will not be added to the GRUB boot configuration.
Check GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER documentation entry.
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done

This can be corrected by setting the GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER variable to false in /etc/default/grub file.

FILE /etc/default/grub
GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false

Upon the next run, grub-mkconfig should find additional bootable partitions:

root #grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub configuration file ...
Found linux image: /boot/vmlinuz-5.11.14-gentoo-x86_64
Found initrd image: /boot/amd-uc.img /boot/initramfs-5.11.14-gentoo-x86_64.img
Warning: os-prober will be executed to detect other bootable partitions.
It's output will be used to detect bootable binaries on them and create new boot entries.
Found Windows Boot Manager on /dev/nvme0n1p2@/efi/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi
Adding boot menu entry for UEFI Firmware Settings ...
done

Motherboard firmware not finding the .EFI file

Some especially older (pre-2020) motherboards from certain manufacturers seem to only support one location for the .EFI file in the EFI System Partition (ESP): the fallback or removable media path. If this seems to be the case, simply move GRUB's default file to the /efi/boot/ location. First, make sure the ESP is mounted. Presuming the ESP is mounted at /boot/efi (as suggested in the Handbook), execute:

root #mkdir -p /boot/efi/efi/boot
root #cp /boot/efi/efi/gentoo/grubx64.efi /boot/efi/efi/boot/bootx64.efi

On a 32-bit EFI implementation use bootia32.efi instead:

root #cp /boot/efi/efi/gentoo/grubia32.efi /boot/efi/efi/boot/bootia32.efi

The removable parameter can be used with grub-install command to generate this file automatically:

root #grub-install --efi-directory=/boot/efi --removable
Installation finished. No error reported.

This should aid the motherboard firmware in loading the GRUB executable. Reboot the system to see if the firmware now correctly loads GRUB.

os-prober and UEFI in chroot

The sys-boot/os-prober utility is used to discover alternate installs, such as Microsoft Windows. To function properly, it needs to have access to information from the live environment's udev to test for the EFI System Partition.

Run these commands in the host environment to provide the required files (example shows Gentoo mounted on /mnt/gentoo like in the Handbook):

root #mkdir -p /mnt/gentoo/run/udev
root #mount -o bind /run/udev /mnt/gentoo/run/udev
root #mount --make-rslave /mnt/gentoo/run/udev

Installing a new kernel

Whenever a new kernel is installed, GRUB must be reconfigured to recognize it. This can be done using grub-mkconfig, as shown below, or can be done manually.

Note
Make sure the /boot partition is mounted for this step.
root #grub-mkconfig -o /boot/grub/grub.cfg
Generating grub.cfg ...
Found linux image: /boot/kernel-3.3.8-gentoo
Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86_64-3.3.8-gentoo
Found linux image: /boot/kernel-3.2.12-gentoo
Found initrd image: /boot/initramfs-genkernel-x86_64-3.2.12-gentoo
done

Note that GRUB only needs to be reconfigured, not reinstalled to the boot drive's Master Boot Record (MBR). On the other hand, when GRUB itself has been upgraded it does need to be reinstalled on the boot drive, but usually does not need to be reconfigured.

Automatic GRUB reconfiguration

If the package sys-kernel/installkernel-gentoo is installed and the USE flag grub is set, then on every installation of a kernel, grub-mkconfig will run automatically.

See also

  • In Chainloading the use of GRUB to boot other boot loaders is described. This is important to read when dual-booting systems, or when GRUB needs to be configured to boot ISO files.
  • In Advanced storage the necessary steps are documented on how to install and use GRUB on more advanced storage situations, such as software RAID, logical volumes or encrypted file systems.
  • In Configuration variables an exhaustive list of GRUB configuration variables, as used by /etc/default/grub, is documented.
  • In Troubleshooting a list of common GRUB errors (with their solutions) is presented.
  • In Hybrid partition table the use of a mixed MBR/GPT setup is documented, as well as how to use such hybrid partition layout with GRUB.

External resources

For more information, please see:

References

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