Installation guide
7.1. Configuration File Structure
The GRUB menu interface configuration file is /boot/grub/grub.conf. The commands to set the
global preferences for the menu interface are placed at the top of the file, followed by stanzas
for each operating kernel or operating system listed in the menu.
The following is a very basic GRUB menu configuration file designed to boot either Red Hat En-
terprise Linux or Microsoft Windows 2000:
default=0
timeout=10
splashimage=(hd0,0)/grub/splash.xpm.gz
hiddenmenu
title Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server (2.6.18-2.el5PAE)
root (hd0,0)
kernel /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.18-2.el5PAE ro root=LABEL=/1 rhgb quiet
initrd /boot/initrd-2.6.18-2.el5PAE.img
# section to load Windows
title Windows
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1
This file configures GRUB to build a menu with Red Hat Enterprise Linux as the default operat-
ing system and sets it to autoboot after 10 seconds. Two sections are given, one for each oper-
ating system entry, with commands specific to the system disk partition table.
Note
Note that the default is specified as an integer. This refers to the first title line in
the GRUB configuration file. For the Windows section to be set as the default in the
previous example, change the default=0 to default=1.
Configuring a GRUB menu configuration file to boot multiple operating systems is beyond the
scope of this chapter. Consult Section 9, “Additional Resources” for a list of additional re-
sources.
7.2. Configuration File Directives
The following are directives commonly used in the GRUB menu configuration file:
• chainloader </path/to/file> — Loads the specified file as a chain loader. Replace
</path/to/file> with the absolute path to the chain loader. If the file is located on the first
sector of the specified partition, use the blocklist notation, +1.
• color <normal-color><selected-color> — Allows specific colors to be used in the menu,
where two colors are configured as the foreground and background. Use simple color names
such as red/black. For example:
color red/black green/blue
• default=<integer> — Replace <integer> with the default entry title number to be loaded if
7.2. Configuration File Directives
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