Ubuntu kerney shown 4 times in GRUB

Asked by Richard

After installing Ubuntu and booting up, Grub displays Ubuntu kernel 4 times, and beside two of these is “rescue” then… other operating systems, and below this is Microsoft Windows XP home.

How can I edit out of Grub… one of the Ubuntu kernels and one of the same kernel with the rescue beside it?

This appears in GRUB window

Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx
Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx rescue
Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx
Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx rescue
Other operating system
Microsoft Windows XP Home

Any help or reference to other places for information will be appreciated.

Thanks from,

Richard

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Revision history for this message
Jonathan Anderson (jonathan-anderson) said :
#1

The standard Ubuntu way of doing things is to run update-grub any time
you install/remove a kernel. This script automagically creates two
entries for each kernel in /boot (one normal, one rescue). You can edit
/boot/grub/menu.lst by hand, but it's simplest not to (everything
between "BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST" and "End Default Options" will
just get overwritten the next time update-grub is run).

You can, however, clean up the clutter by getting rid of old, unused
kernels (make sure the new one works first!). If you don't use Windows
very often, you can also use the "hiddenmenu" option in
/boot/grub/menu.lst. This will hide the whole menu unless you press Esc
when prompted during boot.

#!/jon

Richard wrote:
> New support request #1922 on Ubuntu:
> https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/1922
>
> After installing Ubuntu and booting up, Grub displays Ubuntu kernel 4 times, and beside two of these is “rescue” then… other operating systems, and below this is Microsoft Windows XP home.
>
> How can I edit out of Grub… one of the Ubuntu kernels and one of the same kernel with the rescue beside it?
>
> This appears in GRUB window
>
> Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx
> Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx rescue
> Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx
> Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx rescue
> Other operating system
> Microsoft Windows XP Home
>
> Any help or reference to other places for information will be appreciated.
>
>
> Thanks from,
>
> Richard
>
>
>

--
Jonathan Anderson

<email address hidden>

Revision history for this message
Richard (helpga) said :
#2

Thanks Jon for letting me know this is the way Ubuntu displays in GRUB and I
will leave this alone on your advice.

However I have tried to enter grub many times to understand what settings
are in there.

/boot/grub/menu.lst. Where, when and exactly what do I type in to enter
GRUB? I just did a file search inside Ubuntu’s boot folder as well as
several others and nothing was displayed, by typing /boot/grub/menu.lst

I will purchase a Ubuntu book as soon as I can afford one.

Thanks again for the help and a free copy of Ubuntu,

richard

When and where with exactly what to type in will do the trick.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jon Anderson" <email address hidden>
To: <email address hidden>
Sent: Thursday, September 28, 2006 9:57 PM
Subject: [Support #1922]: Re: [Support #1922]: Ubuntu kerney shown 4 times
inGRUB

Support request #1922 on Ubuntu changed:
https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/1922

Comment:
The standard Ubuntu way of doing things is to run update-grub any time
you install/remove a kernel. This script automagically creates two
entries for each kernel in /boot (one normal, one rescue). You can edit
/boot/grub/menu.lst by hand, but it's simplest not to (everything
between "BEGIN AUTOMAGIC KERNELS LIST" and "End Default Options" will
just get overwritten the next time update-grub is run).

You can, however, clean up the clutter by getting rid of old, unused
kernels (make sure the new one works first!). If you don't use Windows
very often, you can also use the "hiddenmenu" option in
/boot/grub/menu.lst. This will hide the whole menu unless you press Esc
when prompted during boot.

#!/jon

Richard wrote:
> New support request #1922 on Ubuntu:
> https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+ticket/1922
>
> After installing Ubuntu and booting up, Grub displays Ubuntu kernel 4
> times, and beside two of these is “rescue” then… other operating systems,
> and below this is Microsoft Windows XP home.
>
> How can I edit out of Grub… one of the Ubuntu kernels and one of the same
> kernel with the rescue beside it?
>
> This appears in GRUB window
>
> Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx
> Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx rescue
> Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx
> Ubuntu Kernel xxxxx rescue
> Other operating system
> Microsoft Windows XP Home
>
> Any help or reference to other places for information will be appreciated.
>
>
> Thanks from,
>
> Richard
>
>
>

--
Jonathan Anderson

<email address hidden>

--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.1.407 / Virus Database: 268.12.10/459 - Release Date: 9/29/2006

Revision history for this message
Jonathan Anderson (jonathan-anderson) said :
#3

GRUB is usually installed in the Master Boot Record (MBR) of your hard drive; when the boot menu appears, press 'c' to get a GRUB command line.

Here, you can type commands like:

root (hd0,3) [ or whatever your root partition is ]
kernel=/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.x-xxxxxxxx
initrd=/boot/initrd.img-2.6.x-xxxxxxxx
boot

to start Linux or

rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

to start another bootloader (e.g. Windows').

The /boot/grub/menu.lst file is loaded by GRUB so that you don't have to type these commands in every time you boot. When you look at it, you'll see that it has the very same commands as I mentioned above, but it also provides labels for the various boot menu entries.

For everything you ever wanted to know about GRUB, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GrubHowto

Revision history for this message
Alex Vaughn (aevaughn) said :
#4

I've used the above information to remove kernels from GRUB. So, please close this support request.

Revision history for this message
Ubuntu User (anotherubuntuuser) said :
#5

If these comments have indeed answered your question, please consider closing this ticket.

You can find instructions for managing a support request here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SupportRequests

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