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grub package

Dual boot screen has 12 entries how can I elimanate the ones that I don't need

Asked by Homer Gilbert

Dual boot screen has 12 entries but I only need the last update of Ubuntu, the recovery mode, and XP. XP is the default as I edited boot/grub/menu.lst. Can I put ## in front of all the entries I do not want so that they do not show up on the boot screen?

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Wyatt Smith
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David Friedman (david-kit-friedman) said : 		#1

Yes, you can just comment out the entries that you don't need.

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Homer Gilbert (hgilbert) said : 		#2

Thanks. Do I need to count the still active titles and change the default
number in boo/grub/menu.lst?

On Thu, Dec 11, 2008 at 1:35 PM, David Friedman <
<email address hidden>> wrote:

> Your question #54170 on Ubuntu changed:
> https://answers.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+question/54170
>
> Status: Open => Answered
>
> David Friedman proposed the following answer:
> Yes, you can just comment out the entries that you don't need.
>
> --
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--
Homer Gilbert

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Best Wyatt Smith (wyatt-smith) said : 		#3

Grub Menu

It is normal for the older versions of the kernel to appear in your grub menu. If a new kernel update is unstable on you machine, this allows you to still be able to boot to an older stable kernel.

By default, all kernels installed on your machine will show up in the grub menu. If this list is gets too long you can force grub to only show the two latest kernels, by editing you menu.lst file. You can do this by opening a terminal and typing

gksu gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

Find this section

## controls how many kernels should be put into the menu.lst
## only counts the first occurence of a kernel, not the
## alternative kernel options
## e.g. howmany=all
## howmany=7
# howmany=all

Change last line to something no smaller than 2. This will leave the current kernel and the previous stable kernel.

# howmany=2

Save and exit. Then from the terminal type

sudo update-grub

Also, to uninstall the kernels that you no longer use, you can open synaptic and hit the search button. In the ´Search´ box put linux-image and in the ´Look in´ box select Name. Right click on the kernels you no longer use (2.6.24-16,17,18,19) and select Mark for removal. Hit the apply button and this will uninstall the unwanted kernels.

Hope this helps

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Homer Gilbert (hgilbert) said : 		#4

Thanks Wyatt Smith, that solved my question.

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Fabián Rodríguez (magicfab) said : 		#5

You can also install the startupmanager package which will help you manage many elements of the boot sequence from a GUI program, including the number of kernel options in the GRUB menu. Once installed you'll find it under System > Administration.