Prevent GRUB from showing up by default?

Question

Whenever I boot on Ubuntu, I see the entire GRUB menu by default. Is there a way I could make it simply auto-boot if uninterrupted within X seconds? I remember that this was the case on previous releases of Ubuntu, it would only show the GRUB menu if you held down a button during the boot.

How can I make GRUB do this by default and just get on with the boot process?

Answer 1

I assume you are using GRUB. In /boot/grub/menu.lst, type in hiddenmenu. Press ESC key to show the menu.

#General configuration:
#Uninterupted within 5 seconds and default boot option 0.
timeout   5
default   0
color light-blue/black light-cyan/blue

#Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
hiddenmenu

If you are using GRUB2, /boot/grub/grub.cfg contains the menu. But to change settings, edit the /etc/default/grub file.

Answer 2

Odd that it's not already in there, it still is for me. Anyway, add this to your /boot/grub/menu.lst:

timeout 5
default 0

That sets grub to boot the first entry after five seconds. If you prefer the second, third, etc. entry in your grub configuration, change 0 accordingly.

If you want something other than the newest kernel, you may need to check that the number is still correct after updating the kernel.