Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

Theresa · 2016-01-22 01:05

I am dual booting q4os with windows. The Grub menu (I hope I am saying the right thing!) allows 4 seconds before automatic boot of q4os. This is hardly enough time for some one who wants to boot windows occasionally. Can this default setting of 4 seconds be increased to perhaps 10 seconds. I couldn't find any thing to help in documentation.

Theresa

bobby · 2016-01-22 03:59

Hi Theresa, as a work around for me, I hit the down arrow as soon as I see the Grub screen. This pauses Grub until you make your selection.

I have a very similar question to yours concerning making changes to the Grub Menu list. Does the "e" edit function at the Grub boot menu allow permanent changes to be saved or does this have to be done through Grub scripts ? For example, Change a File System Name or add more pause time for Grub Boot menu ?

q4osteam · 2016-01-22 09:03

Edit '/etc/default/grub' file as root and define 'GRUB_TIMEOUT=' parameter to your wishes. Save file and run in terminal:
$ sudo update-grub

Additionally you can define default OS to boot 'GRUB_DEFAULT' , and other parameters.

bobby wrote:

Does the "e" edit function at the Grub boot menu allow permanent changes to be saved

No, it doesn't, you can make changes in '/etc/default/grub' file as above.

Theresa · 2016-01-22 16:05

q4osteam wrote:

Edit '/etc/default/grub' file as root and define 'GRUB_TIMEOUT=' parameter to your wishes. Save file and run in terminal:
$ sudo update-grub

I need some help to do this. q4os which I installed a few days ago is my very first experience with Linux and I don't understand this part at all "Edit '/etc/default/grub' file as root". I am ok with using the terminal.

Thanks

q4osteam · 2016-01-22 16:19

Navigate filemanager into '/etc/default' folder. Click with right mouse button on 'grub' file -> Actions -> Edit as root. Edit and save the file.

Rademes · 2016-01-22 19:26

Theresa wrote:

I am ok with using the terminal.

$ cd /etc/default
$ sudo nano grub
Use keyboard arrows to navigate to 'GRUB_TIMEOUT=' and edit parameter (digit).
Save file using Ctrl-O and press Enter. (Ctrl-G opens help page)
Ctrl-X - exit nano.
$ sudo update-grub

Few days in Linux an already ok with using terminal? My applause! Good job!

Last edited by Rademes (2016-01-22 19:28)

bobby · 2016-01-23 02:27

Theresa, the very fist time I inserted a Linux disk in a computer, I was shacking in my boots. That was back in the days that any changes made with Terminal required extreme caution as not many graphical utility programs were available. Today though, there are hundreds of these easy to use programs to make Linux users life a lot easier.

With that said, you should be very careful when editing any Grub related files. I recommend you do 3 things before modifying these files.

1 Whenever you build a test environment always leave 6-10 GB available space on your hard drive so that a new EXT4 partition could be created and a new install of Q4OS to rebuild the Grub Boot Menu (bootloader)

2. Have at least one partition that is exclusively were you save data files. Saving Data Files in one exclusive partition will ease your worries about losing data.

3. Always install Grub to the hard drive and not a partition. For example, install Grub here /dev/sda. NOT in any partition like, sda1 or sda2 or sda3.

By always having room for a new Q4OS install will allow you to get back to a point of reinstalling "GRUB" to the new partition which will auto rebuild the /dev/sda grub boot loader files for all partitions. Both Q4OS and Windows bootable patitions.

Since you will always know:

1. That you can always rebuild Grub by reinstalling Q4OS; and

2. Which partition contains all your data files.

You could be doing this by tomorrow with Q4OS

Last edited by bobby (2016-01-23 03:00)

Dai_trying · 2016-01-23 10:57

@bobby
Hi mate, this isn't directly related to the OP's question but recovering a failed grub can be easily done from a live cd. I have a text file which i will copy below which has the instructions. I haven't tried it with a q4os live cd yet, but it should work the same.

repair_broken_grub_from_live_cd.txt

How to chroot from live session to (other OS) on disk

Assumption 1: (other OS) is installed on /dev/sda1 but is not accessible via grub
Assumption 2: /dev/sda1 is the root partition, and you do not have a separate boot partition
Goal: reinstall grub in mbr of /dev/sda:

Boot from livecd or usb, then in the terminal window enter:

    TARGET=/media/sda1
    sudo mkdir -p $TARGET
    sudo mount /dev/sda1 $TARGET
    sudo mount --bind /dev     $TARGET/dev
    sudo mount --bind /dev/pts $TARGET/dev/pts
    sudo mount --bind /proc    $TARGET/proc
    sudo mount --bind /sys     $TARGET/sys
    sudo chroot $TARGET /bin/bash

This places you in a root terminal on the (other OS) system Do whatever you want to do there, e.g. re-install grub

    grub-install /dev/sda
    update-grub

To exit from chroot:

press control-D or enter exit

This brings you back to where you were in the live session and you can unmount

    sudo umount -l $TARGET/dev/pts
    sudo umount -l $TARGET/dev
    sudo umount -l $TARGET/proc
    sudo umount -l $TARGET/sys

Thats it…

Reboot into the (other OS) system on disk.

Hope this makes recovering failed boot easier, it has worked for me in the past (lots of multiboot failed installations)

Dai

Theresa · 2016-01-23 21:22

Bobby, thank you for this information and tips. my problem is understanding the linux 'terms'. I had to do some research before i got an idea of what you posted here.

bobby wrote:

1 Whenever you build a test environment always leave 6-10 GB available space on your hard drive so that a new EXT4 partition could be created and a new install of Q4OS to rebuild the Grub Boot Menu (bootloader)

Sure, there is enough space in my hard drive for this.

During installation, a portion of the hard disk was formatted by G parted to make 2 partitions. One of them is a small partition of 4GB. I have forgotten what it is called.

bobby wrote:

2. Have at least one partition that is exclusively were you save data files. Saving Data Files in one exclusive partition will ease your worries about losing data.

So, how is it possible to do this now, after installing?

bobby wrote:

3. Always install Grub to the hard drive and not a partition. For example, install Grub here /dev/sda. NOT in any partition like, sda1 or sda2 or sda3.

I don't remember being given a choice of place, to install Grub during the installation.

bobby wrote:

By always having room for a new Q4OS install will allow you to get back to a point of reinstalling "GRUB" to the new partition which will auto rebuild the /dev/sda grub boot loader files for all partitions. Both Q4OS and Windows bootable patitions.

Will I not then have 2 q4os installations in 2 different places in my hard disk?

bobby wrote:

Since you will always know:
1. That you can always rebuild Grub by reinstalling Q4OS; and
2. Which partition contains all your data files.

I am sure by now you realize I don't understand 1 or 2 here.

Sorry to be so dumb. I hope you can understand.

Theresa · 2016-01-23 21:25

Rademes wrote:

Few days in Linux an already ok with using terminal? My applause! Good job!

Thank you for your kind words. I am still trying to get the courage to do this!

Dai_trying · 2016-01-23 22:03

Hi Theresa, Just my two cents worth, but you do not really have to go through all the trouble of setting up a second installation, I think what bobby does is good if you intend to be messing around with your installation, but if you are just a regular user it is probably unnecessary (IMO). And if all you wanted to do was adjust the time it takes to boot (original question) then I wouldn't worry too much. IMO it's a bit like having two locks on your front door, which is probably better than 1 but not essential.

Dai

Rademes · 2016-01-23 22:33

Theresa wrote:

During installation, a portion of the hard disk was formatted by G parted to make 2 partitions. One of them is a small partition of 4GB. I have forgotten what it is called.

These two partitions are usually root ( / ) partition - big partition, and SWAP partition - 4GB partition.

Theresa wrote:

So, how is it possible to do this now, after installing?

After installing Q4OS, install GParted using Q4OS Software centre. Using GParted you will be able to make another partition for personal data.
GParted manual: http://gparted.org/display-doc.php?name=help-manual - this may be too difficult manual but complete
http://www.dedoimedo.com/computers/gparted.html - this is easier and very good, but a bit outdated, start with it.
https://youtu.be/bb54TsYI6UA - small basic video tutorial
http://gparted.org/documentation.php - all about GParted

Theresa wrote:

I don't remember being given a choice of place, to install Grub during the installation.

http://www.q4os.org/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=1114#p1114

Theresa wrote:

I am sure by now you realize I don't understand 1 or 2 here.
Sorry to be so dumb. I hope you can understand.

Frankly speaking, after switching from Linux Mint, I realized, how noobish I am in Linux, even after three years of usage...
Finally we all were noobs at the beginning!
Just don`t give up!

Last edited by Rademes (2016-01-23 22:40)

Theresa · 2016-01-23 23:01

Thanks Rademes for being supportive. I have looked at the Grub files. Is it possible to disable the Time out function completely instead of changing the number of seconds?

This entry: "Uncomment to get a beep at Grub start". When it says Uncomment what do you do to get a beep as said here.

Theresa · 2016-01-23 23:07

Dai_trying wrote:

Hi Theresa, Just my two cents worth, but you do not really have to go through all the trouble of setting up a second installation, I think what bobby does is good if you intend to be messing around with your installation, but if you are just a regular user it is probably unnecessary (IMO). And if all you wanted to do was adjust the time it takes to boot (original question) then I wouldn't worry too much. IMO it's a bit like having two locks on your front door, which is probably better than 1 but not essential.
Dai

Thank you for your input. I myself like to keep things simple at this stage of the game.

Theresa

bobby · 2016-01-24 03:00

Hi Theresa, All comments are correct.

Lines that start with a # sign are treated by Grub as Comments are not executed.

Rremove the # sign from the line you want to enable and have Grub execute.

bobby · 2016-01-24 03:32

Dai_trying wrote:

@bobby
Hi mate, this isn't directly related to the OP's question but recovering a failed grub can be easily done from a live cd. I have a text file which i will copy below which has the instructions. I haven't tried it with a q4os live cd yet, but it should work the same.
repair_broken_grub_from_live_cd.txt......
-------
----------
-------------
------- Dai

Dai,

Thank You Very Much for detail method to fix broken Grub boot.

I do have a couple questions concerning GRUB; if you have time.

1. Will this method remove all grub configuration files for all partitions or does that have to be manually, then reinstall grub & update ?

2. Can I copy the contents from the grub.cfg file to a 06_custom file and then modify just the description name, will grub purge these changes in the future if a user uses update-grub ?

Thanks for you help,

Bobby

Dai_trying · 2016-01-24 11:21

@bobby

1. It will reinstall grub from the main partition (sda1 in the example) and when you run update-grub it will pick up other installations as usual. although if you use grub-customizer ( I think i saw that in another thread ) you may ( I have not checked ) have to run customizer again to set your preferences.

2. I'm not 100% sure on this as I don't usually create custom grub files, If I need to tweak anything I let grub-customizer do it. Having said that usually if there are custom entries in /etc/grub.d which are named different to the default entries updates usually do not affect them. and grub-update will use the information as usual.

HTH

Dai

Theresa · 2016-01-25 00:14

bobby wrote:

Hi Theresa, All comments are correct.
Lines that start with a # sign are treated by Grub as Comments are not executed.
Rremove the # sign from the line you want to enable and have Grub execute.

Thanks Bobby for this reply.

I think my other question was missed due heavy communication here. I am posting it again below.

I have looked at the Grub files. Is it possible to disable the Time out function completely instead of changing the number of seconds?

Theresa

Dai_trying · 2016-01-25 00:30

Yes, just change the value of GRUB_TIMEOUT to -1

Dai

Theresa · 2016-01-25 23:38

Rademes wrote:

Theresa wrote:
I am ok with using the terminal.
$ cd /etc/default
$ sudo nano grub
Use keyboard arrows to navigate to 'GRUB_TIMEOUT=' and edit parameter (digit).
Save file using Ctrl-O and press Enter. (Ctrl-G opens help page)
Ctrl-X - exit nano.
$ sudo update-grub
Few days in Linux an already ok with using terminal? My applause! Good job!

Success!! I used this method and disabled "Time out" and uncommented the entry to get a beep when Grub loads. Both functions are working as edited. I had a moment of panic. When I pressed Ctrl and o key there was a loud noise like a piano key and it kept repeating until I released o key (o here is the letter and not number zero.) I continued to press Enter in spite of the repeating noise. The file got saved. I wonder what this loud noise was. Have you any idea?

Theresa

Q4OS Forum

#1 2016-01-22 01:05

Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#2 2016-01-22 03:59

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#3 2016-01-22 09:03

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#4 2016-01-22 16:05

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#5 2016-01-22 16:19

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#6 2016-01-22 19:26

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#7 2016-01-23 02:27

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#8 2016-01-23 10:57

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#9 2016-01-23 21:22

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#10 2016-01-23 21:25

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#11 2016-01-23 22:03

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#12 2016-01-23 22:33

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#13 2016-01-23 23:01

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#14 2016-01-23 23:07

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#15 2016-01-24 03:00

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#16 2016-01-24 03:32

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#17 2016-01-24 11:21

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#18 2016-01-25 00:14

Re: Can I increase the time allowed before automatic boot

#19 2016-01-25 00:30

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#20 2016-01-25 23:38

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