Change GRUB Background image

Read time: 3 minutes

GRUB is abbreviation of GNU GRand Unified Bootloader. GRUB is a program by GNU that let the user choose the operating system if there are multiple operating systems installed on a single system. So if you have installed ubuntu or other distribution of linux then you must have seen the GRUB screen. On ubuntu, usually it is a purple colored screen. If you got bored from that simple, old purple background or you want to impress your friends, then read on. So in this post, I am telling you about changing the background image of GRUB.

#STEP 1

Its better to paste the image first in this folder using terminal:

sudo su

cd /usr/share

mkdir image

cp <---your image path like /home/mandeep/Desktop/ubuntu.jpg---> image/ubuntu.jpg

You can see the above screenshot. In this I have image in my /usr/share/image folder and the image is ubuntu.jpg . Firstly, my image ubuntu.jpg was in /home/mandeep/Desktop folder. Then I copied it to image folder in /usr/share.

#STEP 2 (Using Command-line)

In terminal type:

sudo su

Then goto the directory:

cd /etc/default

Then open the file “grub” using any editor. You may use vim, nano, gedit. So just change nano by any other:

nano grub

Then type the following command with absolute path of your image:

GRUB_BACKGROUND="/usr/share/image/ubuntu.jpg

See my grub file screenshot:

**#STEP 3 **

Then save the file.

In terminal type following command to update GRUB for the changes to take place:

update-grub

You will see the above output.

You can reboot now and skip next steps if you don’t want to change the text colors.

#To change the text color and highlight color of GRUB

In terminal type:

gksu gedit /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme

Then locate:

if [ -z "${2}" ] && [ -z "${3}" ]; then
                echo "  true"
        fi

Or just type Ctrl +f to find it write in it : if [ -z or simply ‘z’. Then replace the above paragraph with this one:

if [ -z "${2}" ] && [ -z "${3}" ]; then
        echo "  true"
        echo "  set color_highlight=red/green"
        echo "  set color_normal=light-cyan/black"
    fi

Then save the file. In terminal type following command to update GRUB for the changes to take place:

update-grub

Then reboot the system.

grub background

Change the color accordingly or choose from the below list:

black, blue, brown, cyan, dark-gray, green, light-cyan, light-blue, light-green, light-gray, light-magenta, light-red, magenta, red, white, yellow

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