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Lasher
Asked: 2012-05-13 10:39:38 +0800 CST

Is it possible to completely disable Grub timeout?

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I am setting up a dual boot install for my wife's computer. I would like to disable the timeout for selecting OS that defaults to Ubuntu so the computer wont boot without making a selection. (IE. GRUB_TIMEOUT=INFINITE) Is it just a simple case of leaving it blank or #out the line in /etc/default/grub ? I want it so my wife can choose OS easily on her newly Dual booting PC.

I would also like to know if updating Burg after this would keep the change - as the big graphics of the OS's are a little more noob friendly.

grub2 burg timeout 12.04

4 Answers

  1. Best Answer

    Edit /etc/default/grub (with root privileges), change GRUB_TIMEOUT value from 10 to -1, save the file and then run sudo update-grub. Reboot and now you have infinite time to choose the OS.

    While this works in GRUB, it doesn't work with BURG, and you'll have to change GRUB_TIMEOUT value to some large number like 120 seconds to wait before booting into any OS and run sudo update-burg to reflect the changes. Also note that this change must be made to file /etc/default/burg as BURG doesn't consider options set in /etc/default/grub

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  2. Setting timeout to -1 will make GRUB wait infinitely.

    By that I mean that you will be required to manually select an entry and hit Enter before launching any OS.

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  3. When running update-grub a warning says that setting grubtimeout to a non zero number is no longer supported. No matter what I changed the grub timeout value to timeout stayed at 10. If you are having this problem the workaround is editing the grub.cfg file located in /boot/grub. Near the end the script says IF TIMEOUT = 0 then timeout= 10. Change 10 to -1. No more countdown.

    1. gksu gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg

    2. Find the part of the script around the end that says IF TIMEOUT = 0 then timeout= 10. Change 10 to -1.

    This is a workaround it will be reverted if update-grub is ever run. Not permanent unless update-grub is not manually run.

    (Works on 14.04.)

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    1. Edit /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober file: 
      sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober
    2. Find 
      if [ "\${timeout}" = 0 ]; then
  set timeout=10
fi
      and replace set timeout=10 with set timeout=0
    3. Save and update grub config: 
      sudo update-grub

    It worked for me, on Ubuntu 19.10

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