How To Add A Splash Image To GRUB 2 On Ubuntu 9.04

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Author: Falko Timme <ft [at] falkotimme [dot] com>
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Last edited 08/26/2009

This tutorial shows how you can add a splash image to your GRUB 2 boot loader on Ubuntu 9.04. Please note that you should use this tutorial only if you have upgraded your bootloader to GRUB 2 previously, as shown in this tutorial: How To Install GRUB 2 On Ubuntu 9.04

I do not issue any guarantee that this will work for you!

Adding Splash Images

Open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal)...

... and install the grub2-splashimages package:

sudo aptitude install grub2-splashimages

This installs some splash images in the /usr/share/images/grub directory. To preview them, go to Places > Computer...

... and navigate to the /usr/share/images/grub folder. You should see thumbnails of the available splash images (which have the extension .tga):

Right-click the image that you want to use and select Properties. On the Basic tab, copy the name of the image (without the extension .tga):

Now open /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme...

sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme

... and replace the line...

[...]
  for i in {/boot/grub,/usr/share/images/desktop-base}/moreblue-orbit-grub.{png,tga} ; do
[...]

... with:

[...]
  for i in {/boot/grub,/usr/share/images/desktop-base,/usr/share/images/grub}/Moraine_Lake_17092005.{png,tga} ; do
[...]

(Make sure that you use the correct file name of your wanted splash image!)

Then update the GRUB configuration...

sudo update-grub

... and reboot the system:

sudo reboot

The GRUB menu should now use the wanted image as the background:

Links

• GRUB 2: http://www.gnu.org/software/grub/grub-2.en.html
• Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com/