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 5 Configuration
 ***************
 
 You've probably noticed that you need to type several commands to boot
 your OS. There's a solution to that - GRUB provides a menu interface
 ( Menu interface) from which you can select an item (using arrow
 keys) that will do everything to boot an OS.
 
    To enable the menu, you need a configuration file, `menu.lst' under
 the boot directory. We'll analyze an example file.
 
    The file first contains some general settings, the menu interface
 commands::) before any of the items (starting with `title' (
 title)).
 
      #
      # Sample boot menu configuration file
      #
 
    As you may have guessed, these lines are comments. Lines starting
 with a hash character (`#'), and blank lines, are ignored by GRUB.
 
      # By default, boot the first entry.
      default 0
 
    The first entry (here, counting starts with number zero, not one!)
 will be the default choice.
 
      # Boot automatically after 30 secs.
      timeout 30
 
    As the comment says, GRUB will boot automatically in 30 seconds,
 unless interrupted with a keypress.
 
      # Fallback to the second entry.
      fallback 1
 
    If, for any reason, the default entry doesn't work, fall back to the
 second one (this is rarely used, for obvious reasons).
 
    Note that the complete descriptions of these commands, which are menu
 interface specific, can be found in  Menu-specific commands.
 Other descriptions can be found in  Commands.
 
    Now, on to the actual OS definitions. You will see that each entry
 begins with a special command, `title' ( title), and the action
 is described after it. Note that there is no command `boot' (
 boot) at the  end of each item. That is because GRUB automatically
 executes `boot' if it loads other commands successfully.
 
    The argument for the command `title' is used to display a short
 title/description of the entry in the menu. Since `title' displays the
 argument as is, you can write basically anything there.
 
      # For booting GNU/Hurd
      title  GNU/Hurd
      root   (hd0,0)
      kernel /boot/gnumach.gz root=hd0s1
      module /boot/serverboot.gz
 
    This boots GNU/Hurd from the first hard disk.
 
      # For booting GNU/Linux
      title  GNU/Linux
      kernel (hd1,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hdb1
 
    This boots GNU/Linux, but from the second hard disk.
 
      # For booting Mach (getting kernel from floppy)
      title  Utah Mach4 multiboot
      root   (hd0,2)
      pause  Insert the diskette now^G!!
      kernel (fd0)/boot/kernel root=hd0s3
      module (fd0)/boot/bootstrap
 
    This boots Mach with a kernel on a floppy, but the root filesystem at
 hd0s3. It also contains a `pause' line ( pause), which will
 cause GRUB to display a prompt and delay, before actually executing the
 rest of the commands and booting.
 
      # For booting FreeBSD
      title  FreeBSD
      root   (hd0,2,a)
      kernel /boot/loader
 
    This item will boot FreeBSD kernel loaded from the `a' partition of
 the third PC slice of the first hard disk.
 
      # For booting OS/2
      title OS/2
      root  (hd0,1)
      makeactive
      # chainload OS/2 bootloader from the first sector
      chainloader +1
      # This is similar to "chainload", but loads a specific file
      #chainloader /boot/chain.os2
 
    This will boot OS/2, using a chain-loader ( Chain-loading).
 
      # For booting Windows NT or Windows95
      title Windows NT / Windows 95 boot menu
      root        (hd0,0)
      makeactive
      chainloader +1
      # For loading DOS if Windows NT is installed
      # chainload /bootsect.dos
 
    The same as the above, but for Windows.
 
      # For installing GRUB into the hard disk
      title Install GRUB into the hard disk
      root    (hd0,0)
      setup   (hd0)
 
    This will just (re)install GRUB onto the hard disk.
 
      # Change the colors.
      title Change the colors
      color light-green/brown blink-red/blue
 
    In the last entry, the command `color' is used ( color), to
 change the menu colors (try it!). This command is somewhat special,
 because it can be used both in the command-line and in the menu. GRUB
 has several such commands, see  General commands.
 
    We hope that you now understand how to use the basic features of
 GRUB. To learn more about GRUB, see the following chapters.
 

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