[Solved] GRUB doesn't show on restart

[VPW23]

Hi,

When I boot my computer on, I get the GRUB bootloader that allows me to choose between Debian and Windows.

When I restart the computer, however, I don't get GRUB and it boots straight to Debian.

I would like the option to choose which operating system I want to use when I power on and restart the computer.

[Aki]

Hello,

When I boot my computer on, I get the GRUB bootloader that allows me to choose between Debian and Windows.

When I restart the computer, however, I don't get GRUB and it boots straight to Debian.

I would like the option to choose which operating system I want to use when I power on and restart the computer.

How do you restart the computer ?

Can you share a video recording when grub appears and when it does not at boot ?

[VPW23]

Sorry for the late response. I recorded the video, but I am unable to attach it to this message because .mov is a "Invalid file format".

Any way that I can convert the video to a supported file format?
[Aki]

[Aki]

You may user an external service like wetransfer and then may report back the download url.

[Dai_trying]

You could look for an entry in /etc/default/grub something like

Code: Select all

GRUB_TIMEOUT=5

Yours sounds like it might be set to 0, try changing the value (number of seconds to delay before booting the default option) to your liking and then run either:-

Code: Select all

sudo update-grub

or

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su -
update-grub

depending on whether you use sudo or su to get root privileges. Then reboot to test.

[VPW23]

I just restarted my computer twice, once in Debian and the other time in Windows and your suggestion worked! Thank you so much!

[Dai_trying]

You are welcome.

[VPW23]

It also fixed another issue I had, I wanted the timer to be longer.

[Dai_trying]

That's a bonus you can have for free

[Aki]

Hello,

I just restarted my computer twice, once in Debian and the other time in Windows and your suggestion worked! Thank you so much!

I'm glad you sorted it out. :)

Please, mark the discussion as "solved" manually adding the text tag "[Solved]" at the beginning of the subject of the first message (after other tags, if any); for example:

[Discussion] [Solved] GRUB doesn't show on restart

Thanks.

[VPW23]

@Dai_trying

Is there a way to disable the timer but still keep the GRUB menu? If not, what is the longest timer can I have for the GRUB menu? It's better now, it would be perfect if I could either disable the timer or have it as long as I can.

[mrmazda]

According to man grub, GRUB_TIMEOUT='-1' equates to infinite (aka timer disabled). GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE='hidden' can be used to skip showing any Grub menu unless a ESC or F4 are struck, or Shift is held down.

[Dai_trying]

@VPW23

As @mrmazda said, to disable the timer change your grub entry to

Code: Select all

GRUB_TIMEOUT=-1

I only re-post the solution as the original answer contains apostrophe's which might (untested) change the desired behaviour.

According to man grub, GRUB_TIMEOUT='-1' equates to infinite

[VPW23]

@Dai_trying @@mrmazda

It worked. Thanks guys.

[mrmazda]

Which "it"? I purposely included apostrophes (plural word, not possessive noun) because of the "-" character. Trying to determine whether apostrophes were technically required was an apparently futile exercise, likely due to the usual lack of examples in man pages.

[Dai_trying]

Ok, I tested and "It" works both with and without apostrophes (thanks for the grammatical critique ) I am also assuming the "It" would reference the solution offered by both posters as they were both thanked in the same sentence and with the same "mention", and the common denominator would be the (almost) matching solution. Of course this could be a wrong assumption on my part as OP could have also made a grammatical or typographical error.

Note I used the correct reference to the OP's statement of "It" and not "it".

It worked. Thanks guys.

Which "it"?