Ubuntu: How to get to the GRUB menu at boot-time?
Channel: Roel Van de Paar
Date: 2019-06-10

Ubuntu: How to get to the GRUB menu at boot-time?


Question: This issue came up recently for me (and I've been prompted to lodge it as a
specific question about it):
My system is not dual-boot, I run a standard Ubuntu desktop system "on the
metal" (I think running it in a VM is the same).
Pressing c while booting does not cause the GRUB menu to appear (which I
believe it does for a dual-boot system).
How can I get the GRUB-menu to present itself on a single-boot system?

Solutions Sample (Please watch the whole video to see all solutions, in order of how many people found them helpful):

== This solution helped 14 people ==
    * Keep hitting Shift until you see "Grub Loading Message"
    * After the message, hold the Shift down until the menu appears.

== This solution helped 216 people ==
Menu will appear if you press and hold Shift during loading Grub, if you boot
using BIOS. When your system boots using UEFI, press Esc.
For permanent change you'll need to edit your /etc/default/grub file -- place a
"#" symbol at the start of line GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0.
Save changes and run sudo update-grub to apply changes.
Documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

== This solution helped 3 people ==
I've heard Shift does it. But I've used Space before and it worked.

== This solution helped 4 people ==
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2#Boot_Display_Behavior, GRUB will show
the menu if there is a second operating system installed. If only Ubuntu is
installed, then GRUB will generally load Ubuntu without showing the menu. To
reconfigure_GRUB_to_always_show_a_menu:
   1. Edit /etc/default/grub:
      Set GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT= (no value after the = sign).
      Set GRUB_TIMEOUT=n to show the menu for n seconds.
   2. Run update-grub to regenerate /boot/grub/grub.cfg based on the /etc/
      default/grub settings.
----
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RecoveryMode even if the default GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0
setting is in effect:
    * If your computer uses BIOS for booting, then hold down the Shift key
      while GRUB is loading to get the boot menu.
    * If your computer uses UEFI for booting, press Esc several times while
      GRUB is loading to get the boot menu.
Hopefully this clears up confusion as to why Shift_works_for_some_users and Esc
works_for_others.

== This solution helped 6 people ==
In Ubuntu 18.04, there is no GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=0 line in /etc/default/grub -
instead there is GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden. According to info -f grub -
n 'Simple configuration' :
     if this option is unset or set to 'menu', then GRUB will display the
     menu and then wait for the timeout set by 'GRUB_TIMEOUT' to expire
     before booting the default entry. Pressing a key interrupts the
     timeout.
So if you either remove or comment out the line as:
#GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden
then the menu will show by default.
18.04 + Not dual boot, boots in grub 5 seconds:
     GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=false
     GRUB_TIMEOUT= (no value). Works fine LVM.

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