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I'd like to access my Grub Menu at boot by pressing Shift. After I press Shift I see a message saying "Grub loading.." but then no menu appears and the computer keeps booting normally into my Ubuntu Installation. Do you know how I can access the Grub Menu at boot? Thanks a lot for your help!

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I fiugred that out, the value GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT in the file /etc/default/grub has to be set to a value greater than 0. – lucacerone Oct 25 '11 at 11:29
    
If this solves your problem, you can answer your own question with this information and mark it as correct. Then other users will see this question is answered. – Kris Harper Oct 25 '11 at 12:31
    
I can do that only after 8 hrs... Will do it tomorrow.. – lucacerone Oct 25 '11 at 15:59
    
Sounds good. A lot of users never update their questions. Glad you solved your problem. – Kris Harper Oct 25 '11 at 16:08
up vote 10 down vote accepted

The issue is solved by modifying the parameter GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT in the /etc/default/grub file (need to be super user to modify it), and (as always to apply configuration changes made in this file) running sudo update-grub.

Changing the value from 0 to some positive value allows to enter the GRUB menu by pressing Shift during boot.

For those not familiar with updating your GRUB settings:

  1. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open a terminal.
  2. Run gksu gedit /etc/default/grub.
  3. Change the GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT line as above, save it, and close gedit.
  4. Run sudo update-grub. You can now restart.

If you want from the GUI

To open the terminal:

Open Dash (Super Key) or Applications and type terminal

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For older or Ubuntu versions:

Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal

Then type the command gksu gedit /etc/default/grub

and then change the value in GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT as above.

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Save it and close the editor.

and run sudo update-grub in the terminal.

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