Beautify Your Boot Menu with Burg in Ubuntu or Linux Mint

Last updated: December 26, 2014

beautiful burg boot menu

Bored with the default Grub bootloader? You may give Burg a try. Burg is a Grub based boot loader which works in both text and graphic mode. There are quite a few themes so that you can always make your boot menu beautiful.

Below is the burg boot menu with Metro theme.

Install Burg:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one to install Burg from PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:n-muench/burg

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install burg burg-themes

UPDATE: Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, and derivatives are added support!

So far, the PPA supports Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 11.10, Ubuntu 11.04 and their derivatives.

While the installing process, click OK to answer all questions. In the below screen, you need to press the Space key first to select your disk name and Tab key to select OK.

Install Theme for burg:

There are 16 themes available by default. You can download more themes at deviantart.com and install them via following steps:

1. Download the theme, Metro as example, at deviantart page

2. Extract the theme package and put the result folder into /boot/burg/themes/ directory. Run below command in the terminal to open file browser with root, then do the copy and paste things.

sudo nautilus

3. The theme misses Linux Mint logo. Download the below icons and put them into /boot/burg/themes/Metro/icons/ if need.

hover_linuxmint

normal_linuxmint

Then edit the icons file in the same folder and added the line below to make the icons work:

-linuxmint { image = “$$/normal_linuxmint.png:$$/hover_linuxmint.png” }

4. Update burg boot loader:

sudo update-burg

5. Now you’re able to test your boot entries via:

sudo burg-emu

In testing mode, press F2 to switch the themes. You can also press F3 to change resolution in the real burg boot menu.

Tips: You can edit the “menuentry” sections in “/boot/burg/burg.cfg” to remove unwanted menu entries.
Also uncomment “GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_RECOVERY=”true”” in “/etc/defaut/burg” will hide the recovery mode.

Restore Grub:

To revert back to original grub boot loader, run the command below in terminal:

sudo grub-install /dev/sda

/dev/sda is the disk name (Run sudo fdisk -l to check it out).

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I'm a freelance blogger who started using Ubuntu in 2007 and wishes to share my experiences and some useful tips with Ubuntu beginners and lovers. Please comment to let me know if the tutorial is outdated! And, notify me if you find any typo/grammar/language mistakes. English is not my native language. Contact me via ubuntuhandbook1@gmail.com Buy me a coffee: https://ko-fi.com/ubuntuhandbook1

4 responses to Beautify Your Boot Menu with Burg in Ubuntu or Linux Mint

  1. Thanks for effort, I tried to follow steps, but faced two problems, but fixed using google !!
    firstly once type sudo update-burg … getting this message, ” Generating burg.cfg …
    /usr/sbin/burg-probe: error: cannot stat `/boot/burg/locale’.
    No path or device is specified.
    Try `/usr/sbin/burg-probe –help’ for more information. ”
    to fix this simply type sudo burg-install “(hd0)” or whatever you hd#
    second one is Missing LinuxMint icons in the Metro,
    to fix this we have to edit in the icons file , modifying linuxmint to LinuxMint ( Capital L & M) .. the problem will be fixed.
    Thanks bro

  2. this is not working for me. When i type sudo burg-emu in terminal. It gives me:

    BURG version 1.98+20100623-2.3

    Minimal BASH-like line editing is supported. For the first word, TAB
    lists possible command completions. Anywhere else TAB lists possible
    device or file completions.

    grub>

    I did not do the part regarding the linuxmint logo because I don’t us mint. I have ubuntu, ChaletOS, and Netrunner Rolling.
    Please let me know what i need to do to fix this. Really want to try that Metro look! Thanks,

  3. i tried to follows the steps, but no charged images of linuxmint, to fix that issues, you have to change quotes if you do copy and paste, (sorry about muy poor english)

  4. hello,
    when I make
    sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:n-muench/burg
    sudo apt-get update
    my system goes in error:
    Err http://ppa.launchpad.net wily/main amd64 Packages 404 Not Found
    Err http://ppa.launchpad.net wily/main i386 Packages 404 Not Found

    I’ve Ubuntu 15.10
    any suggestions? thanks.