SDB:Changing the Splash Screen's Default Settings

Version: 8.2

Situation

From SuSE 8.2 on, you can press F2 before launching the boot process to select whether the boot messages should be displayed on a colored splash screen ("verbose"), on a black console ("native"), or be skipped ("silent"). The default setting is "silent" and you want to change it.

Procedure

If you use GRUB as your boot loader (standard in SuSE 8.2), open the file /boot/grub/menu.lst as root with an editor of your choice. Search for the section title linux and change the parameter splash=silent in the line starting with kernel. After changing it, the line may look like this:

title linux
   kernel (hd0,0)/vmlinuz root=/dev/hda3  vga=0x317 splash=verbose showopts
   initrd (hd0,0)/initrd

According to this example, GRUB will read this entry the next time the system boots and the boot messages will be displayed on the splash screen.

If you use LILO as your boot loader, change the parameter splash=silent as root in the file /etc/lilo.conf. Search for the line label = linux and change the append line included in that section. After changing it, the line may look like this:

image = /boot/vmlinuz
    label = linux
    append = "splash=verbose"
    initrd = /boot/initrd
    root = /dev/hda3
    vga = 0x317

Save the file and execute lilo to reinstall the boot loader.

Problems with the Splash Screen

If after setting the parameter splash=verbose, the black console is loaded instead of the splash screen, use the command mkinitrd to create a new initial ramdisk and make sure the "splash picture" is included in it. If you use LILO as your boot loader, execute the command lilo later to rewrite the boot loader. <keyword>boot,grub,lilo,splash,screen,bootmanager,bootloader</keyword>