Unable to change grub menu entries because of grub customizer not working

I used to be able to use Grub Customizer to fix this issue, but now it doesn’t work on Manjaro.
I need to modify the configuration of menu entries for grub.
For instance, here’s roughly how my grub looks:

Manjaro
Some older kernel versions of Manjaro to revert back to
Windows 10
Another copy of Windows 10 with another name

It’s honestly a mess. The only place I see where you can actually change these is in /boot/grub/grub.cfg. However, as the large note at the top says, editing this file will literally do nothing.
What do I do here?

I literally cannot get this question resolved. I have tried looking this up a thousand times. What is it with Manjaro’s forums?

Okay, that’s it. I’m switching back to a Debian-based distro. Manjaro is beautiful, but it’s way too buggy for me.

It also tells you where the editing is done.

Well I wouldn’t use grub-customizer myself. I’ve seen a few broken grubs, unable to boot issues with it in my time. Grub customizer is a known source of malformed grub configs and is fundamentally a bad idea.

I used it in the past, with ubuntu, but stopped using it when I used Mint, also it messes up the Manjaro specific configs. It might work well in Arch, but I haven’t bothered since my Ubuntu days.

Now let’s play with it…

Let’s start by opening your /boot/grub/grub.cfg.
kate /boot/grub/grub.cfg

#
# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

Given that you read over a thousand posts about this, it’s a shame you didn’t read this… it uses settings from /etc/grub.d and /etc/default/grub

It’s pretty straightforward.
Step 1: maybe backup your grub file for reference,
sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.BAK

Before editing: kate /etc/default/grub

Find unwanted entries, select, delete, save.

When you’re finished, you must run update-grub.

If anything I’d say it’s the mindset of Ubuntu users that think you must install grub-customizer to do the job which is wrong. If that suits you, then go back by all means. There are many issues with grub-customizer (not least the fact that it needs PPA installation, it isn’t supported by ubuntu either… and the latest version is from 2018).

I loved grub-customiser when I discovered it in about 2011, but now it’s 2021.

This from Mint:

This from Garuda:

Never use Grub-customizer unless you want problems.

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I also don’t recommend this but if u want u can build grub-customizer urself…very easy
Install cmake, build-essential

Then download the source files(small size, don’t worry)…extract that…open terminal and cd to grub-customizer directory

(cd ~/Downloads/Grub-customizer)

cmake . && make -j8

sudo make install

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I agree with you. I had much the same experience with grub-customizer back in the day with Ubuntu/Kubuntu. I pretty much came to the conclusion that it was just adding another layer of complexity to grub which I didn’t need.

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This from 2016 is as far back as I can find on Manjaro forum

grub-customizer-possible-caveats | archived.forum.manjaro.org
Grub customizer can cause a lot of issues because it’s editing the /boot/grub/grub.cfg directly, which is not recommended. Just edit /etc/default/grub and do sudo update-grub. It’s safer

and there have been many similar warnings since then about what this package can do to Manjaro GRUB

Ubuntu users may think they have need of this package because they are accustomed to GRUB always booting from the first menuentry, but that is not how Manjaro GRUB normally rolls

We have GRUB_DEFAULT=saved and GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true
(Help setting default grub entry)
If a user chooses to boot another option in GRUB the system will continue to boot from that menuentry
That it is how I like Linux to behave - Say something once, why say it again?

It is allegedly maintained from Launchpad according to pamac, so it could be mistaken for a bonafide package, but there is not much activity from the developer.
One of the 123 “New bugs” will have it’s 9th anniversary next week - #933643

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I have my boot entries like this:
Manjaro linux
Advanced options for Manjaro

Windows boot manager

How do I move windows boot manager to the top…I do not want ‘remember last entry’…I want it to boot the 1st entry always. I can select Manjaro when I am using the pc. I have to do this because my parents also use the pc sometimes and they have 2 do nothing if windows is on top and boots automatically.

update-grub uses grub.cfg. It regenerates it.

So first, take a look. Try bat /etc/default/grub to see the file.

The first line in mine is GRUB_DEFAULT=saved

Look also at this one:
cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg | grep menuentry

If windows is number 1, then edit /etc/default.grub and change to GRUB_DEFAULT=1

Finished? Then do update-grub and reboot.

Once it’s right, you can adjust the timeout. I keep mine either 0 or maybe 2 seconds for short (catch it with the shift key when you boot) - so your family can just boot into Windows.

Try to work on skills searching - as most answers relate to the evil Ubuntu and are often either wrong, or simply outdated anyway. I’d forgotten this last month when I wanted to edit my boot up tune, and I’m sure it came from a search in duckduckgo within the first 2-3 results.

Of course, every other answer says you should use grub-customizer even though it is so out of whack that it’s practically malware by now. People spout answers they remember, not ones they know are good.

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You may wish to consider Option B in my post here:

Creating your own custom entries in custom.cfg

Grub Customizer is now working again with Manjaro.
There is a good reason why it’s back …

And that is?

@datiswous It was said that the customizer was no longer compatible with Grub and this problem now seems to be resolved. The customizer was then released again. I deduce from this that the Manjaro team does not want to follow the argument that the customizer is a devil’s tool. :+1:

I think nobody with any self respect would use this tool, designed specifically for Ubuntu noobs to encourage them to avoid doing anything directly.

As we already pointed out, it’s pretty much childsplay to do the job without a foreign tool. Stick with official Manjaro methods and if you can’t simply do the job without the Ubuntu customizer, then don’t bother doing it at all - there’s no real benefit in it as far as I can see.

Everyone can decide for themselves, whether to use the customizer or not. I don’t understand, why people keep coming up who want to have a clarifying conversation via the customizer. In addition, I am against your assumption, that users of the Grub Customizer have a lack of self-respect. I wish that satisfied users of the Customizer would not need a justification for satisfaction here.

This is like being in a Kindergarten.

The op said:

  • "It’s honestly a mess. The only place I see where you can actually change these is in /boot/grub/grub.cfg. However, as the large note at the top says, editing this file will literally do nothing.
    What do I do here?

The answer is that you shouldn’t change them in /boot/grub/grub.cfg, you should edit /etc/default.grub and then run update-grub.

Grub customizer is not required, simply reading and understanding the grub.cfg file is much more useful, and can also be done when no desktop is available.

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With all the negativity around Grub Customizer from Manjaro users, I find it strange that it is in the repo.

It’s an Arch package. Arch Linux - grub-customizer 5.1.0-2 (x86_64)

So it comes automatically in Manjaro repos.

Oh I didn’t know that. I thought that everything got repackaged for Manjaro, except core and everything from AUR of course.