How to set a grub menu theme in linux?

I am using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, and every time I boot, a pretty old style grub-menu pops up. I want to change the grub-menu theme, but don't know how to do it ?

3 Answers

After searching a lot, there was some methods to do it but I liked the theme available on the

The process is simple, first download the package as per to your choice, which is in my case is Ubuntu.tar

Extract the downloaded package in /boot/grub/themebut before doing it we have to create a directory in this path to avoid confusion if we have more than one theme.

In my computer there is not theme folder, so first creating the theme folder:

cd /boot/grub/
sudo mkdir theme

after this, create the theme folder in the /boot/grub/theme/ to extract the package files in it, In my case the theme folder is Ubuntu

sudo mkdir Ubuntu

Now we have to extract the package in the theme folder, so I will use tar command, go back to your package directory and type the below command:

#sudo tar -xvf [Package_name] -C /boot/grub/theme/[Folder_name]
sudo tar -xvf Ubuntu.tar -C /boot/grub/theme/Ubuntu

the package will be extracted to theme folder, now we have to edit the file /etc/default/grub, open the file with gedit or nano editor:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

and add the line,

GRUB_THEME=/boot/grub/theme/[THEME_FOLDER]/theme.txt

In my case the THEME_FOLDER is Ubuntu, so:

GRUB_THEME=/boot/grub/theme/Ubuntu/theme.txt

save it.

and the last step is to update the grub

sudo update-grub

There is also an easy solution to this problem.

The process is simple, first download the package as per to your choice, which is in my case is dark-matter-pop.zip available at .

Download it and Extract it. then go to its directory using:

cd dark-matter-pop 

and run the install file in the terminal.[It can be install.sh or install.py]

if the file is install.sh then execute it using:

sudo ./install.sh

Or if the file is install.py ,which is in my case,then first you need to install python

sudo apt install python3

Then install the file using:

sudo python3 install.py

Then restart your computer.

my boot screen

You also can use Grub-Customizer to install a theme.
How to Install Grub Customizer

Step 1: Open the Terminal application

Open your Ubuntu command line, the Terminal, either through the system Dash or the Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut.

Open Ubuntu Terminal Step 2: Add Grub Customizer PPA repository to your system

Enter the following command in order to add the Grub Customizer PPA repository to your system. This will help you in installing the required software, and also enable your system to fetch upgrades and updates from the added repository in the future.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer

Tip: Instead of typing the command, you can copy it from here and paste into the Terminal by using the Ctrl+Shift+V, or by using the Paste option from the right-click menu.

Please note that only an authorized user can add, remove and configure software on Ubuntu. Enter the password for sudo, after which the PPA repository will be added to your system.
Step 3: Upgrade your system’s Repository Index

The next step is to update your system’s repository index through the following command:

$ sudo apt-get update

This helps you in installing the latest available version of a software from the Internet.

Step 4: Install Grub Customizer

Now that you are done with all the prerequisites required to install the Grub Customizer, use the following command as sudo in order to install it on your system:

$ sudo apt-get install grub-customizer

The system will prompt you with a Y/n option to proceed with the installation procedure. Enter Y to continue after which the software will be installed on your system.
Step 5: Verify Grub Customizer Installation

After you have installed the Grub Customizer, you can use one of the following two options to ensure that it is indeed installed on your system:

$ grub-customizer --version

Launch Grub Customizer

You can launch the Grub Customizer through the command line by entering the following command:

$ grub-customizer

Get administrative privileges

The software requires root access to run the software as only an authorized user can make configurations to the system Grub.

Enter the password for root and click the Authenticate button after which the Grub Customizer’s UI will launch on your system.

You can launch the software through the system Dash search results as follows:

Grub Customizer Icon

You need the third tab. See picture. With the plus you can download themes, or you can just use your own picture ( has to be called background.png which you need to store in /boot/grub/theme ).

This is the more GUI way to add themes. And the program has a lot more options than only this. Some people swear by it, some people hate this program.

As always the choice is yours.