Windows 10: Linux VM's - increase boot menu delay time to select different kernel

Hi there

For those running Linux VM's especially with VMware where you have several kernels installed - the default is often TOO quick to be able to select the kernel you want to use

Note this is AFTER the VM starts booting - it's the VM boot screen not the "Virtual Bios" where you can select the boot device.

Easy trick

edit the defaults file in etc/default/grub

GRUB_TIMEOUT=10
GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="$(sed 's, release .*$,,g' /etc/system-release)"
GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU=true
GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT="console"
GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="rd.lvm.lv=centos/root rd.lvm.lv=centos/swap rhgb quiet"
GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true

set the TIMEOUT to the value you want - 10 is usually plenty long enough

If you want your specific kernel to be top of the list then starting with 0 look at the entries in the boot and set GRUB_DEFAULT = n (starting with 0) so if your kernel is 2nd in the list set GRUB_DEFAULT=1).

then re-generate grub and reboot

grub2-mkconfig -o /boot/grub2/grub.cfg

Cheers
jimbo

:)

 

Very slow boot time with Windows 10 Pro on SSD

I recently updated my Windows 8.1 64-bit laptop to Windows 8.1 Pro 64-bit then upgraded to Windows 10 Pro 64-bit. The change has increased the boot time from 10-15 seconds to around 80 seconds. The laptop boots, does the POST, displays the Windows loading
gimble, then sits there with a blank screen until the login screen appears and I can login; the login is quick. Once the laptop is up and running it's as quick as before, it's just the total boot up time that's increased 5 times.

The event IDs I see are sometimes a bit random but the one thing I see regularly are Kernel-Boot events 18, 32, 25 and 27 in that order. The time taken from the event preceding Kernel-Boot event ID 18 to Kernel-Boot event ID 18 being logged is usually about
70 seconds.

Kernel-Boot Event ID 27 - The boot type was 0x1.

Kernel-Boot Event ID 25 - The boot menu policy was 0x1.

Kernel-Boot Event ID 32 - The bootmgr spent 0 ms waiting for user input.

Kernel-Boot Event ID 28 - There are 0x1 boot options on this system.

BTHUSB Event ID 18 - Windows cannot store Bluetooth authentication codes (link keys) on the local adapter. Bluetooth keyboards might not work in the system BIOS during start-up.

So in this case the time delay between BTHUSB Event ID 18 and Kernel-Boot Event ID 18 was 72 seconds. I get regular events logged about my bluetooth adapter not supporting low power options, but that's usual and has happened since Windows 7, so I don't
think that's it. I've updated all the drivers I can find and the laptop is on the latest BIOS. Before the upgrades the boot time was very quick so I doubt this is a hardware issue.

HP ENVY 14, Intel i7 (8 processors), 8GB RAM and Samsung SSD 840 EVO 1TB.

 

Hyper-V does not boot ISO image, but VMWare Player does

I have Win 10 pro with Hyper-V. I have created a new Generation 1 and Generation 2 VM and point the ISO image to boot. On connecting and starting either of the VMs (only 1 at a time), the only thing i see is Connecting to Yogesh-Linux (which is the name
of my VM). It does not go any further. I installed VMWare player and disabled Credential Guard as required by it and created a new VM pointing to the same ISO image. VMWare player was able to boot the image and complete the install of the Ubuntu Linux.

 

Thanks for the info Jimbo . . .*Smile