GRUB not showing up in Pop!_OS

Question

I recently installed Pop!_OS on my laptop and I couldn't get grub to show up in the boot screen. My laptop just keeps showing me a black screen at startup and then boots directly into Pop. I've tried editing my grub config file to show the menu for 6 seconds before booting into the OS:

`GRUB_TIMEOUT=6,GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu`

But it keeps booting the same way it used to before editing the file.

I have the latest version of grub.

For the record, I don't have any dual boot setup, just the Pop!_OS. But I do plan to install Windows as a dual boot setup, that's why I'm trying to get grub working properly.

Edit: I found out recently that Pop!_OS uses systemd-boot as the bootloader, and had installed grub manually. But i think Pop!_OS still detects systemd-boot as the default bootloader. Is there any way to remove systemd-boot and use grub or maybe use systemd-boot as a boot menu (I just want a functioning boot menu for my dual boot setup as I mentioned).

Solution

Pop!_OS uses systemd-boot instead of GRUB. By default it boots Pop!_OS. You can set a boot menu timeout by setting timeout 10 in /boot/efi/loader/loader.conf.

timeout – menu timeout in seconds before the default entry is booted. If this is not set, the menu will only be shown on space key (or most other keys actually work too) pressed [repeatedly] during boot.

1. Open /boot/efi/loader/loader.conf for editing in nano text editor.

    sudo nano /boot/efi/loader/loader.conf
   

2. Add a new line that says timeout 10

3. Save the file. Press the keyboard combination Ctrl+O and after that press Enter to save the change that was made to /boot/efi/loader/loader.conf. Press the keyboard combination Ctrl+X to exit nano.

Comments

[oldfred]

Pop!OS does not use grub, it uses SystemD-Boot. So editing grub settings will not make any change unless you are not using the default SystemD boot. manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/cosmic/man7/systemd-boot.7.html

[SvgG0D]

actually i installed grub manually, thinking it would override systemd boot. but if it's still there, how do i remove it safely ?

[SvgG0D]

actually I did all of the steps, still nothing. My grub version is 2.04 as i checked from grub-install --version

[SvgG0D]

My loader.conf file has only one line in it, "default Pop_OS-current". Should i add the timeout line ? Also, is there anyway to make the boot menu show up by default without having to press any keys? That would be awesome.

[karel]

Add a new line to loader.conf that says timeout 10 For more information see Options section of loader.conf manual.

[karel]

First run apt search '^grub' | grep installed to list which grub packages are installed. Then run apt remove --simulate package-name to simulate removing the grub packages, one package at a time. You don't need to use sudo because it's just a simulation. Check the results to see if the simulated grub package removal would break anything, before you uninstall any packages for real.

[SvgG0D]

wow didn't know about this simulate function, it's awesome. Thanks again.