Understanding the GRUB 2 bootloader

Serving Up GRUB

© Photo by Bas Peperzak on Unsplash

© Photo by Bas Peperzak on Unsplash

Article from Issue 300/2025
Author(s):

Deeper knowledge of the GRUB 2 bootloader will help you with troubleshooting and customizing your Linux boot environment.

Initially released in 1995, the GRUB bootloader has been around for 30 years. A major rewrite began around 2002 resulting in GRUB 2. Even today, the overwhelming majority of Linux computers continue to rely on GRUB.

Despite GRUB's advanced age, most Linux users are only vaguely aware of GRUB's existence. GRUB typically operates silently in the background – the average user doesn't notice it during operating system installation or the boot process. If a user does see GRUB, this typically means something has gone seriously wrong. Because attempting to understand GRUB in that moment creates significant stress, you should have at least a basic understanding of GRUB's architecture and configuration so that you know your recovery options should a crisis arise.

The GRUB bootloader is actually called GRUB 2 to distinguish it from the first version. I will use the name GRUB 2 even though the old version isn't really around anymore.

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