How To Change GRUB Theme In Linux

Want to customize the look of your boot menu? Changing your GRUB theme is a great way to personalize your Linux system. With just a few tweaks, you can replace the basic black-and-white bootloader with something cleaner or more colorful.

This guide will walk you through how to change the GRUB theme on most Linux distros, including Ubuntu, Debian, Arch, Fedora, and more.

🧰 What You’ll Need

• A Linux system with GRUB 2 installed (default on most distros)
• Root or sudo access
• A GRUB theme (we’ll show where to get one)

🔽 Step 1: Download a GRUB Theme

You can find free themes on websites like:

• https://www.gnome-look.org
• https://github.com (search “GRUB theme”)

Download the theme you like and extract it. Inside, you should see files like:

• theme.txt
• Background image (.png or .jpg)
• Fonts, icons, and layout files

📁 Step 2: Copy Theme to GRUB Directory

Let’s say you extracted the theme to your Downloads folder.

1. Open a terminal.
2. Move the theme folder to GRUB’s theme directory:

sudo mkdir -p /boot/grub/themes

sudo cp -r ~/Downloads/theme-name /boot/grub/themes/

Replace theme-name with the actual folder name of your theme.

🖊️ Step 3: Set the Theme in GRUB Config

1. Open the GRUB config file in a text editor:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub

2. Add this line at the bottom (or update it if it exists):

GRUB_THEME="/boot/grub/themes/theme-name/theme.txt"

Make sure the path matches the exact location of the theme.txt file.

3. Save and exit (Ctrl + X, then Y, then Enter in nano).

🔄 Step 4: Update GRUB

After setting the theme, you need to regenerate the GRUB config:

• On Debian/Ubuntu and derivatives:

sudo update-grub

• On Arch/Fedora and others:

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

🔁 Step 5: Reboot and Enjoy

Restart your system:

sudo reboot

You should now see your new GRUB theme at boot.

🧹 How to Revert to Default

If something breaks or you don’t like the theme:

1. Open /etc/default/grub again and remove or comment out the GRUB_THEME line.
2. Run the GRUB update command again.
3. Reboot to go back to the default look.

✅ Final Tips

• Some themes may not render correctly on certain resolutions—try different ones if yours looks off.
• You can install multiple themes and switch between them by changing the GRUB_THEME path.
• Avoid editing GRUB during critical updates—back up your config first.

Want me to help you build a custom GRUB theme with your own image and fonts? Let me know in the comments!