Is it possible to completely disable Grub timeout?

Solution 1:

Edit /etc/default/grub (with root privileges), change GRUB_TIMEOUT value from 10 to -1, save the file and then run sudo update-grub. Reboot and now you have infinite time to choose the OS.

While this works in GRUB, it doesn't work with BURG, and you'll have to change GRUB_TIMEOUT value to some large number like 120 seconds to wait before booting into any OS and run sudo update-burg to reflect the changes. Also note that this change must be made to file /etc/default/burg as BURG doesn't consider options set in /etc/default/grub

Solution 2:

Setting timeout to -1 will make GRUB wait infinitely.

By that I mean that you will be required to manually select an entry and hit Enter before launching any OS.

Solution 3:

When running update-grub a warning says that setting grubtimeout to a non zero number is no longer supported. No matter what I changed the grub timeout value to timeout stayed at 10. If you are having this problem the workaround is editing the grub.cfg file located in /boot/grub. Near the end the script says IF TIMEOUT = 0 then timeout= 10. Change 10 to -1. No more countdown.

1. gksu gedit /boot/grub/grub.cfg

2. Find the part of the script around the end that says IF TIMEOUT = 0 then timeout= 10. Change 10 to -1.

This is a workaround it will be reverted if update-grub is ever run. Not permanent unless update-grub is not manually run.

(Works on 14.04.)