GRUB-MKSTANDALONE(1)

📦
version 2.12 · 6 versions
, in fedora 43, fedora 44

💖 GRUB-MKSTANDALONE(1) 💖

hi bestie!! so this page is GRUB-MKSTANDALONE, section 1, from the User Commands chapter, and it's genuinely one of the most useful little gremlins in the whole GRUB family. buckle up, we're building a standalone image and it's gonna be iconic 🦋✨

🌸 NAME 🌸

grub-mkstandalone — make a memdisk-based GRUB image. that's it. that's the whole vibe. memdisk-based means everything lives inside the image, no cap 💅

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

grub-mkstandalone [OPTION...] [OPTION] SOURCE...

🎀 DESCRIPTION 🎀

okay so the tea is: this tool generates a standalone image (containing all modules, yes ALL of them) in the format you select. it's giving "everything in one bag, i don't need your filesystem" energy 👑

here's every single flag, no skips, no cuts, we're doing this properly:

  • --appended-signature-size=SIZE — adds a note segment that reserves SIZE bytes so an appended signature can live there later 🔏
  • --compress=no|xz|gz|lzo — compress the GRUB files. it's optional, so like, do it if you want.
  • --disable-cli — disables command line interface access. no shell for you, bestie 🚫
  • --disable-shim-lock — disables the shim_lock verifier.
  • --dtb=FILE — embeds one specific DTB 🌳
  • -d, --directory=DIR — use images and modules under DIR. default is [default=/usr/lib/grub/<platform>]
  • --fonts=FONTS — install FONTS. default is [default=unicode] 🔤
  • --install-modules=MODULES — install only MODULES and their dependencies. default is [default=all] (so yeah, default is literally everything)
  • -k, --pubkey=FILE — embed FILE as a public key for signature checking 🔑
  • --locale-directory=DIR — use translations under DIR. default is [default=/usr/share/locale]
  • --locales=LOCALES — install only LOCALES. default is [default=all] 🌍
  • --modules=MODULES — pre-load the specified modules MODULES.
  • --sbat=FILE — SBAT metadata.
  • --themes=THEMES — install THEMES. default is [default=starfield] ✨ (yes the pretty one)
  • -v, --verbose — print verbose messages. (note the period, it's in the original, i'm being faithful 🫶)
  • -x, --x509key=FILE — embed FILE as an x509 certificate for signature checking 📜
  • --core-compress=xz|none|auto — choose the compression to use for the core image.
  • -o, --output=FILE — save output in FILE. [required] so like, don't forget it, fr fr 😭
  • -O, --format=FILE — generate an image in FORMAT. the available formats are, and i am listing every last one because we don't gatekeep:
i386-coreboot, i386-multiboot, i386-pc, i386-xen_pvh, i386-pc-pxe,
i386-pc-eltorito, i386-efi, i386-ieee1275, i386-qemu, x86_64-efi,
i386-xen, x86_64-xen, mipsel-yeeloong-flash,
mipsel-fuloong2f-flash, mipsel-loongson-elf, powerpc-ieee1275,
sparc64-ieee1275-raw, sparc64-ieee1275-cdcore,
sparc64-ieee1275-aout, ia64-efi, mips-arc, mipsel-arc,
mipsel-qemu_mips-elf, mips-qemu_mips-flash,
mipsel-qemu_mips-flash, mips-qemu_mips-elf, arm-uboot,
arm-coreboot-vexpress, arm-coreboot-veyron, arm-efi, arm64-efi,
loongarch64-efi, riscv32-efi, riscv64-efi
  • -?, --help — give this help list 🆘
  • --usage — give a short usage message.
  • -V, --version — print program version.
real talk though: mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional for any corresponding short options. so if the long one needs a value, the short one needs that same value. don't get caught slipping 💀

also, and this is the fun bit — Graft point syntax (E.g. /boot/grub/grub.cfg=./grub.cfg) is accepted 🌈 so you can map paths inside the image to files on your machine, iykyk.

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

found a bug? report it to <bug-grub@gnu.org>. be nice, they're doing their best 🫶

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

the full documentation for grub-mkstandalone is maintained as a Texinfo manual. if the info and grub-mkstandalone programs are properly installed at your site, this command:

info grub-mkstandalone

should give you access to the complete manual 📖✨

okay that's the whole page!! this was GRUB 2.12, dated April 2026, and the page is GRUB-MKSTANDALONE(1) — go forth and build your image, bestie, you're gonna eat 💅👑🌸

📦 where this page comes from