GRUB-INSTALL(8)

📦
version 2.14 · 15 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 GRUB-INSTALL(8) 💖

okay bestie, gather round, because this is the System Administration Utilities page for grub-install, and it is genuinely one of the most powerful little gremlins in your whole system. let's get into it 🫶

✨ NAME ✨

grub-install — install GRUB to a device

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

grub-install [OPTION...] [OPTION] [INSTALL_DEVICE]

✨ DESCRIPTION ✨

Install GRUB on your drive. that's it. that's the whole vibe. 👑

ngl this is the moment where your bootloader gets a permanent home, so read the flags before you yeet them at your disk, fr fr.
  • --appended-signature-size=SIZE — add a note segment that reserves SIZE bytes for an appended signature ✍️
  • --compress=no|xz|gz|lzo — compress GRUB files [optional]
  • --disable-cli — disabled command line interface access 🙅‍♀️
  • --disable-shim-lock — disable the shim_lock verifier
  • --dtb=FILE — embed a specific DTB
  • -d, --directory=DIR — use images and modules under DIR [default=/usr/lib/grub/<platform>]
  • --fonts=FONTS — install FONTS [default=unicode]
  • --install-modules=MODULES — install only MODULES and their dependencies [default=all]
  • -k, --pubkey=FILE — embed FILE as public key for signature checking 🔐
  • --locale-directory=DIR — use translations under DIR [default=/usr/share/locale]
  • --locales=LOCALES — install only LOCALES [default=all]
  • --modules=MODULES — pre-load specified modules MODULES
  • --sbat=FILE — SBAT metadata
  • --themes=THEMES — install THEMES [default=starfield] 🌌 (starfield is iconic, no notes)
  • -v, --verbose — print verbose messages.
  • -x, --x509key=FILE — embed FILE as an x509 certificate for appended signature checking
  • --allow-floppy — make the drive also bootable as floppy (default for fdX devices). May break on some BIOSes. ⚠️
  • --boot-directory=DIR — install GRUB images under the directory DIR/grub instead of the boot/grub directory
  • --bootloader-id=ID — the ID of bootloader. This option is only available on EFI and Macs.
  • --core-compress=xz|none|auto — choose the compression to use for core image
  • --disk-module=MODULE — disk module to use (biosdisk or native). This option is only available on BIOS target.
  • --efi-directory=DIR — use DIR as the EFI System Partition root.
  • --force — install even if problems are detected 😤
  • --force-file-id — use identifier file even if UUID is available
  • --label-bgcolor=COLOR — use COLOR for label background 🎨
  • --label-color=COLOR — use COLOR for label
  • --label-font=FILE — use FILE as font for label
  • --macppc-directory=DIR — use DIR for PPC MAC install.
  • --no-bootsector — do not install bootsector
  • --no-extra-removable — Do not install bootloader code to the removable media path. This option is only available on EFI.
  • --no-nvram — don't update the boot-device/Boot* NVRAM variables. This option is only available on EFI and IEEE1275 targets.
  • --no-rs-codes — Do not apply any reed-solomon codes when embedding core.img. This option is only available on x86 BIOS targets.
  • --no-uefi-secure-boot — do not install an image usable with UEFI Secure Boot, even if the system was currently started using it. This option is only available on EFI.
  • --product-version=STRING — use STRING as product version
  • --recheck — delete device map if it already exists 🔁
  • --removable — the installation device is removable. This option is only available on EFI.
  • -s, --skip-fs-probe — do not probe for filesystems in DEVICE
  • --target=TARGET — install GRUB for TARGET platform [default=i386-pc]; available targets: arm-coreboot, arm-efi, arm-uboot, arm64-efi, i386-coreboot, i386-efi, i386-ieee1275, i386-multiboot, i386-pc, i386-qemu, i386-xen, i386-xen_pvh, ia64-efi, loongarch64-efi, mips-arc, mips-qemu_mips, mipsel-arc, mipsel-loongson, mipsel-qemu_mips, powerpc-ieee1275, riscv32-efi, riscv64-efi, sparc64-ieee1275, x86_64-efi, x86_64-xen
  • --uefi-secure-boot — install an image usable with UEFI Secure Boot. This option is only available on EFI and if the grub-efi-amd64-signed package is installed.
  • -?, --help — give this help list
  • --usage — give a short usage message
  • -V, --version — print program version

Mandatory or optional arguments to long options are also mandatory or optional for any corresponding short options.

INSTALL_DEVICE must be system device filename. grub-install copies GRUB images into boot/grub. On some platforms, it may also install GRUB into the boot sector. 🦋

🐛 REPORTING BUGS 🐛

Report bugs to <bug-grub@gnu.org>.

bestie if something's cursed, tell the maintainers, don't just sit there screaming at your terminal (we've all been there tho 😭)

👀 SEE ALSO 👀

grub-mkconfig(8), grub-mkimage(1), grub-mkrescue(1)

The full documentation for grub-install is maintained as a Texinfo manual. If the info and grub-install programs are properly installed at your site, the command

info grub-install

should give you access to the complete manual. 📖✨

and that's the whole page, bestie!! this is GRUB 2.14-2ubuntu3, dated July 2026, and honestly? go forth and install your bootloader with main character energy. you got this. periodt 💅🎀

📦 where this page comes from