Change grub wallpaper/background image/theme in Kali Linux latest version [How-to]

How to change grub bootloader's default wallpaper/background image/ theme in Kali Linux latest version that's what we're gonna see in this post. If you are a windows user who recently migrated to Kali Linux then you might feel like Kali Linux lacks the most customization's that we do in Windows at first. But the truth is this debian distro has more customization options than the Windows when used right. So, whether you are a new Kali linux user who want to know how to change grub wallpaper in your kali linux PC or a linux user who doesn't like the default grub wallpaper and want to change it, this guide is for you.

So, as usual you don't need any kind of softwares for this too. Just follow the upcoming steps.


Change grub wallpaper/background image in Kali Linux latest version [How-to]



How to change default grub Wallpaper in Kali Linux latest version [Guide]

Inorder to change the default wallpaper we first need to know, from where this grub loads the wallpaper right? So, let's dig in and find out. 

We will apply this logic. As grub is the one which gets booted first, we can find it directly from boot folder. Navigate to Computer boot-> grub -> themes-> kali there you can see the images named grub-16x9.png and grub-4x3.png files those are the files that grub looks when loading the bootloader, hmm.. but wait a minute. Let's look into the config file grub_background.sh If you had opened that file then you can see the reference for the wallpaper as usr/share/images/desktop-base/desktop-grub.png. 

So, go and navigate to the folder, because if you are using Kali then you need to dive deep and find out what's exactly happening. After your research, you can see both are almost same so don't get confused, just imagine like its backing up the file at the desktop-grub and loads from there, because that's what it nearly does you will see why i said this later. 

Now, after downloading the wallpaper or opening your wallpaper, all we need to do is just replace the files on the boot section. So, first rename the files you had downloaded to grub-16x9.png and grub-4x3.png because we don't need to complicate things by changing references again. After you renamed the file, then open terminal.

If you got permission error, then see this post(link opens in new window).

2) Escalate the privilege to root . Type Su and hit enter -> Type password of root and Hit enter.

3) Now type the following command.

cp -r (your  wallpaper directory) (file directory of where you want to copy the file)

For example : If you are copying file from downloads to our folder then our actual command will be like..

cp -r /home/lw/Downloads/grub-16x9.png /boot/grub/themes/kali

repeat the step for 4x3.png file as well. i.e;

cp -r /home/lw/Downloads/grub-4x3.png /boot/grub/themes/kali

Hit enter, now you see both of your files being replaced. 

Now, again type "update-grub" and hit enter

Wait for few minutes so that grub can rebuild its files.

That's it you can restart the system to check, you can see your grub wallpaper being changed on your kali Linux.

Now, if you have time then visit the usr/share, section we had seen earlier, you can see our same grub wallpaper file getting copied there.

If you got error message like error :.png not valid image during grub boot then you might have done the same mistake i did, renaming .jpg file to .png file so use proper tools or simply visit any site and convert your image to .png and follow the above steps it will work this time.

Enjoy :)