1. First we’ll have to download the splash image package for Ubuntu. Bring up a terminal window by hitting ALT+F2 and typing “gnome-terminal“. In the terminal window type the following command.

sudo apt-get install grub2-splashimages

2. This will install the splash image package. Let’s check what splash images are installed. These images can be found at:

/usr/share/images/grub/

On the terminal type the following command:

cd  /usr/share/images/grub/
 
ls

You’ll see a list of available splash theme for grub 2.

The files are in .tga format which is a image format. Following is a thumbnail of all the files:

3. All you need is to zero down on the image you want to have as your grub splash image. I found them boring, so I created my own image.

• Downloaded an image from here. (Caution, this image could be NSFW)

• Using Gimp, I resized the image to 640×480 and saved it by name ubuntu-girl.tga (Unfortunately, that is the dimension supported by Grub 2. However, you can also use a larger dimension image but it’ll be cut at the Grub splash.
• I then moved the image to /usr/share/images/grub/
• Final image looks like this:

4. Now we have to tell Grub 2 to use this image. To do so, type the following command at terminal:

sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme

find the line

for i in {/boot/grub,/usr/share/images/desktop-base}/moreblue-orbit-grub.{png,tga}; do

and replace it with the following

for i in {/boot/grub,/usr/share/images/desktop-base,/usr/share/images/grub}/ubuntu-girl.{png,tga}; do

5. All that is left now is to update grub 2 . Type the following command on terminal

sudo update-grub

Grub 2 will detect the new theme and you should see something like this

(This is a little old screenshot and here the background is named Aesculus hippo…. However it should be ubuntu-girl.tga)

All that is left now is to reboot the machine to check the new sexy grub 2 splash in action.