# Switch to boot by LABEL with grub2 in Rocky 9 **URL:** \ **Category:** Rocky Linux Help & Support\ **Tags:** rocky-linux-9\ **Created:** [July 30, 2024, 10:55am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/switch-to-boot-by-label-with-grub2-in-rocky-9/15269 "2024-07-30T10:55:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![heiko.wuest](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/heiko.wuest/32/4599_2.png) [@heiko.wuest](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/heiko.wuest)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2024, 10:55am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/switch-to-boot-by-label-with-grub2-in-rocky-9/15269/1 "2024-07-30T10:55:50Z")
i have a bunch of Rocky 9 vm’s. They are upgraded from centos8 and running with BIOS boot under vmware. I would like to switch that grub2 boots by LABEL instead of disk name or uuid. i changed: ```auto # cat /etc/default/grub GRUB_TIMEOUT=5 GRUB_DISTRIBUTOR="$(sed 's, release .*$,,g' /etc/system-release)" GRUB_DEFAULT=saved GRUB_DISABLE_SUBMENU="true" GRUB_TERMINAL_OUTPUT="console" GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="fsck.mode=force fsck.repair=yes" GRUB_DISABLE_RECOVERY="true" GRUB_ENABLE_BLSCFG="true" GRUB_DISABLE_LINUX_UUID="true" GRUB_ENABLE_LINUX_LABEL="true" ``` ```auto # grubby --info ALL index=0 kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.14.0-427.26.1.el9_4.x86_64" args="ro fsck.mode=force fsck.repair=yes" root="/dev/sda1" initrd="/boot/initramfs-5.14.0-427.26.1.el9_4.x86_64.img $tuned_initrd" title="Rocky Linux (5.14.0-427.26.1.el9_4.x86_64) 9.4 (Blue Onyx)" id="1293acf886cb457d8177f086c1771800-5.14.0-427.26.1.el9_4.x86_64" ``` it allways defaults to the disk /dev/sda1 device. is this the correct parameter? GRUB\_ENABLE\_LINUX\_LABEL=“true” ---
**Author:** ![jlehtone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9a140/32.png) [@jlehtone](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/jlehtone)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2024, 11:30am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/switch-to-boot-by-label-with-grub2-in-rocky-9/15269/2 "2024-07-30T11:30:20Z")
The `/etc/default/grub` is used by `grub2-mkconfig` (and scripts in `/etc/grub.d/`) to generate the `grub.cfg` (and some other files). I don’t see _enable label_ in: ```auto grep -Er "LABEL|GRUB_DISABLE|GRUB_ENABLE" /usr/sbin/grub2-mkconfig /etc/grub.d ``` The “some other files” is now significant – each regular GRUB entry is a file in `/boot/loader/entries/` and you need `grub2-mkconfig --update-bls-cmdline` to recreate them. * * * When new kernel installs, it gets `/boot/loader/entries/*.conf` from `grubby`, which uses `/etc/kernel/cmdline` for some options. The latter file might be updated by `grub2-mkconfig --update-bls-cmdline` or `grubby --update`. Since the “root=…” is copied from `/etc/kernel/cmdline` to every `/boot/loader/entries/*.conf` – not from `/etc/default/grub` – focus on it (or those GRUB…UUID… variables). ---
**Author:** ![heiko.wuest](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/heiko.wuest/32/4599_2.png) [@heiko.wuest](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/heiko.wuest)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2024, 12:41pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/switch-to-boot-by-label-with-grub2-in-rocky-9/15269/3 "2024-07-30T12:41:47Z")
Thanks for your fast help, GRUB\_ENABLE\_LINUX\_LABEL=“true” doesn’t work. There seems to be a patch which never made it in the release: [https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/grub-devel/2023-09/msg00099.html](https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/grub-devel/2023-09/msg00099.html) so `grub2-mkconfig --update-bls-cmdline` seems to recreate `/etc/kernel/cmdline` which creates the needed boot entries: ```auto # grubby --info ALL index=0 kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.14.0-427.26.1.el9_4.x86_64" args="ro root=LABEL=ROOT fsck.mode=force fsck.repair=yes" root="/dev/sda1" initrd="/boot/initramfs-5.14.0-427.26.1.el9_4.x86_64.img $tuned_initrd" title="Rocky Linux (5.14.0-427.26.1.el9_4.x86_64) 9.4 (Blue Onyx)" id="1293acf886cb457d8177f086c1771800-5.14.0-427.26.1.el9_4.x86_64" ``` when i enable UUID: (GRUB\_DISABLE\_LINUX\_UUID=false in /etc/default/grub) ```auto # grubby --info ALL index=0 kernel="/boot/vmlinuz-5.14.0-427.26.1.el9_4.x86_64" args="ro root=LABEL=ROOT fsck.mode=force fsck.repair=yes" root="UUID=1a565525-046b-489b-ad9b-8f0d673c8dfc" ``` so either the entries boot by disk path or by UUID never by label ---
**Author:** ![jlehtone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9a140/32.png) [@jlehtone](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/jlehtone)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2024, 1:09pm UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/switch-to-boot-by-label-with-grub2-in-rocky-9/15269/4 "2024-07-30T13:09:29Z")
> [@heiko.wuest](#): > > so either the entries boot by disk path or by UUID never by label Idea: edit the `/etc/kernel/cmdline` to contain label and do not run grub2-mkconfig after that. (If `grubby` does the edit while changing ‘root=’ in entries, fine, else manually – for future kernels.) ---
**Author:** ![heiko.wuest](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forums.rockylinux.org/heiko.wuest/32/4599_2.png) [@heiko.wuest](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/heiko.wuest)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2024, 7:32am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/switch-to-boot-by-label-with-grub2-in-rocky-9/15269/5 "2024-07-31T07:32:45Z")
![Screenshot 2024-07-31 09.25.34](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/rockylinux/original/2X/b/b66e7e59995368ee0eee3abc373b0b502ed07154.png) that doesn’t work it allways adds root=/dev/sda1 or the UUID Version, with the /etc/kernel/cmdline hack i can create a second root= option only. I guess there is no chance to achieve my target this way, either a patched 10\_linux script or i need to stay with classic old /dev/sda1 ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/rockylinux/original/1X/91b7219eec10e30013422e4df76c1d898711a5d5.svg) [@system](https://forums.rockylinux.org/u/system)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2024, 7:32am UTC](https://forums.rockylinux.org/t/switch-to-boot-by-label-with-grub2-in-rocky-9/15269/6 "2024-09-29T07:32:48Z")
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