UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

I don't know how to edit the file. I can find it, but how does one edit it?

If you are using a GUI filemanager, just browse to /boot/grub/ and double click on the file.
If it asks you which application to open it with, select any text editor on the list.

On the command line there are many options, try
vim grub.conf
or perhaps,
joe grub.conf

I tried to double-click on it and got the message "access denied". I also tried the two commands vim and joe, and vi, and they all came up as unrecognized. I appreciate your patience and your continued help. Thanks.

I also tried to log in as the administrator and no luck there, either.

Did you log in as root?

You should be able to log in as root, get to a terminal, cd /boot/grub, and use one of the editors above.

Another you might be able to try is pico.

If you can't get an editor to come up, try whereis vi (or vim, joe, pico, etc). It should give you a full path for it - type in the full path (like /bin/vi, or /usr/bin/joe - I'm not sure where they reside on a Redhat installation).

I couldn't log on as root, initially. Once I let Gnome start, I found where I could set the password for root. I did that, rebooted, logged on as root, let Gnome load, and was able to use Gnome's text editor to change grub.conf. Thanks, I appreciate your help. Learning more and more as I play around.