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Plymouth Boot & Login Images

🔥 Customizing Plymouth Boot & Login Images

Plymouth is the graphical boot system used in Ubuntu-based distributions. It displays splash screens during boot and can also affect the login screen background in some configurations. Customizing Plymouth is essential when creating a branded ISO with Cubic.

1️⃣ Location of Plymouth Files

  • Plymouth files are stored in:
/usr/share/plymouth/

  • Inside, you will find:

  • Themes: themes/ directory contains theme definitions, including logos, spinners, and watermarks.

  • Boot images: Images used during startup are stored inside specific theme folders.

Example structure:

/usr/share/plymouth/themes/<theme-name>/
├── <theme-name>.plymouth      # Theme configuration file
├── spinner/                   # Animation frames
├── watermark/                 # Image file (often includes Ubuntu logo)
└── other resources            # Fonts, scripts, etc.

2️⃣ Replacing the Logo / Boot Image

  • Locate the watermark or logo image inside the theme folder.
  • Replace it with your custom image using the same filename to avoid editing the theme configuration:
sudo cp my-logo.png /usr/share/plymouth/themes/<theme-name>/watermark/ubuntu-logo.png
  • If you want, you can also edit the theme’s .plymouth file to point to a new image filename.

3️⃣ Effect on Boot and Login Screens

  • Boot Splash Screen:

  • Appears when the system starts, before the login screen.

  • Controlled entirely by Plymouth theme.

  • Login Screen (GDM/LightDM):

  • May use the same theme or image as Plymouth.

  • By customizing the Plymouth theme, the login screen background often reflects your branding.