diff --git a/debian/changelog b/debian/changelog
index 28831e808..0d7011203 100644
--- a/debian/changelog
+++ b/debian/changelog
@@ -49,6 +49,8 @@ grub2 (2.00+20131203-1) UNRELEASED; urgency=low
   * Run tests with LC_CTYPE=C.UTF-8, so that grub-fs-tester can handle UTF-8
     data correctly.
   * Update debian/legacy/update-grub to the version from grub 0.97-67.
+  * Silence error message on initial installation when /etc/default/grub
+    does not yet exist.
 
  -- Colin Watson <cjwatson@debian.org>  Fri, 15 Nov 2013 10:18:57 +0000
 
diff --git a/debian/config.in b/debian/config.in
index 3c09bca61..fcc0dd4ce 100644
--- a/debian/config.in
+++ b/debian/config.in
@@ -65,7 +65,7 @@ case @PACKAGE@ in
     fi
     if [ "${GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT}" != "" ]; then
       db_set grub-pc/hidden_timeout true
-    elif egrep -q '^#?[[:space:]]*GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=' /etc/default/grub; then
+    elif egrep -qs '^#?[[:space:]]*GRUB_HIDDEN_TIMEOUT=' /etc/default/grub; then
       db_set grub-pc/hidden_timeout false
     fi
   ;;