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7 <title>The rEFInd Boot Manager: Installing rEFInd</title>
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12 <h1>The rEFInd Boot Manager:<br />Installing rEFInd</h1>
13
14 <p class="subhead">by Roderick W. Smith, <a
15 href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
16
17 <p>Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update: 4/24/2012, referencing rEFInd 0.3.0</p>
18
19
20 <p>I'm a technical writer and consultant specializing in Linux technologies. This Web page is provided free of charge and with no annoying outside ads; however, I did take time to prepare it, and Web hosting does cost money. If you find this Web page useful, please consider making a small donation to help keep this site up and running. Thanks!</p>
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85
86 <hr />
87
88 <p>This page is part of the documentation for the rEFInd boot manager. If a Web search has brought you here, you may want to start at the <a href="index.html">main page.</a></p>
89
90 <hr />
91
92 <p class="sidebar"><b>Important:</b> A rEFInd zip file, when uncompressed, creates a directory called <tt>refind-<i>version</i></tt>, where <tt><i>version</i></tt> is the version number. This directory includes a subdirectory called <tt>refind</tt> that holds the boot loader, along with another that holds documentation, as well as miscellaneous files in <tt>refind-<i>version</i></tt> itself. When I refer to "the <tt>refind</tt> directory" on this page, I mean the directory with that precise name, not the <tt>refind-<i>version</i></tt> directory that is its parent.</p>
93
94 <p>Once you've uncompressed a rEFInd binary zip file, you can copy the entire <tt>refind</tt> directory into your EFI System Partition's (ESP's) <tt>EFI</tt> directory on UEFI-based PCs, so that rEFInd resides in <tt>EFI/refind</tt>. If you've tried rEFInd using a CD-R image file, you can copy the files from the <tt>EFI/refind</tt> directory on the CD to create an equivalent directory on the ESP. To avoid confusion, though, you should delete the rEFInd binary file for the CPU type your computer does <i>not</i> use. To the best of my knowledge, all UEFI-based PCs use 64-bit CPUs, so you should keep the <tt>refind_x64.efi</tt> binary and delete the <tt>refind_ia32.efi</tt> binary. Most Intel-based Macs also have 64-bit EFI implementations, so you should do the same thing; but very early Intel-based Macs have 32-bit EFIs (and sometimes 32-bit CPUs), which require the <tt>refind_ia32.efi</tt> file. You can determine whether your Mac needs the <i>x</i>86-64 or IA32 build by typing the following command in a Mac Terminal window:</p>
95
96 <pre class="listing">
97 $ <b>ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi</b>
98 </pre>
99
100 <p>The result should read either <tt>EFI32</tt> or <tt>EFI64</tt>, indicating that you should use the <tt>refind_ia32.efi</tt> or <tt>refind_x64.efi</tt> binary, respectively.</p>
101
102 <p>Of course, before you can install the files, you must be able to access the ESP. The details of this task vary from one OS to another. If you have a choice, I recommend using <a href="#linux">Linux</a> for rEFInd installation on UEFI PCs and <a href="#osx">OS X</a> on Macs. (On Macs, you can optionally use OS X's main partition rather than the ESP for this purpose.) <a href="#windows">Windows</a> provides relatively primitive tools for accessing the ESP and manipulating the EFI's boot list. I also describe some <a href="#naming">options for naming rEFInd</a> that may be useful on some systems. Finally, I describe how to install some <a href="#addons">extra tools</a> that you may find useful but that are not included with rEFInd.</p>
103
104 <a name="linux">
105 <h2>Installing rEFInd Using Linux</h2>
106 </a>
107
108 <p>Accessing the ESP is easiest from Linux: The ESP is usually mounted at <tt>/boot/efi</tt>. You can verify that this is the case by using the <tt>df</tt> command:</p>
109
110 <pre class="listing">
111 $ <b>df /boot/efi</b>
112 Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
113 /dev/sda1 191284 16604 174681 9% /boot/efi
114 </pre>
115
116 <p class="sidebar"><b>Warning:</b> If you're running Linux on a Mac, I recommend you install rEFInd under OS X. The Mac's boot process deviates a bit from EFI standards, so you'll probably have to use a tool called <tt>bless</tt> under MacOS to do the job. Alternatively, there's a new Linux program, <tt>hfs-bless</tt>, part of the <a href="http://www.codon.org.uk/~mjg59/mactel-boot/"><tt>mactel-boot</tt></a> package, that's supposed to work with <tt>efibootmgr</tt> to make a Mac HFS partition bootable. I've not yet tried it, though. There are also reports that the <tt>efibootmgr</tt> tool used under Linux can corrupt some Macs' firmware. Although I've seen some vague suggestions that this problem has been fixed under 3.<i>x</i> kernels, I haven't tested this claim.</p>
117
118 <p>This example shows that <tt>/dev/sda1</tt> is mounted at <tt>/boot/efi</tt>, which is a typical configuration. (The ESP can be on another disk or partition, but <tt>/dev/sda1</tt> is the most common place for an ESP.) If your output shows <tt>/boot</tt> or <tt>/</tt> under the <tt>Mounted on</tt> column, then your ESP isn't mounted. If you get a <tt>df: `/boot/efi': No such file or directory</tt> error message, then the <tt>/boot/efi</tt> directory doesn't even exist. In such cases, you may need to jump through some extra hoops, as described on my <a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/installation.html">EFI Boot Loader Installation</a> page.</p>
119
120 <p>Assuming the ESP is mounted at <tt>/boot/efi</tt>, you can install the rEFInd files as follows (you must be <tt>root</tt> to issue these commands, or precede each of them with <tt><b>sudo</b></tt>):</p>
121
122 <ol>
123
124 <li>Type <tt><b>cp -r refind /boot/efi/EFI/</b></tt> from the <tt>refind-<i>version</i></tt> directory in which the <tt>refind</tt> directory exists. This copies all the files that rEFInd needs to work.</li>
125
126 <li>Type <tt><b>cd /boot/efi/EFI/refind</b></tt> to change into rEFInd's new directory on the ESP.</li>
127
128 <li>Type <tt><b>rm refind_ia32.efi</b></tt> to remove the IA32 binary if you're using an <i>x</i>86-64 (64-bit) system; or type <tt><b>rm refind_x64.efi</b></tt> to remove the <i>x</i>86-64 binary if you're using an <i>x</i>86 (32-bit) system. You can optionally rename the binary you keep as <tt>refind.efi</tt>, but this isn't required.</li>
129
130 <li>Rename the configuration file by typing <tt><b>mv refind.conf-sample refind.conf</b></tt>. Consult the <a href="configfile.html">Editing the rEFInd Configuration File</a> page for information on how to adjust your options.</li>
131
132 <a name="efibootmgr">
133 <li>On a UEFI-based system, type <tt><b>efibootmgr -c -l \\EFI\\refind\\refind_x64.efi -L rEFInd</b></tt> to add rEFInd to your EFI's list of available boot loaders, which it stores in NVRAM. (Adjust the path to the binary as required if you install somewhere else.) You may need to install this program on some systems; it's a standard part of most distributions' repositories.</li>
134 </a>
135
136 <li>If other boot loaders are already installed, you can use <tt>efibootmgr</tt> to adjust their boot order. For instance, <b><tt>efibootmgr -o 3,7,2</tt></b> sets the firmware to try boot loader #3 first, followed by #7, followed by #2. (The program should have displayed a list of boot loaders when you added yours in the preceding step.) Place rEFInd's number first to set it as the default boot program.</li>
137
138 </ol>
139
140 <p>Note the use of doubled-up backslashes (<tt>\\</tt>) rather than forward slashes (<tt>/</tt>) in the directory separators when using <tt>efibootmgr</tt>. This command will work on most systems that are already booted into EFI mode; however, it won't work if you're booted in BIOS mode. You may also need to add options if your ESP is in some unusual location or if your system is unusual in some way. Consult the <tt>efibootmgr</tt> man page if you need help.</p>
141
142 <p>On some systems, <tt>efibootmgr</tt> won't do what you expect. On such systems, you may have better luck renaming the rEFInd files, as described in the <a href="#naming">Alternative Naming Options</a> section.</p>
143
144 <a name="osx">
145 <h2>Installing rEFInd Using Mac OS X</h2>
146 </a>
147
148 <p class="sidebar"><b>Warning:</b> One of the reasons I've abandoned rEFIt's GUI installation tools for Mac OS X is that there are several bug reports (such as <a href="https://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php?func=detail&aid=3147364&group_id=161917&atid=821764">this one</a> and <a href="https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=3218104&group_id=161917&atid=821764">this one</a>) that the rEFIt installer may be causing filesystem corruption on disks over about 500 MiB. <a href="https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=3218104&group_id=161917&atid=821764">This</a> report on the problem, and particularly the post by mic-marchen, suggests that the problem is related to a bug in OS X's <tt>bless</tt> utility, and particularly its <tt>--info</tt> option, that causes it to corrupt data on disks with 4 KiB sectors. These <i>Advanced Format</i> disks are becoming increasingly common, particularly at larger disk sizes. Therefore, I <i>strongly</i> recommend that you <i>not</i> type <tt class="userinput">sudo bless --info</tt> to check the status of your installation if you have such a disk, or even if you suspect you might have such a disk. (I've seen Advanced Format disks as small as 320 GB.)</p>
149
150 <p>The procedure for installing rEFInd on a Mac is similar to that for installing it under Linux, except that you can (and probably should) install it to OS X's system partition or some other HFS+ partition rather than to the ESP, and you must use the <tt>bless</tt> utility rather than <tt>efibootmgr</tt>. To be precise, you should follow these steps:</p>
151
152 <ol>
153
154 <li>Open a Terminal window in which you'll type the following
155 commands.</li>
156
157 <li>If you want to install rEFInd on your ESP, you must first mount it. You
158 can do this by typing <b><tt>mkdir /Volumes/esp</tt></b> followed by
159 <b><tt>sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/esp</tt></b>. Note
160 that this step is usually optional, and it makes the procedure a bit
161 more complex, so you might want to forego it. On the other hand,
162 installing to the ESP is required if you're using the whole-disk
163 encryption feature of OS X 10.7. Note that you may need to change
164 <tt>/dev/disk0s1</tt> to something else if your ESP is at an unusual
165 location. Use a tool such as my <a
166 href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/">GPT fdisk (<tt>gdisk</tt>)</a>
167 to examine your partition table to find your ESP if necessary.</li>
168
169 <li>Type <b><tt>sudo mkdir -p /efi/refind</tt></b> to create a suitable
170 directory for rEFInd. If you want to place rEFInd on the ESP or some
171 other partition, you should adjust the pathname appropriately, as in
172 <tt>/Volumes/esp/efi/refind</tt>. Alternatively, you can use the Finder
173 to create the directory.</li>
174
175 <li>Copy the files in the <tt>refind</tt> subdirectory of the rEFInd binary
176 package to the like-named directory you've just created. You can do
177 this in the Finder or by typing <b><tt>sudo cp -r refind/*
178 /efi/refind/</tt></b> in your Terminal window after changing into the
179 rEFInd package's main directory.</li>
180
181 <li>Remove the file for the version of rEFInd you're not using, as in
182 <b><tt>sudo rm /efi/refind/refind_ia32.efi</tt></b> on a Mac with a
183 64-bit EFI or <b><tt>sudo rm /efi/refind/refind_x64.efi</tt></b> on a
184 Mac with a 32-bit EFI.</li>
185
186 <li>If this is your first installation, type <b><tt>sudo mv
187 /efi/refind/refind.conf-sample /efi/refind/refind.conf</tt></b>
188 (adjusting the path as necessary) to rename the sample configuration
189 file so that it will serve as a real configuration file. (Again, you
190 can do this with the Finder, if you prefer.)</li>
191
192 <li>"Bless" rEFInd by typing one of the following two commands:
193 <ul>
194 <li>If you're installing rEFInd to an ordinary HFS+ volume, type <tt
195 class="userinput">sudo bless --setBoot --folder /efi/refind --file
196 /efi/refind/refind_x64.efi</tt>. (Adjust the path and filename as
197 necessary if you're placing rEFInd somewhere else or using the
198 32-bit version.)</li>
199 <li>If you're installing rEFInd on the ESP, type <tt
200 class="userinput">sudo bless --mount /Volumes/esp --setBoot --file
201 /Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi</tt>, adjusting the mount
202 point and exact path to the file as appropriate for your
203 installation.</li>
204 </ul>
205 As per the Warning earlier, <i>do not</i> use <tt>bless</tt>'s
206 <tt>--info</tt> option to try to confirm the change to the boot status
207 unless you're certain you do <i>not</i> have an Advanced Format hard
208 disk.</li>
209
210 </ol>
211
212 <p>When you reboot, your Mac should bring up the rEFInd menu, and should continue to do so thereafter. If you make changes that break this association, you can re-run the <tt>bless</tt> command (if necessary, restoring the rEFInd files first). This might be necessary after installing system updates from Apple or if you upgrade rEFInd to a newer version.</p>
213
214 <p>If you're replacing rEFIt, you may discover that rEFInd works on the first boot, but the system reverts back to rEFIt or a direct boot to OS X on the second boot. To fix this problem, you can remove the rEFItBlesser program, which is located at <tt>/Library/StartupItems/rEFItBlesser</tt>. This program attempts to keep rEFIt set as the default boot loader, but it also has the purpose of protecting the computer from launching the wrong OS after waking from sleep. If you want that protection, my suggestion is to install rEFIt and rEFItBlesser and then replace the <tt>refit.efi</tt> file with <tt>refind_x64.efi</tt> or <tt>refind_ia32.efi</tt> (renaming it to <tt>refit.efi</tt>. Used in this way, rEFInd will still look for its own configuration file, <tt>refind.conf</tt>, so you'll need to move it but <i>not</i> rename it. If you don't move the icons from the rEFInd package, your icons will continue to look like rEFIt icons, and you'll be missing the new icons for specific Linux distributions that rEFInd provides. One final caveat: It's conceivable that rEFItBlesser is what's causing filesystem corruption for some users, so if you've been having this problem with rEFIt, it might be worth disabling this program and not using it with rEFInd.</p>
215
216 <p>If you want to remove rEFInd from your system, you can delete its files. The Mac will revert to booting using whatever standard boot loader it can find. Alternatively, you can use <tt>bless</tt> to bless another EFI boot loader. The GUI Startup Disk utility in System Preferences provides a simplified interface that enables you to select which OS X installation to boot, but it doesn't look for non-Apple boot loaders, so you can't use it to enable rEFInd.</p>
217
218 <a name="windows">
219 <h2>Installing rEFInd Using Windows</h2>
220 </a>
221
222 <p>To install rEFInd under Windows, you must first find a way to access the ESP, which Windows normally hides from view. One way to accomplish this goal, and to proceed forward once the ESP is accessible, is as follows:</p>
223
224 <ol>
225
226 <li>Locate Command Prompt in the Start menu, right-click it, and select Run as Administrator. This action opens a Command Prompt window with administrative privileges.</li>
227
228 <li>Type <b><tt>mountvol S: /S</tt></b> in the Administrator Command Prompt window. This makes the ESP accessible as drive <tt>S:</tt> from that window. (You can use a drive identifier other than <tt>S:</tt> if you like.)</li>
229
230 <li>Change into the main rEFInd package directory, so that the <tt>refind</tt> subdirectory is visible when you type <b><tt>dir</tt></b>.</li>
231
232 <li>Type <b><tt>xcopy /E refind S:\EFI\refind\</tt></b> to copy the <tt>refind</tt> directory tree to the ESP's <tt>EFI</tt> directory. If you omit the trailing backslash from this command, <tt>xcopy</tt> will ask if you want to create the <tt>refind</tt> directory. Tell it to do so.</li>
233
234 <li>Type <b><tt>cd S:</tt></b> to change to the ESP.</li>
235
236 <li>Type <b><tt>cd EFI\refind</tt></b> to change into the <tt>refind</tt> subdirectory</li>
237
238 <li>Type <b><tt>del refind_ia32.efi</tt></b> to delete the unused 32-bit version of rEFInd. (Windows only supports EFI boots on 64-bit EFI implementations and in 64-bit versions of Windows.)</li>
239
240 <li>Type <b><tt>rename refind.conf-sample refind.conf</tt></b> to rename rEFInd's configuration file.</li>
241
242 <li>Type <b><tt>bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi</tt></b> to set rEFInd as the default EFI boot program. Note that <tt>{bootmgr}</tt> is entered as such; that's not a notation for a variable.</li>
243
244 <li>If you like, type <b><tt>bcdedit /set {bootmgr} description "<i>rEFInd description</i>"</tt></b> to set a description (change <tt><i>rEFInd description</i></tt> as you see fit).</li>
245
246 </ol>
247
248 <p>At this point, when you reboot, rEFInd should appear as your new default boot program. One caveat: My only EFI Windows installation uses UEFI DUET, which "forgets" its boot options upon reboot. Thus, I'm unable to test the last two steps (which were provided by a helpful user) myself. If it doesn't work for you, you have several other options, such as:</p>
249
250 <ul>
251
252 <li>You can rename files on the ESP. as described in the next section, <a href="#naming">Alternative Naming Options.</a></li>
253
254 <li>You can boot from an optical disc into an emergency OS to do the job. Ubuntu, for instance, provides an EFI-bootable installer with a "try before installation" mode. You'll need to type <b><tt>sudo apt-get install efibootmgr</tt></b> to install <tt>efibootmgr</tt>, but you can then use that program as described <a href="#efibootmgr">earlier</a>. (If you're using Ubuntu, you'll need to precede the command with <b><tt>sudo</tt></b>.</li>
255
256 <li>You may be able to use rEFInd's bootable CD image to use rEFInd to boot an OS that's been installed but rendered inoperable because of changes to your boot order. You can then use <tt>efibootmgr</tt>, <tt>bless</tt>, or some other tool to restore rEFInd as the default boot loader.</li>
257
258 </ul>
259
260 <a name="naming">
261 <h2>Alternative Naming Options</h2>
262 </a>
263
264 <p>Some EFI implementations do a poor job of honoring the boot options set via Linux's <tt>efibootmgr</tt> or other tools. You may also lack access to such utilities, such as if you must install rEFInd in Windows. In such cases, you may need to change the boot loader's name so that the EFI will see it as the default boot loader. rEFInd should then boot when your NVRAM lacks information on specific boot loaders to use. To do this, follow these steps:</p>
265
266 <ol>
267
268 <li>Access your ESP and install rEFInd to it, as described in earlier sections.</li>
269
270 <li>Look for an existing directory called <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt> or <tt>EFI/Microsoft/BOOT</tt>. If neither of these directories exist, skip the next step. (Note that FAT is case-insensitive, so the name may vary in case.)</li>
271
272 <li>Rename the existing directory or boot loader file to something else. For <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt>, try renaming it to <tt>EFI/Oldboot</tt>. For <tt>EFI/Microsoft/BOOT</tt>, move or rename the <tt>bootmgfw.efi</tt> file it contains. For instance, you can move it to <tt>EFI/Microsoft</tt>. This will keep the boot loader accessible to rEFInd's menu, while preventing the firmware from launching it automatically.</li>
273
274 <li>Rename/move your <tt>EFI/refind</tt> directory to <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt>. If you're working from <tt>EFI/Microsoft/BOOT</tt>, you should move the contents of your rEFInd directory to <tt>EFI/Microsoft/BOOT</tt>.</li>
275
276 <li>Rename <tt>EFI/BOOT/refind_x64.efi</tt> to the name of the boot loader it's replacing&mdash;it should become <tt>EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi</tt> or <tt>EFI/Microsoft/BOOT/bootmgfw.efi</tt>.</li>
277
278 </ol>
279
280 <p>When you reboot, rEFInd should come up. With any luck, it will detect your old boot loader as an option, if one was installed before.</p>
281
282 <a name="addons">
283 <h2>Installing Additional Components</h2>
284 </a>
285
286 <p>rEFInd includes the ability to launch any EFI program; however, rEFInd detects only certain programs. These include boot loaders in traditional locations and a handful of other programs. To launch these other programs, you must download and install them separately from rEFInd:</p>
287
288 <ul>
289
290 <li><b><a href="http://tianocore.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=tianocore/edk2;a=blob_plain;f=EdkShellBinPkg/FullShell/X64/Shell_Full.efi;hb=HEAD">shell.efi</a></b>&mdash;This
291 file, placed in the ESP's <tt>efi/tools</tt> directory, adds the
292 ability to launch a text-mode EFI shell from rEFInd. Note that the
293 download link is to a 64-bit binary that must be renamed before rEFInd
294 will recognize it.</li>
295
296 <li><b>gptsync.efi</b>&mdash;This program creates a <a
297 href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html">hybrid MBR</a> from
298 your regular GPT disk. A hybrid MBR is a dangerous hack that enables
299 Windows and OS X to coexist on a Macintosh disk. If you're using a
300 UEFI-based PC, a hybrid MBR will be useless at best, so you shouldn't
301 create one, and it's safest to not install <tt>gptsync.efi</tt>. If
302 you're using a hybrid MBR to enable dual-booting Windows and OS X on a
303 Mac, though, placing this program file in the ESP's or Mac boot
304 partition's <tt>efi/tools</tt> directory will enable you to regenerate
305 your hybrid MBR should some other tool convert the MBR to a standard
306 protective MBR. You can obtain the file from the <a
307 href="http://refit.sourceforge.net">original rEFIt package.</a></li>
308
309 <li><b>Drivers</b>&mdash;You can install drivers to extend the capabilities
310 of the EFI. Most notably, filesystem drivers for ext2fs and ReiserFS
311 are available. These can enable you to boot a Linux kernel with EFI
312 stub support from an ext2fs, ext3fs, or ReiserFS partition. See the <a
313 href="drivers.html">Using EFI Drivers</a> page for more on this
314 topic.</li>
315
316 </ul>
317
318 <p>I've seen links to other versions of these tools from time to time on the Web, so if you try one of these programs and it crashes or behaves strangely, try performing a Web search; you may turn up something that works better for you than the one to which I've linked.</p>
319
320 <hr />
321
322 <p>copyright &copy; 2012 by Roderick W. Smith</p>
323
324 <p>This document is licensed under the terms of the <a href="FDL-1.3.txt">GNU Free Documentation License (FDL), version 1.3.</a></p>
325
326 <p>If you have problems with or comments about this Web page, please e-mail me at <a href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com.</a> Thanks.</p>
327
328 <p><a href="index.html">Go to the main rEFInd page</a></p>
329
330 <p><a href="using.html">Learn how to use rEFInd</a></p>
331
332 <p><a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/">Return</a> to my main Web page.</p>
333 </body>
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