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7 <title>The rEFInd Boot Manager: Installing rEFInd</title>
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14 <h1>The rEFInd Boot Manager:<br />Installing rEFInd</h1>
15
16 <p class="subhead">by Roderick W. Smith, <a
17 href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
18
19 <p>Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update:
20 11/8/2015, referencing rEFInd 0.10.0</p>
21
22
23 <p>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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127 <hr />
128
129 <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>
130
131 <hr />
132
133 <div style="float:right; width:55%">
134
135 <p><b>Don't be scared by the length of this page!</b> Only portions of this page apply to any given user, and most people can install rEFInd from an RPM or Debian package in a matter of seconds or by using the <tt>refind-install</tt> script in minute or two.</p>
136
137 <p>Once you've obtained a rEFInd binary file, as described on <a href="getting.html">the preceding page,</a> you must install it to your computer's EFI System Partition (ESP) (or conceivably to some other location). The details of how you do this depend on your OS and your computer (UEFI-based PC vs. Macintosh). The upcoming sections provide details. See the Contents sidebar to the left for links to specific installation procedures. For most Linux users, an RPM or Debian package is the best way to go. If your Linux system doesn't support these formats, though, or if you're running OS X, using the <tt>refind-install</tt> script can be a good way to go. If you're using Windows, you'll have to install manually.</p>
138
139 <p class="sidebar" style="width:95%"><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 rEFInd binary 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>
140
141 </div>
142
143 <div class="navbar">
144
145 <h4 class="tight">Contents</h4>
146
147 <ul class="tight">
148
149 <li class="tight"><a href="#packagefile">Installing rEFInd using an RPM or Debian package file</a></li>
150
151 <li class="tight"><a href="#installsh">Installing rEFInd Using <tt>refind-install</tt> under Linux or Mac OS X</a>
152
153 <ul class="tight">
154
155 <li class="tight"><a href="#quickstart">Quick <tt>refind-install</tt> Instructions</a></li>
156
157 <li class="tight"><a href="#extra_installsh">Extra <tt>refind-install</tt> Instructions</a></li>
158
159 </ul></li>
160
161 <li class="tight"><a href="#manual">Installing rEFInd Manually</a>
162
163 <ul>
164
165 <li class="tight"><a href="#linux">Installing rEFInd Manually Using Linux</a></li>
166
167 <li class="tight"><a href="#osx">Installing rEFInd Manually Using Mac OS X</a></li>
168
169 <li class="tight"><a href="#windows">Installing rEFInd Manually Using Windows</a></li>
170
171 <li class="tight"><a href="#efishell">Installing rEFInd Manually Using an EFI Shell</a></ul></li>
172
173 <li class="tight"><a href="#naming">Alternative Naming Options</a>
174
175 <ul>
176
177 <li class="tight"><a href="#mvrefind">Using <tt>mvrefind</tt></li>
178
179 <li class="tight"><a href="#manual_renaming">Renaming Files Manually</li>
180
181 </ul></li>
182
183 <li class="tight"><a href="#upgrading">Upgrading rEFInd</a></li>
184
185 <li class="tight"><a href="#addons">Installing Additional Components</a></li>
186
187 <li class="tight"><a href="#sluggish">Fixing a Macintosh Boot</a>
188
189 <ul>
190
191 <li class="tight"><a href="#shortform">Using the <tt>--shortform</tt> Option</a></li>
192
193 <li class="tight"><a href="#fallback">Using the Fallback Filename</a></li>
194
195 <li class="tight"><a href="#moving">Moving rEFInd to an HFS+ Volume</a></li>
196
197 <li class="tight"><a href="#clearing">Clearing the NVRAM Entries</a></li>
198
199 <li class="tight"><a href="#wakeprobs">Fixing Wake Problems</a></li>
200
201 <li class="tight"><a href="#nolinux">Fixing a Failure to Find Linux</a></li>
202
203 </ul></li>
204
205 <li class="tight"><a href="#winprob">Fixing Windows Boot Problems</a></li>
206
207 <li class="tight"><a href="#uninstalling">Uninstalling rEFInd</a>
208
209 <ul>
210
211 <li class="tight"><a href="#uinst_linux">Uninstalling rEFInd from Linux</a></li>
212
213 <li class="tight"><a href="#uinst_osx">Uninstalling rEFInd from OS X</a></li>
214
215 <li class="tight"><a href="#uinst_windows">Uninstalling rEFInd from Windows</a></li>
216
217 <li class="tight"><a href="#post_uninst">Post-Uninstallation Activity (UEFI-Based PCs)</a></li>
218
219 </ul></ul></li>
220
221 </div>
222
223 <a name="packagefile">
224 <h2>Installing rEFInd Using an RPM or Debian Package File</h2>
225 </a>
226
227 <p>I provide RPM and Debian package files for rEFInd; and starting with version 0.8.1, I'm maintaining an Ubuntu PPA for rEFInd. If you have a working RPM-based or Debian-based Linux installation that boots in EFI mode, using one of these files is likely to be the easiest way to install rEFInd: You need only download the file and issue an appropriate installation command. In some cases, double-clicking the package in your file manager will install it. If that doesn't work, a command like the following will install the RPM on an RPM-based system:</p>
228
229 <pre class="listing"># <tt class="userinput">rpm -Uvh refind-0.10.0-1.x86_64.rpm</tt></pre>
230
231 <p>On a Debian-based system, the equivalent command is:</p>
232
233 <pre class="listing"># <tt class="userinput">dpkg -i refind_0.10.0-1_amd64.deb</tt></pre>
234
235 <p>Either command produces output similar to that described for <a href="#installsh">using the <tt>refind-install</tt> script,</a> so you can check it for error messages and other signs of trouble. The package file installs rEFInd and registers it with the EFI to be the default boot loader. The script that runs as part of the installation process tries to determine if you're using Secure Boot, and if so it will try to configure rEFInd to launch using shim; however, this won't work correctly on all systems. Ubuntu 12.10 users who are booting with Secure Boot active should be wary, since the resulting installation will probably try to use Ubuntu's version of shim, which won't work correctly with rEFInd. The shim program provided with more recent versions of Ubuntu should work correctly.</p>
236
237 <a name="ppa">
238 <p>If you're using Ubuntu, you should be able to install the PPA as follows:</p></a>
239
240 <pre class="listing">$ <tt class="userinput">sudo apt-add-repository ppa:rodsmith/refind</tt>
241 $ <tt class="userinput">sudo apt-get update</tt>
242 $ <tt class="userinput">sudo apt-get install refind</tt></pre></pre>
243
244 <p>The PPA version will update automatically with your other software, which you might or might not want to have happen. It's also built with GNU-EFI rather than with TianoCore. This last detail <i>should</i> have no practical effects, but it might be important if you've got a buggy EFI or if there's some undiscovered rEFInd bug that interacts with the build environment.</p>
245
246 <p>Since version 0.6.3, the installation script makes an attempt to install rEFInd in a bootable way even if you run the script from a BIOS-mode boot, and therefore the RPM and Debian packages do the same. I cannot guarantee that this will work, though, and even if it does, some of the tricks that <tt>refind-install</tt> uses might not persist for long. You might therefore want to use <tt><a href="#mvrefind">mvrefind</a></tt> to move your rEFInd installation to another name after you boot Linux for the first time from rEFInd.</p>
247
248 <p>Since version 0.6.2-2, my package files have installed the rEFInd binaries to <tt>/usr/share/refind-<tt class="variable">version</tt></tt>, the documentation to <tt>/usr/share/doc/refind-<tt class="variable">version</tt></tt>, and a few miscellaneous files elsewhere. (The PPA package omits the version number from the file paths.) Upon installation, the package runs the <tt>refind-install</tt> script to copy the files to the ESP. This enables you to re-install rEFInd after the fact by running <tt>refind-install</tt>, should some other tool or OS wipe the ESP or should the installation go awry. In such cases you can <a href="#installsh">use <tt>refind-install</tt></a> or <a href="#manual">install manually.</a></p>
249
250 <a name="installsh">
251 <h2>Installing rEFInd Using <tt>refind-install</tt> under Linux or Mac OS X</h2>
252
253 <p class="sidebar"><b>Note:</b> If you're using a Macintosh, it's best to install rEFInd from OS X, if possible. In the past, the Mac's firmware was quirky enough that the Linux tools didn't always work reliably. The matter seems to have improved with recent versions of Linux tools, but I can't guarantee success if you use Linux for this task. There is one significant issue with OS X 10.11, though (see the next Warning sidebar).</p>
254
255 <p>If you're using Linux or Mac OS X, the easiest way to install rEFInd is to use the <tt>refind-install</tt> script. This script automatically copies rEFInd's files to your ESP or other target location and makes changes to your firmware's NVRAM settings so that rEFInd will start the next time you boot. If you've booted to OS X or in non-Secure-Boot EFI mode to Linux on a UEFI-based PC, <tt>refind-install</tt> will probably do the right thing, so you can get by with the quick instructions. If your setup is unusual, if your computer uses Secure Boot, or if you want to create a USB flash drive with rEFInd on it, you should read the <a href="#extra_installsh">extra instructions</a> for this utility.</p>
256
257 <a name="quickstart">
258 <h3>Quick <tt>refind-install</tt> Instructions</h3>
259 </quickstart>
260
261 <p class="sidebar"><b>Warning:</b> OS X 10.11 ("El Capitan") implements a new feature called System Integrity Protection (SIP; aka "rootless" or "CSR"). When enabled, SIP prevents the final step of rEFInd installation&mdash;registering the boot loader with the firmware. Thus, to install rEFInd, you must either disable SIP or perform the installation from something other than your regular OS X installation. The <a href="sip.html">rEFInd and System Integrity Protection</a> page of this document describes the options.</p>
262
263 <p>By default, the <tt>refind-install</tt> script installs rEFInd to your disk's ESP. Under Mac OS X, you can instead install rEFInd to your current OS X boot partition by passing the script the <tt>--notesp</tt> option, or to a non-boot HFS+ partition by using the <tt>--ownhfs <tt class="variable">devicefile</tt></tt> option. Under either OS, you can install to something other than the currently-running OS by using the <tt>--root <tt class="variable">/mountpoint</tt></tt> option. (See <a href="#table1">Table 1</a> for details.)</p>
264
265 <p>Under Linux, <tt>refind-install</tt> will be most reliable if your ESP is already mounted at <tt>/boot</tt> or <tt>/boot/efi</tt>, as described in more detail in the <a href="#linux">Installing rEFInd Manually Using Linux</a> section. (If you installed Linux in EFI mode, chances are your ESP is properly mounted.) If your ESP is not so mounted, <tt>refind-install</tt> will attempt to locate and mount an ESP, but this action is not guaranteed to work correctly. If you run <tt>refind-install</tt> from a BIOS/legacy-mode boot, particularly on a computer that also runs Windows, you should be aware that the tricks the script uses to install itself from BIOS mode are rather delicate. You can convert to a more conventional configuration using the <a href="#mvrefind"><tt>mvrefind</tt> script</a> after you've booted in EFI mode.</p>
266
267 <p>Prior to version 0.8.4, <tt>refind-install</tt> installed rEFInd to the OS X root partition by default. I changed this because the default configuration for OS X 10.10 ("Yosemite") makes this placement unusable. Instead, <tt>refind-install</tt> now installs to the ESP under OS X, just as it does under Linux. <i>If you're upgrading a working install of rEFInd to the OS X root partition, it's best to pass the <tt>--notesp</tt> option to <tt>refind-install</tt>.</i> This option is described in more detail shortly.</p>
268
269 <p>A sample run under Linux looks something like this:</p>
270
271 <pre class="listing">
272 # <tt class="userinput">./refind-install</tt>
273 Installing rEFInd on Linux....
274 ESP was found at /boot/efi using vfat
275 Installing driver for ext4 (ext4_x64.efi)
276 Copied rEFInd binary files
277
278 Copying sample configuration file as refind.conf; edit this file to configure
279 rEFInd.
280
281
282 Installation has completed successfully.</pre>
283
284 <p>The output under OS X is a bit different:</p>
285
286 <pre class="listing">
287 $ <tt class="userinput">./refind-install</tt>
288 Not running as root; attempting to elevate privileges via sudo....
289 Password:
290 Installing rEFInd on OS X....
291 Installing rEFInd to the partition mounted at /Volumes/ESP
292 Found suspected Linux partition(s); installing ext4fs driver.
293 Installing driver for ext4 (ext4_ia32.efi)
294 Copied rEFInd binary files
295
296 Copying sample configuration file as refind.conf; edit this file to configure
297 rEFInd.
298
299
300 WARNING: If you have an Advanced Format disk, *DO NOT* attempt to check the
301 bless status with 'bless --info', since this is known to cause disk corruption
302 on some systems!!
303
304
305 Installation has completed successfully.
306
307 Unmounting install dir</pre>
308
309 <p>In either case, the details of the output differ depending on your existing configuration and how you ran the program. Unless you see an obvious warning or error, you shouldn't be concerned about minor deviations from these examples. If you run into such a situation, or if you want to install in an unusual way, read on....</p>
310
311 <p>Note that the change to an ESP location for rEFInd with version 0.8.4 means that, if you upgrade rEFInd from an earlier version, you may notice a rEFInd boot option in the rEFInd menu. This option will boot the old version of rEFInd (or the new one, if something went wrong and the old version continues to boot). You can rid yourself of the unwanted boot menu by deleting the old files or by using <tt>dont_scan_dirs</tt> or <tt>dont_scan_files</tt> in <tt>refind.conf</tt>. Before you do this, you should use rEFInd to identify the unwanted files&mdash;the filename and volume identifier appear under the icons when you highlight the option. You can then locate and delete them from within OS X. Before you delete the old files, though, you may want to copy over any changes you've made to the rEFInd configuration, icons, and other support files.</p>
312
313 <a name="extra_installsh">
314 <h3>Extra <tt>refind-install</tt> Instructions</h3>
315 </a>
316
317 <p>Some details that can affect how the script runs include the following:</p>
318
319 <ul>
320
321 <li>If you run the script as an ordinary user, it attempts to acquire
322 <tt>root</tt> privileges by using the <tt>sudo</tt> command. This works
323 on Mac OS X and some Linux installations (such as under Ubuntu or if
324 you've added yourself to the <tt>sudo</tt> users list), but on some
325 Linux installations this will fail. On such systems, you should run
326 <tt>refind-install</tt> as <tt>root</tt>.</li>
327
328 <li>Under OS X, you can run the script with a mouse by opening a Terminal
329 session and then dragging-and-dropping the <tt>refind-install</tt> file to
330 the Terminal window. You'll need to press the Return or Enter key to
331 run the script.</li>
332
333 <li>If you're using OS X 10.7's Whole Disk Encryption (WDE) feature, or the
334 loogical volumes feature in OS X 10.10, you <i>must</i> install rEFInd
335 to the ESP or to a separate HFS+ partition. The default in rEFInd 0.8.4
336 and later is to install to the ESP. If you prefer to use a separate
337 HFS+ volume, the <tt>--ownhfs <tt
338 class="variable">device-file</tt></tt> option to <tt>refind-install</tt> is
339 required.</li>
340
341 <li>If you're <i>not</i> using WDE or logical volumes, you can install
342 rEFInd to the OS X root (<tt>/</tt>) partition by using the
343 <tt>--notesp</tt> option to <tt>refind-install</tt>. Using this option is
344 recommended when upgrading from a working rEFInd installation in this
345 location.</li>
346
347 <li>If you're replacing rEFIt with rEFInd on a Mac, there's a chance that
348 <tt>refind-install</tt> will warn you about the presence of a program
349 called <tt>/Library/StartupItems/rEFItBlesser</tt> and ask if you want
350 to delete it. This program is designed to keep rEFIt set as the boot
351 manager by automatically re-blessing it if the default boot manager
352 changes. This is obviously undesirable if you install rEFInd as your
353 primary boot manager, so it's generally best to remove this program. If
354 you prefer to keep your options open, you can answer <tt
355 class="userinput">N</tt> when <tt>refind-install</tt> asks if you want to
356 delete rEFItBlesser, and instead manually copy it elsewhere. If you
357 subsequently decide to go back to using rEFIt as your primary boot
358 manager, you can restore rEFItBlesser to its place.</li>
359
360 <li>If you're using OS X and an Advanced Format disk, heed the warning that
361 <tt>refind-install</tt> displays and <i><b>do not</b></i> use <tt>bless
362 --info</tt> to check your installation status; this combination has
363 been reported to cause disk corruption on some Macs!</li>
364
365 <li>If you intend to boot BIOS-based OSes on a UEFI-based PC, you
366 <i>must</i> edit the <tt>refind.conf</tt> file's <tt>scanfor</tt> line
367 to enable the relevant searches. This is <i>not</i> necessary on Macs,
368 though; because of the popularity of dual boots with Windows on Macs,
369 the BIOS/legacy scans are enabled by default on Macs.</li>
370
371 <li>On Linux, <tt>refind-install</tt> checks the filesystem type of the
372 <tt>/boot</tt> directory and, if a matching filesystem driver is
373 available, installs it. Note that the "<tt>/boot</tt> directory" may be
374 on a separate partition or it may be part of your root (<tt>/</tt>)
375 filesystem, in which case the driver for your root filesystem is
376 installed. This feature is unlikely to work properly from an emergency
377 system, although it might if you have a separate <tt>/boot</tt>
378 partition and if you mount that partition at <tt>/boot</tt> in your
379 emergency system, and the ESP at <tt>/boot/efi</tt>.</li>
380
381 <li>On OS X, <tt>refind-install</tt> checks your partition tables for signs of
382 a Linux installation. If such a sign is found, the script installs the
383 EFI filesystem driver for the Linux ext4 filesystem. This will enable
384 rEFInd to read your Linux kernel <i>if</i> it's on an ext2, ext3, or
385 ext4 filesystem. Note that some configurations will require a
386 <tt>/boot/refind_linux.conf</tt> file, which can be reliably generated
387 only under Linux. (The <tt>mkrlconf</tt> script that comes with
388 rEFInd will do this job once you've booted Linux.) In the meantime, you
389 can launch GRUB from rEFInd or press F2 or Insert twice after
390 highlighting the Linux option in rEFInd. This will enable you to enter
391 a <tt>root=/dev/<tt class="variable">whatever</tt></tt> specification,
392 where <tt>/dev/<tt class="variable">whatever</tt></tt> is the device
393 identifier of your Linux root (<tt>/</tt>) filesystem.
394
395 <li>If you run <tt>refind-install</tt> on Linux and if
396 <tt>/boot/refind_linux.conf</tt> doesn't already exist,
397 <tt>refind-install</tt> creates this file and populates it with a few
398 sample entries. If <tt>/boot</tt> is on a FAT partition (or HFS+ on a
399 Mac), or if it's on an ext2fs, ext3fs, ext4fs, ReiserFS, or HFS+
400 partition and you install an appropriate driver, the
401 result is that rEFInd will detect your kernel and will probably boot it
402 correctly. Some systems will require manual tweaking to
403 <tt>refind_linux.conf</tt>, though&mdash;for instance, to add
404 <tt>dolvm</tt> to the boot options on Gentoo systems that use LVM.</li>
405
406 <li>If you pass the <tt>--shim</tt> option to the script (along with a
407 filename for a shim binary), the script sets up for a Secure Boot
408 configuration via shim. By default, this causes the rEFInd binary to be
409 renamed as <tt>grubx64.efi</tt>. Recent versions of shim support
410 passing the name of the follow-on program to shim via a parameter,
411 though. If you want to use this feature, you can pass the
412 <tt>--keepname</tt> option to <tt>refind-install</tt>.</li>
413
414 </ul>
415
416 <p>In addition to these quirks, you should be aware of some options that <tt>refind-install</tt> supports to enable you to customize your installation in various ways. The syntax for <tt>refind-install</tt> is as follows:</p>
417
418 <pre class="listing">
419 refind-install [--notesp | --usedefault <tt class="variable">device-file</tt> | --root <tt class="variable">mount-point</tt> | \
420 --ownhfs <tt class="variable">device-file</tt> ] [--keepname ] \
421 [--nodrivers | --alldrivers] [--shim <tt class="variable">shim-filename</tt>] [--localkeys] [--yes]
422 </pre>
423
424 <p>The details of the options are summarized in <a href="#table1">Table 1.</a> Broadly speaking, they come in four classes: installation location options (<tt>--notesp</tt>, <tt>--usedefault</tt>, and <tt>--root</tt>), driver options (<tt>--nodrivers</tt> and <tt>--alldrivers</tt>), Secure Boot options (<tt>--shim</tt> and <tt>--localkeys</tt>), and a user input option (<tt>--yes</tt>). Using some of these options in unusual conditions can generate warnings and prompts to confirm your actions. In particular, using <tt>--shim</tt> or <tt>--localkeys</tt> when you're <i>not</i> booted in Secure Boot mode, or failing to use <tt>--shim</tt> when you <i>are</i> booted in Secure Boot mode, will generate a query and a request to confirm your installation. Consult the <a href="secureboot.html">Managing Secure Boot</a> page for more on this topic.</p>
425
426 <table border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="2" summary="Table 1: Options to <tt>refind-install</tt>"><a name="table1"><caption><b>Table 1: Options to <tt>refind-install</tt></b></caption></a>
427 <tr>
428 <th>Option</th>
429 <th>Explanation</th>
430 </tr>
431 <tr>
432 <td><tt>--notesp</tt></td>
433 <td>This option, which is valid only under OS X, tells <tt>refind-install</tt> to install rEFInd to the OS X root partition rather than to the ESP. This behavior was the default in rEFInd 0.8.3 and earlier, so you may want to use it when upgrading installations of that version, unless you used <tt>--esp</tt> (which is now the default behavior, although the <tt>--esp</tt> option no longer exists) or <tt>--ownhfs</tt>. You may also want to use <tt>--notesp</tt> on new installations if you're sure you're <i>not</i> using whole-disk encryption or logical volumes.</td>
434 </tr>
435 <tr>
436 <td><tt>--usedefault <tt class="variable">device-file</tt></tt></td>
437 <td>You can install rEFInd to a disk using the default/fallback filename of <tt>EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi</tt> (and <tt>EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi</tt>, if the 32-bit build is available) using this option. The <tt class="variable">device-file</tt> should be an <i>unmounted</i> ESP, or at least a FAT partition, as in <tt>--usedefault /dev/sdc1</tt>. Your computer's NVRAM entries will <i>not</i> be modified when installing in this way. The intent is that you can create a bootable USB flash drive or install rEFInd on a computer that tends to "forget" its NVRAM settings with this option. This option is mutually exclusive with <tt>--notesp</tt> and <tt>--root</tt>.</td>
438 </tr>
439 <tr>
440 <td><tt>--ownhfs <tt class="variable">device-file</tt></tt></td>
441 <td>This option should be used <i>only</i> under OS X. It's used to install rEFInd to an HFS+ volume <i>other than</i> a standard Mac boot volume. The result should be that rEFInd will show up in the Mac's own boot manager. More importantly, suspend-to-RAM operations may work correctly. Note that this option requires an HFS+ volume that is <i>not</i> currently an OS X boot volume. This can be a data volume or a dedicated rEFInd partition. The ESP might also work, if it's converted to use HFS+.</td>
442 </tr>
443 <tr>
444 <td><tt>--root <tt class="variable">/mount-point</tt></tt></td>
445 <td>This option is intended to help install rEFInd from a "live CD" or other emergency system. To use it, you should mount your regular installation at <tt class="variable">/mount-point</tt>, including your <tt>/boot</tt> directory (if it's separate) at <tt class="variable">/mount-point</tt><tt>/boot</tt> and (on Linux) your ESP at that location or at <tt class="variable">/mount-point</tt><tt>/boot/efi</tt>. The <tt>refind-install</tt> script then installs rEFInd to the appropriate location&mdash;on Linux, <tt class="variable">/mount-point</tt><tt>/boot/EFI/refind</tt> or <tt class="variable">/mount-point</tt><tt>/boot/efi/EFI/refind</tt>, depending on where you've mounted your ESP. Under OS X, this option is only useful in conjunction with <tt>--notesp</tt>, in which case rEFInd will install to <tt class="variable">/mount-point</tt><tt>/EFI/refind</tt>. The script also adds an entry to your NVRAM for rEFInd at this location. You cannot use this option with <tt>--usedefault</tt>. Note that this option is <i>not</i> needed when doing a dual-boot Linux/OS X installation; just install normally in OS X.</td>
446 </tr>
447 <tr>
448 <td><tt>--nodrivers</tt></td>
449 <td>Ordinarily <tt>refind-install</tt> attempts to install the driver required to read <tt>/boot</tt> on Linux. This attempt works only if you're using ext2fs, ext3fs, ext4fs, or ReiserFS on the relevant partition. If you want to forego this driver installation, pass the <tt>--nodrivers</tt> option. This option is the implicit when you use <tt>--usedefault</tt>.</td>
450 </tr>
451 <tr>
452 <td><tt>--alldrivers</tt></td>
453 <td>When you specify this option, <tt>refind-install</tt> copies <i>all</i> the driver files for your architecture. You may want to remove unused driver files after you use this option, especially if your computer uses Secure Boot. Note that some computers hang or fail to work with any drivers if you use this option, so use it with caution.</td>
454 </tr>
455 <tr>
456 <td><tt>--shim <tt class="variable">shim-filename</tt></tt> or <tt>--preloader <tt class="variable">preloader-filename</tt></tt></td>
457 <td>If you pass this option to <tt>refind-install</tt>, the script will copy the specified shim program file to the target directory, copy the <tt>MokManager.efi</tt> file from the shim program file's directory to the target directory, copy the 64-bit version of rEFInd as <tt>grubx64.efi</tt>, and register shim with the firmware. (If you also specify <tt>--usedefault</tt>, the NVRAM registration is skipped. If you also use <tt>--keepname</tt>, the renaming to <tt>grubx64.efi</tt> is skipped.) When the target file is identified as PreLoader, much the same thing happens, but <tt>refind-install</tt> copies <tt>HashTool.efi</tt> instead of <tt>MokManager.efi</tt> and copies rEFInd as <tt>loader.efi</tt> rather than as <tt>grubx64.efi</tt>. The intent is to simplify rEFInd installation on a computer that uses Secure Boot; when so set up, rEFInd will boot in Secure Boot mode, with one caveat: The first time you boot, MokManager/HashTool will launch, and you must use it to locate and install a public key or register rEFInd as a trusted application. The rEFInd public key file will be located in the rEFInd directory's <tt>keys</tt> subdirectory under the name <tt>refind.cer</tt>. Note that I'm not providing a shim binary myself, but you can download one from <a href="http://www.codon.org.uk/~mjg59/shim-signed/">here.</a> Some distributions also provide their own shim programs, so can point to them&mdash;for instance, in <tt>/boot/efi/EFI/fedora/shim.efi</tt>.</td>
458 </tr>
459 <tr>
460 <td><tt>--localkeys</tt></td>
461 <td>This option tells <tt>refind-install</tt> to generate a new Machine Owner Key (MOK), store it in <tt>/etc/refind.d/keys</tt> as <tt>refind_local.*</tt>, and re-sign all the 64-bit rEFInd binaries with this key before installing them. This is the preferable way to install rEFInd in Secure Boot mode, since it means your binaries will be signed locally rather than with my own key, which is used to sign many other users' binaries; however, this method requires that both the <tt>openssl</tt> and <tt>sbsign</tt> binaries be installed. The former is readily available in most distributions' repositories, but the latter is not, so this option is not the default.</td>
462 </tr>
463 <tr>
464 <td><tt>--keepname</tt></td>
465 <td>This option is useful only in conjunction with <tt>--shim</tt>. It tells <tt>refind-install</tt> to keep rEFInd's regular filename (typically <tt>refind_x64.efi</tt>) when used with shim, rather than rename the binary to <tt>grubx64.efi</tt>. This change cuts down on the chance of confusion because of filename issues; however, this feature requires that shim be launched with a command-line parameter that points to the rEFInd binary under its real name. versions of shim prior to 0.7 do not properly support this feature. (Version 0.4 supports it but with a buggy interpretation of the follow-on loader specification.) If your NVRAM variables become corrupted or are forgotten, this feature may make rEFInd harder to launch. This option is incompatible with <tt>--usedefault</tt> and is unavailable when run under OS X or without the <tt>--shim</tt> option. If the script discovers an existing rEFInd installation under <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt> or <tt>EFI/Microsoft/Boot</tt> and no other rEFInd installation when this option is used, it will abort.</td>
466 </tr>
467 <tr>
468 <td><tt>--yes</tt></td>
469 <td>This option causes the script to assume a <tt>Y</tt> input to every yes/no prompt that can be generated under certain conditions, such as if you specify <tt>--shim</tt> but <tt>refind-install</tt> detects no evidence of a Secure Boot installation. This option is intended mainly for use by scripts such as those that might be used as part of an installation via an RPM or Debian package.</td>
470 </tr>
471 </table>
472
473 <p>After you run <tt>refind-install</tt>, you should peruse the script's output to ensure that everything looks OK. <tt>refind-install</tt> displays error messages when it encounters errors, such as if the ESP is mounted read-only or if you run out of disk space. You may need to correct such problems manually and re-run the script. In some cases you may need to fall back on manual installation, which gives you better control over details such as which partition to use for installation.</p>
474
475 <a name="manual">
476 <h2>Installing rEFInd Manually</h2>
477 </a>
478
479 <p>Sometimes the <tt>refind-install</tt> script just won't do the job, or you may need to install using an OS that it doesn't support, such as Windows. In these cases, you'll have to install rEFInd the old-fashioned way, using file-copying commands and utilities to add the program to your EFI's boot loader list. I describe how to do this with <a href="#linux">Linux</a>, <a href="#osx">OS X</a>, <a href="#windows">Windows</a>, and <a href="#efishell">the EFI shell.</a></p>
480
481 <a name="linux">
482 <h3>Installing rEFInd Manually Using Linux</h3>
483 </a>
484
485 <p>On a UEFI-based PC, you'll normally install rEFInd to the ESP, which is usually mounted at <tt>/boot/efi</tt>. You can verify that this is the case by using the <tt>df</tt> command:</p>
486
487 <pre class="listing">
488 $ <b>df /boot/efi</b>
489 Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
490 /dev/sda1 191284 16604 174681 9% /boot/efi
491 </pre>
492
493 <p class="sidebar"><b>Note:</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, and older versions of <tt>efibootmgr</tt> didn't always work properly on Macs. This problem seems to have gone away with more recent versions of <tt>efibootmgr</tt>, but using OS X may still be more reliable. On the other hand, Apple's new (as of OS X 10.11) System Integrity Protection (SIP) feature blocks the use of <tt>bless</tt> under OS X and so prevents rEFInd installation. The <a href="sip.html">rEFInd and System Integrity Protection</a> page of this document covers how to overcome SIP and install rEFInd. One of these methods is to do the job from Linux.</p>
494
495 <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. (An exception is if you're mounting the ESP at <tt>/boot</tt>. This is an unusual configuration. If you're using it, you can proceed, making suitable adjustments to subsequent commands.) 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>
496
497 <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>
498
499 <ol>
500
501 <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. Note that this includes <i>all</i> of rEFInd's drivers. This command also copies the rEFInd binaries as signed by me; if you prefer to re-sign the binaries yourself, you'll have to do so before or during the copy operation, as described on the <a href="secureboot.html">Managing Secure Boot</a> page.</li>
502
503 <li>Type <tt><b>cd /boot/efi/EFI/refind</b></tt> to change into rEFInd's new directory on the ESP.</li>
504
505 <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. (Note that you must keep the version that's the correct bit width for your EFI; if you've installed a 32-bit Linux on a 64-bit PC with a 64-bit EFI, you'd keep <tt>refind_x64.efi</tt>.</li>
506
507 <li>Optionally, type <tt class="userinput">rm -r drivers_ia32</tt> to remove the <i>x</i>86 drivers from an <i>x</i>86-64 system, or <tt class="userinput">rm -r drivers_x64</tt> to remove the <i>x</i>86-64 drivers from a 32-bit <i>x</i>86 system. You may also want to remove some or all of the drivers for the architecture you are using. If you don't need them, they'll slow down the start process, and worse, loading unnecessary drivers can cause some systems to hang or interfere with the drivers you do need. See the <a href="drivers.html">page on drivers</a> for more on this topic.</li>
508
509 <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>
510
511 <p class="sidebar"><b>Weird:</b> A <a href="http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/20187.html">bug exists</a> in some Lenovo computers (and perhaps in some others, too) that causes the firmware's boot manager to refuse to boot any boot loader that doesn't have the name <tt>Windows Boot Manager</tt> or <tt>Red Hat Enterprise Linux</tt>. If you have such a system, you must pass one of those names (in quotes) rather than <tt>rEFInd</tt> to <tt>efibootmgr</tt> via its <tt>-L</tt> option. This bug was reported to Lenovo in mid-November 2012, and by late 2013, at least some Lenovos were mercifully free of this bug.</p>
512
513 <a name="efibootmgr">
514 <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 also need to include additional options if your ESP isn't on <tt>/dev/sda1</tt> or if your configuration is otherwise unusual; consult the <tt>efibootmgr</tt> man page for details. You may need to install this program on some systems; it's a standard part of most distributions' repositories. Also, if you're installing in Secure Boot mode, you must normally register <tt>shim.efi</tt> rather than the rEFInd binary, and rename <tt>refind_x64.efi</tt> to <tt>grubx64.efi</tt>. Shim 0.7 and later enables you to keep rEFInd's usual name by adding a <tt>-u "shim.efi refind_x64.efi"</tt> option to your <tt>efibootmgr</tt> command line, though. Change the filenames to the ones used by your actual Shim and rEFInd binaries, respectively.</li>
515 </a>
516
517 <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>
518
519 </ol>
520
521 <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>
522
523 <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>
524
525 <a name="osx">
526 <h3>Installing rEFInd Manually Using Mac OS X</h3>
527 </a>
528
529 <p class="sidebar"><b>Warning:</b> OS X 10.11 ("El Capitan") implements a new feature called System Integrity Protection (SIP; aka "rootless" or "CSR"). When enabled, SIP prevents the final step of rEFInd installation&mdash;registering the boot loader with the firmware. Thus, to install rEFInd, you must either disable SIP or perform the installation from something other than your regular OS X installation. The <a href="sip.html">rEFInd and System Integrity Protection</a> page of this document describes the options. If you're an advanced enough user to be considering a manual rEFInd installation procedure, doing the job from the Recovery HD environment may be your best option.</p>
530
531 <p>Before installing rEFInd on a Mac, you must determine whether it uses a 32-bit or 64-bit EFI implementation. Most Intel-based Macs have 64-bit EFIs, so you should use the <tt>refind_x64.efi</tt> file with them; 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>
532
533 <pre class="listing">
534 $ <b>ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi</b>
535 </pre>
536
537 <p>The result should include 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>
538
539 <p>You should also be aware of your OS X version and installation options. If you used whole-disk encryption (WDE) or a logical volume for installation, you <i>cannot</i> install to the OS X root partition; you <i>must</i> install to the ESP or to a separate HFS+ partition. WDE became an option with OS X 10.7 and logical volumes are the default in OS X 10.10. If in doubt, proceed with an installation to the ESP or to a separate HFS+ partition.</p>
540
541 <p class="sidebar"><b>Warning:</b> Numerous rEFIt bug reports indicate disk corruption problems on disks over about 500 GiB. <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>
542
543 <p>The procedure for installing rEFInd on a Mac is similar to that for installing it under Linux, except that you must use the <tt>bless</tt> utility rather than <tt>efibootmgr</tt> to register the program with the firmware. Also, you'll probably have to mount your ESP manually, since that's not done by default under OS X. To be precise, you should follow these steps:</p>
544
545 <ol>
546
547 <li>Open a Terminal window in which you'll type the following
548 commands.</li>
549
550 <li>If you want to install rEFInd on your ESP, you must first mount it. The
551 easy way to do this is to use the <tt>mountesp</tt> script that comes
552 with rEFInd. When you run it, the script should tell you where the ESP
553 was mounted. You can do the job manually by typing <b><tt>mkdir
554 /Volumes/ESP</tt></b> followed by <b><tt>sudo mount -t msdos
555 /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/ESP</tt></b>. Note that you may need to change
556 <tt>/dev/disk0s1</tt> to something else if your ESP is at an unusual
557 location. Type <tt class="userinput">diskutil list</tt> or use a tool
558 such as my <a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/">GPT fdisk
559 (<tt>gdisk</tt>)</a> to examine your partition table to find your ESP
560 if necessary.</li>
561
562 <li>Type <b><tt>sudo mkdir -p /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind</tt></b> to create a
563 suitable directory for rEFInd. If you want to place rEFInd on the OS X
564 root partition, you should adjust the pathname appropriately, as in
565 <tt>/efi/refind</tt>. Alternatively, you can use the Finder to create
566 the directory.</li>
567
568 <li>Copy the files in the <tt>refind</tt> subdirectory of the rEFInd binary
569 package to the like-named directory you've just created. You can do
570 this in the Finder or by typing <b><tt>sudo cp -r refind/*
571 /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/</tt></b> in your Terminal window after
572 changing into the rEFInd package's main directory.</li>
573
574 <li>Remove the file for the version of rEFInd you're not using, as in
575 <b><tt>sudo rm Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind_ia32.efi</tt></b> on a Mac
576 with a 64-bit EFI or <b><tt>sudo rm
577 /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi</tt></b> on a Mac with a 32-bit
578 EFI.</li>
579
580 <li>Optionally, remove the drivers directory for the architecture you're
581 not using&mdash;<tt>/Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/drivers_ia32</tt> or
582 <tt>/Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/drivers_x64</tt>, as appropriate. You may
583 also want to remove some or all of the drivers for the architecture you
584 are using; if you don't need them, they'll slow down the start process.
585 See the <a href="drivers.html">page on drivers</a> for more on this
586 topic. Note that Apple's firmware includes its own HFS+ driver, so the
587 HFS+ driver provided with rEFInd is useless on Macs.</li>
588
589 <li>If this is your first installation, type <b><tt>sudo mv
590 /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind.conf-sample
591 /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind.conf</tt></b> (adjusting the path as
592 necessary) to rename the sample configuration file so that it will
593 serve as a real configuration file. (Again, you can do this with the
594 Finder, if you prefer.)</li>
595
596 <li>"Bless" rEFInd by typing one of the following two commands:
597 <ul>
598 <li>If you're installing rEFInd on the ESP, type <tt
599 class="userinput">sudo bless --mount /Volumes/ESP --setBoot --file
600 /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi --shortform</tt>, adjusting
601 the mount point and exact path to the file as appropriate for your
602 installation.</li>
603 <li>If you're installing rEFInd to an ordinary HFS+ volume, type <tt
604 class="userinput">sudo bless --setBoot --folder /efi/refind --file
605 /efi/refind/refind_x64.efi</tt>. (Adjust the path and filename as
606 necessary if you're placing rEFInd somewhere else or using the
607 32-bit version.)</li>
608 </ul>
609 This is the step that's likely to fail if your system is booted
610 with SIP active.</li>
611
612 <li>If you don't want to reboot immediately after installing rEFInd, you
613 may optionally unmount the ESP by typing <tt class="userinput">sudo
614 umount /dev/disk0s1</tt> or <tt class="userinput">sudo umount
615 /Volumes/ESP</tt>. This step isn't strictly required, but if you want
616 to keep the ESP out of your directory tree, it can be useful.</li>
617
618 </ol>
619
620 <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>
621
622 <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>
623
624 <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>
625
626 <a name="windows">
627 <h3>Installing rEFInd Manually Using Windows</h3>
628 </a>
629
630 <p class="sidebar"><b>Warning:</b> Windows 8 implements a fast shutdown feature that helps speed up shutdown and startup operations on a single-boot computer. Unfortunately, this feature can cause filesystem corruption if it's used on a multi-boot computer. You can disable the feature by launching an Administrator Command Prompt window and typing <tt class="userinput">powercfg /h off</tt> in it.</p>
631
632 <p>I know relatively little about Windows EFI management tools; however, I do know that at least two relevant tools exist: the standard <tt>bcdedit</tt> and the third-party <i>EasyUEFI.</i></p>
633
634 <p>The <a href="http://www.easyuefi.com/index-us.html">EasyUEFI tool</a> is a free (as in beer) GUI tool for managing EFI boot programs. I've only tried it once, and it seemed fairly intuitive and easy to use, but I don't have detailed instructions on how to use it. If you want to use EasyUEFI, you'll have to use it in place of <tt>bcdedit</tt> at the end of the following procedure.</p>
635
636 <p class="sidebar"><b>Caution:</b> I've received reports that Windows 10 has made changes that make the following instructions not work. If you're using this OS, until I have a chance to investigate and update these instructions, your best bet may be to install rEFInd using a Linux live disk, such as an Ubuntu installation disk in its "try before installing" mode.</p>
637
638 <p>Attempt this method of installation only on a UEFI-based PC; this method will not work on Windows that's installed on a Mac in BIOS/CSM/legacy mode. 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>
639
640 <ol>
641
642 <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>
643
644 <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>
645
646 <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>
647
648 <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>
649
650 <li>Type <b><tt>S:</tt></b> to change to the ESP.</li>
651
652 <li>Type <b><tt>cd EFI\refind</tt></b> to change into the <tt>refind</tt> subdirectory</li>
653
654 <li>You may want to selectively delete some of the drivers in the <tt>drivers_x64</tt> or <tt>drivers_ia32</tt> directory, depending on your architecture and needs. Unnecessary drivers will slow the rEFInd start process, and can even cause the drivers you need to not work or cause a system crash. See the <a href="drivers.html">page on drivers</a> for more on this topic.</li>
655
656 <li>Type <b><tt>rename refind.conf-sample refind.conf</tt></b> to rename rEFInd's configuration file.</li>
657
658 <p class="sidebar"><b>Note:</b> I've heard from a couple of Windows 10 users that the <tt>bcdedit</tt> commands described here don't work. I don't yet know if this is a coincidence or if Microsoft has changed <tt>bcdedit</tt> in such a way that these instructions no longer apply. If you run into this problem, either try using EasyUEFI or use another installation method, such as the <a href="#linux">Linux method</a> from a Linux emergency boot disc.</p>
659
660 <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. Also, change <tt>refind_x64.efi</tt> to <tt>refind_ia32.efi</tt> on systems with 32-bit EFIs. Such computers are rare, and most of them are tablets. Check your Windows bit depth to determine which binary you should use.</li>
661
662 <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>
663
664 </ol>
665
666 <p>At this point, when you reboot, rEFInd should appear as your new default boot program. If it doesn't work for you, you have several other options, such as:</p>
667
668 <ul>
669
670 <li>You can rename files on the ESP. as described later, in <a href="#naming">Alternative Naming Options.</a></li>
671
672 <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>. If you use an Ubuntu image, you can install rEFInd <a href="#ppa">via its PPA,</a> which is an easy way to do the job. (In fact, the rEFInd PPA depends on the <tt>efibootmgr</tt> package, so you shouldn't need to manually install it.) The PPA approach may even be easier than installing from Windows using its tools, at least if you're familiar with Linux and have an Ubuntu desktop image handy.</li>
673
674 <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>
675
676 </ul>
677
678 <a name="efishell">
679 <h3>Installing rEFInd Manually Using an EFI Shell</h3>
680 </a>
681
682 <p class="sidebar"><b>Warning:</b> Do not attempt to use the procedure described in this section on a Macintosh. Macs have a strange EFI implementation that does not use the EFI variables that this procedure manipulates. Therefore, chances are this procedure simply won't work. It's conceivable that this procedure will actually cause problems, but I'm not curious enough to try it and risk damaging my Mac!</p>
683
684 <p>If you can't currently boot any OS (say, because a firmware update has wiped your NVRAM entries), you may find it convenient to install rEFInd using an EFI version 2 shell. Unfortunately, the <tt>bcfg</tt> command described here is not available in the EFI version 1 shell, and the version 2 shell is unusable on many firmware implementations prior to 2.3.1. Thus, this procedure won't work for all systems.</p>
685
686 <p>In addition to emergency situations, using <tt>bcfg</tt> can be desirable if <tt>efibootmgr</tt> or other OS-hosted tools don't do the job. This happens under VirtualBox, for instance. An alternative in such cases can be to use <a href="#naming">alternative names for rEFInd.</a></p>
687
688 <p>To begin, you must have a way to launch your shell. Unfortunately, this can pose a dilemma, since without rEFInd or some other boot manager, many EFI implementations lack the means to launch a shell. Some will do so, though, if the shell is stored as <tt>shellx64.efi</tt> (for <i>x</i>86-64) or <tt>shellia32.efi</tt> (for <i>x</i>86) in the root directory of the ESP. Thus, you can try copying your shell file there. You can obtain EFI 2 shells here:</p>
689
690 <ul>
691
692 <li><a href="https://edk2.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/edk2/trunk/edk2/ShellBinPkg/UefiShell/X64/Shell.efi"><i>x</i>86-64 (64-bit) shell 2</a></li>
693
694 <li><a href="https://edk2.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/edk2/trunk/edk2/ShellBinPkg/UefiShell/Ia32/Shell.efi"><i>x</i>86 (32-bit) shell 2</a></li>
695
696 <li><a href="http://dl.dropbox.com/u/17629062/Shell2.zip">Alternate <i>x</i>86-64 (64-bit) shell 2 for older EFIs</a></li>
697
698 </ul>
699
700 <p>Note that the IA32 shell included in rEFInd's CD-R image version is a version 1 shell, so you can't use it for this purpose. You can, however, copy rEFInd's files from the CD-R. You can even launch the version 1 shell included with rEFInd and then use that to launch a version 2 shell. The <i>x</i>86-64 shell on the CD-R is the alternate shell, which should work on any <i>x</i>86-64 computer. Once you've booted the shell, you can proceed as follows:</p>
701
702 <ol>
703
704 <li>If you haven't installed rEFInd previously, unpack its zip file to a
705 FAT partition. This can be the ESP itself or another partition, such as
706 a USB flash drive. If you're simply repairing a lost NVRAM entry, you
707 needn't move your existing rEFInd files.</li>
708
709 <li>Identify your filesystems, which are labelled with the form <tt>fs<tt
710 style="variable">n</tt>:</tt>, as in <tt>fs0:</tt> for the first
711 filesystem, <tt>fs1:</tt> for the second, and so on. Type the
712 filesystem number followed by the Enter key to begin using it. You can
713 then type <tt class="userinput">ls</tt> or <tt
714 class="userinput">dir</tt> to see the contents of the filesystem.
715 Chances are your ESP will be <tt>fs0:</tt>, but it could be something
716 else. (The following steps assume your ESP is <tt>fs0:</tt>; you'll
717 need to adjust them if it's not.) If rEFInd's source files are on
718 another device, you must identify it, too.</li>
719
720 <p class="sidebar"><b>Note:</b> Skip ahead to step #12 if you're merely re-activating an already-installed rEFInd binary. If an entry exists but it's no longer the primary one, you can skip ahead to step #14.</p>
721
722 <li>If necessary, create a directory for rEFInd by typing <tt
723 class="userinput">mkdir fs0:\EFI\refind</tt>. (If the <tt>fs0:\EFI</tt>
724 directory doesn't already exist, you must create it first,
725 though.)</li>
726
727 <li>Change to the directory in which rEFInd's files exist.</li>
728
729 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">cp refind_x64.efi fs0:\EFI\refind</tt> to
730 copy the rEFInd binary file. (Adjust the name if you're using a 32-bit
731 computer.)</li>
732
733 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">cp refind.conf-sample
734 fs0:\EFI\refind\refind.conf</tt> to copy and rename the sample rEFInd
735 configuration file.</li>
736
737 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">cp -r icons fs0:\EFI\refind\</tt> to copy
738 rEFInd's icons.</li>
739
740 <li>Optionally, type <tt class="userinput">cp -r drivers_x64
741 fs0:\EFI\refind\</tt> to copy rEFInd's 64-bit drivers. (You could
742 instead copy the 32-bit drivers or limit yourself to just the drivers
743 you need, of course.)</li>
744
745 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">fs0:</tt>, if necessary, to change to the
746 ESP.</li>
747
748 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">cd \EFI\refind</tt> to change to rEFInd's
749 installation directory.</li>
750
751 <li>If you want to edit rEFInd's options, type <tt class="userinput">edit
752 refind.conf</tt> and use the shell's built-in text editor to do so.
753 Press F2 followed by the Enter key to save your changes and F3 to
754 exit.</li>
755
756 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">bcfg boot dump -b</tt> to see a list of
757 existing NVRAM entries. Pay attention to their numbers (labelled
758 <tt>Option:</tt> and <tt>Variable:</tt>, with the latter number
759 preceded by the string <tt>Boot</tt>, as in <tt>Boot0007</tt>). You'll
760 want to create a boot entry for rEFInd using a number that's not in
761 use.</li>
762
763 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">bcfg boot add 3
764 fs0:\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi "rEFInd"</tt>, adjusting the number
765 (<tt>3</tt> in this example), filesystem (<tt>fs0:</tt>), and filename
766 (<tt>\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi</tt>) as necessary for your system. If
767 you're used to Linux, be sure to use backslashes (<tt>\</tt>), not
768 Linux-style forward slashes (<tt>/</tt>), as directory separators. Note
769 that some shells may ignore the number you entered and use another one,
770 so watch for this possibility.</li>
771
772 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">bcfg boot mv <i>3</i> 0</tt>, substituting
773 the option number for the entry you created for <tt
774 class="variable">3</tt>. This moves rEFInd to the top of the boot
775 order.</li>
776
777 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">reset</tt> to reboot the computer.</li>
778
779 </ol>
780
781 <p>With any luck, rEFInd will start up at this point. If not, you can check your settings using a shell or an emergency system for your OS of choice. In an EFI shell, you might type <tt class="userinput">bcfg boot dump -b</tt> to view your boot loader entries and verify that rEFInd appears at the top of the list. Be sure to check the pathname for typos. If you continue to have problems, you might look into giving rEFInd a <a href="#naming">fallback filename</a> that your firmware will recognize.</p>
782
783 <a name="naming">
784 <h2>Alternative Naming Options</h2>
785 </a>
786
787 <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. Broadly speaking, there are two alternative names that are most useful:</p>
788
789 <ul>
790
791 <li><tt class="userinput">EFI/BOOT/boot<i>arch</i>.efi</tt>&mdash;This name
792 is the official EFI fallback filename. It's most commonly used on
793 bootable removable disks, but it can be used on hard disks. It's
794 typically used only if no NVRAM entry points to a valid boot
795 loader.</li>
796
797 <li><tt class="userinput">EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi</tt>&mdash;This
798 filename has no official special standing in the EFI specification, but
799 as a practical matter, many EFI implementations use it as a fallback
800 boot loader in addition to or instead of
801 <tt>EFI/BOOT/boot<i>arch</i>.efi</tt>. In fact, some give it such a
802 high precedence that you can't boot anything that's not given this
803 name!
804
805 </ul>
806
807 <p>If you need to use one of these names, or something more exotic, you can do so in either of two ways: You can <a href="#mvrefind">use the <tt>mvrefind</tt> script</a> to move your installation in one step, or you can <a href="#manual_renaming">move and rename your files manually.</a></p>
808
809 <a name="mvrefind">
810 <h3>Using <tt>mvrefind</tt></h3>
811 </a>
812
813 <p>The easiest way to move a rEFInd installation, at least in Linux, is to use the <tt>mvrefind</tt> script. If you installed from one of my RPM or Debian packages, this script should be installed in <tt>/usr/sbin</tt>, so you can use it like a regular Linux command; otherwise you'll need to install it to your path yourself or type its complete path. Either way, it works much like the Linux <tt>mv</tt> command, but you pass it the directory in which a rEFInd installation appears and a target location:</p>
814
815 <pre class="listing">
816 # <tt class="userinput">mvrefind /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT /boot/efi/EFI/refind</tt>
817 </pre>
818
819 <p>This example moves rEFInd from <tt>/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT</tt> to <tt>/boot/efi/EFI/refind</tt>. It differs from <tt>mv</tt> in several ways:
820
821 <ul>
822
823 <li>The script renames rEFInd in a way that's sensitive to its source and
824 destination directories&mdash;for instance, <tt>mvrefind</tt> knows
825 that rEFInd (or shim, for Secure Boot installations) must be called
826 <tt>bootx64.efi</tt> on a 64-bit installation in
827 <tt>/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT</tt>, so it looks for rEFInd under that name
828 when copying from this directory, or it renames rEFInd to that name
829 when copying to it.</li>
830
831 <li>The script creates a new NVRAM entry for rEFInd when it copies to any
832 location but <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt> or <tt>EFI/Microsoft/Boot</tt>. It
833 refuses to copy to such locations if it's not run from an EFI-mode
834 boot.</li>
835
836 <li>The script knows enough to back up existing boot loaders stored in
837 <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt> or <tt>EFI/Microsoft/Boot</tt> when copying to these
838 locations. For the former location, the script backs up
839 <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt> as <tt>EFI/BOOT-rEFIndBackup</tt>; for the latter, it
840 moves <tt>EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi</tt> to
841 <tt>EFI/Microsoft/bootmgfw.efi</tt>.</li>
842
843 </ul>
844
845 <p>The <tt>mvrefind</tt> script is likely to be useful in resolving boot problems&mdash;if your system won't boot, you can try copying the installation to <tt>/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT</tt>, <tt>/boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot</tt>, and <tt>/boot/efi/EFI/refind</tt> in turn, testing the boot process after each attempt. (These filenames all assume your ESP is mounted at <tt>/boot/efi</tt>.) You could also copy a BIOS-mode install from <tt>/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT</tt> or <tt>/boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot</tt> to <tt>/boot/efi/EFI/refind</tt> to make it more robust against Windows repairs (assuming your firmware isn't broken).</p>
846
847 <a name="manual_renaming">
848 <h3>Renaming Files Manually</h3>
849 </a>
850
851 <p>You can move and rename rEFInd manually from any OS by following these steps:</p>
852
853 <ol>
854
855 <li>Access your ESP, as described in earlier sections.</li>
856
857 <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>
858
859 <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>
860
861 <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>
862
863 <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>
864
865 </ol>
866
867 <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>
868
869 <a name="upgrading">
870 <h2>Upgrading rEFInd</h2>
871 </a>
872
873 <p>If you've installed an earlier version of rEFInd, you can upgrade a bit more easily than you can install directly:</p>
874
875 <ul>
876
877 <li>On a UEFI-based PC, under any OS, you should be able to replace your
878 old rEFInd file with the new one. Make sure that the new rEFInd has the
879 same name as the old one, and that it's for the correct CPU type. Since
880 UEFI launches boot programs by filename, a simple file replacement will
881 suffice to launch the new version. If the new version includes new
882 icons, you may want to copy some or all of them.</li>
883
884 <li>On a Mac, you can copy over the old rEFInd binary file <i>from
885 Linux</i> and it will usually work, provided you copy <i>directly</i>
886 over the old file (rather than rename or delete the old file and then
887 copy the new one in its place). The same caveats about icons as apply
888 to UEFI-based PCs apply in this case. This method requires an extra
889 step in Mac OS X, though....</li>
890
891 <li>In OS X, if you copy over the original file with the new one, you'll
892 probably have to re-bless it to make it work.</li>
893
894 <li>Under Linux or OS X, you can re-run the <tt>refind-install</tt> script. In
895 most cases this works fine, but you'll end up with a duplicate of the
896 icons directory (<tt>icons-backup</tt>, which holds the original icons,
897 whereas <tt>icons</tt> holds the icons from the new package). Normally
898 this just wastes some disk space; but if you've customized your icons,
899 you'll need to copy your altered icons back. Under Linux, versions
900 0.6.2 and later of <tt>refind-install</tt> search for rEFInd in several
901 locations on the ESP, and will upgrade whatever is found. The same is
902 true with versions 0.8.5 and later under OS X when installing to the
903 ESP. If you install to a location other than the ESP under OS X, be
904 sure to include the same option to <tt>refind-install</tt>
905 (<tt>--notesp</tt> or <tt>--ownhfs</tt>) to replace the original rather
906 than create a new installation to the ESP.</li>
907
908 <li>Under an RPM- or Debian-based Linux distribution, you can use your
909 package system to install a newer version of the RPM or Debian package
910 that I provide. This will upgrade the files in your Linux filesystem
911 and re-run the <tt>refind-install</tt> script, so as with the previous
912 options, you'll waste a little disk space on duplicated icons, but the
913 process should otherwise work quite well.</li>
914
915 <li>If you installed using my Ubuntu PPA or a package provided by an OS
916 distribution (such as the packages that ship with Arch and ALT Linux),
917 performing a system update will probably update rEFInd, too. Depending
918 on how the package was created, though, this update might or might not
919 install the update to the ESP; you might need to manually re-run the
920 installation script. Consult your distribution's documentation for
921 details. My Ubuntu PPA will automatically run <tt>refind-install</tt> after
922 the package is installed.</li>
923
924 </ul>
925
926 <p>In all cases, if the new version includes new or altered configuration file options, you may need to manually update your configuration file. Alternatively, if you've used the default configuration file, you can replace your working <tt>refind.conf</tt> with <tt>refind.conf-sample</tt> from the rEFInd zip file. (When using <tt>refind-install</tt>, this file will be copied to rEFInd's installation directory under its original name, so you can rename it within that directory to replace the old file.)</p>
927
928 <p>If you're upgrading to rEFInd from rEFIt, you can simply run the <tt>refind-install</tt> script as described earlier or perform a manual installation. Once installed, rEFInd will take over boot manager duties. You'll still be able to launch rEFIt from rEFInd; a rEFIt icon will appear in rEFInd's menu. You can eliminate this option by removing the rEFIt files, which normally reside in <tt>/EFI/refit</tt>.</p>
929
930 <a name="addons">
931 <h2>Installing Additional Components</h2>
932 </a>
933
934 <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 most of these other programs, you must download and install them separately from rEFInd:</p>
935
936 <ul>
937
938 <li><b><a
939 href="http://tianocore.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=tianocore/edk2;a=blob_plain;f=EdkShellBinPkg/FullShell/X64/Shell_Full.efi;hb=HEAD"><tt>shell.efi</tt></a></b>&mdash;This
940 file, placed in the ESP's <tt>EFI/tools</tt> directory, adds the
941 ability to launch a text-mode EFI shell from rEFInd. Note that the
942 download link is to a 64-bit binary that must be renamed before rEFInd
943 will recognize it. Additional shell download links appear on the <a
944 href="https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface#UEFI_Shell_download_links">Arch
945 Linux wiki,</a> and on other sites; try a Web search if the shell you
946 find doesn't work to your satisfaction.</li>
947
948 <li><b><a
949 href="http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm">Memtest86</a></b>&mdash;This
950 is a popular tool for performing basic hardware tests, and especially
951 memory tests. rEFInd recognizes this program when it is stored in the
952 <tt>EFI/tools</tt>, <tt>EFI/tools/memtest</tt>,
953 <tt>EFI/tools/memtest86</tt>, <tt>EFI/memtest</tt>, or
954 <tt>EFI/memtest86</tt> directory, with a program filename of
955 <tt>memtest86.efi</tt>, <tt>memtest86_x64.efi</tt>,
956 <tt>memtest86x64.efi</tt>, or <tt>bootx64.efi</tt>. (Change
957 <tt>x64</tt> to <tt>ia32</tt> on IA-32 systems.) Be sure to download
958 the EFI version of the program. If you get the USB flash drive version,
959 you should mount the flash drive's ESP (partition 2) and copy the
960 <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt> directory to your own ESP's
961 <tt>EFI/tools/memtest</tt> or other Memtest86 directory name, as just
962 specified. rEFInd should then recognize it, provided the
963 <tt>showtools</tt> line includes the <tt>memtest</tt> or
964 <tt>memtest86</tt> token.</li>
965
966 <li><b><tt>gptsync.efi</tt> or <tt>gptsync_<tt
967 class="variable">arch</tt>.efi</tt></b>&mdash;This program creates a <a
968 href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html">hybrid MBR</a> from
969 your regular GPT disk. A hybrid MBR is a dangerous hack that enables
970 Windows and OS X to coexist on a Macintosh disk. If you're using a
971 UEFI-based PC, a hybrid MBR is likely to be useless at best, so you
972 shouldn't create one, and it's safest to not install
973 <tt>gptsync.efi</tt>. If you're using a hybrid MBR to enable
974 dual-booting Windows and OS X on a Mac, though, placing this program
975 file in the ESP's or Mac boot partition's <tt>EFI/tools</tt> directory
976 will enable you to regenerate your hybrid MBR should some other tool
977 convert the MBR to a standard protective MBR. You can obtain the file
978 from the <a href="http://refit.sourceforge.net">original rEFIt
979 package,</a> or beginning with rEFInd 0.6.9, an updated version is
980 included in the rEFInd package. The rEFInd version of <tt>gptsync_<tt
981 class="variable">arch</tt>.efi</tt> uses a more sophisticated algorithm
982 for determining what GPT partitions to duplicate in the MBR and it
983 includes additional safeguards to minimize the risk of damage should
984 you run the program on a disk that might have been damaged. The
985 original rEFIt version of the program usually goes by the filename
986 <tt>gptsync.efi</tt>, whereas the updated rEFInd version ships with an
987 architecture code, as in <tt>gptsync_x64.efi</tt> or
988 <tt>gptsync_ia32.efi</tt>. The rEFInd <tt>refind-install</tt> script
989 installs <tt>gptsync_<tt class="variable">arch</tt>.efi</tt> when run
990 under OS X, but not when run on Linux. In addition to installing the
991 program, you must edit <tt>refind.conf</tt>, uncomment the
992 <tt>showtools</tt> line, and add <tt>gptsync</tt> to its list of
993 options.</li>
994
995 <li><b>Drivers</b>&mdash;You can install drivers to extend the capabilities
996 of the EFI. rEFInd ships with filesystem drivers for ext2fs, ext4fs, and
997 ReiserFS, which can enable you to boot a Linux kernel with EFI stub
998 support from an ext2fs, ext3fs, ext4fs, or ReiserFS partition. (rEFInd also
999 provides ISO-9660 and HFS+ drivers.) You can find additional drivers
1000 from other sources, although they're still on the scarce side. See the
1001 <a href="drivers.html">Using EFI Drivers</a> page for more on this
1002 topic.</li>
1003
1004 <li><b>Secure Boot files</b>&mdash;If you're running on a system that
1005 supports Secure Boot, chances are you'll need extra support files, such
1006 as <tt>shim.efi</tt> and <tt>MokManager.efi</tt>. I describe these in
1007 detail on the <a href="secureboot.html">Managing Secure Boot</a>
1008 page.</li>
1009
1010 <li><b><a href="http://ipxe.org/">iPXE</a></b>&mdash;This tool provides the
1011 ability to boot a computer from a network server. Consult the
1012 <tt>BUILDING.txt</tt> file in the rEFInd source code package for
1013 information on building and installing these tools. You must also
1014 activate rEFInd's support by adding the <tt>netboot</tt> option to the
1015 <tt>scanfor</tt> and/or <tt>showtools</tt> lines in
1016 <tt>refind.conf</tt>. <i>Network-boot/iPXE support is currently
1017 experimental;</i> I recommend that only developers or those who are
1018 willing to use "bleeding-edge" software try it. Once activated, rEFInd
1019 will present a new menu item for booting from the network server.
1020 rEFInd itself will normally be installed locally. (You can deliver
1021 rEFInd as a network-boot image, but that image will be able to boot
1022 only OSes on the local disk.)</li>
1023
1024 </ul>
1025
1026 <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>
1027
1028 <a name="sluggish">
1029 <h2>Fixing Macintosh Boot Problems</h2>
1030 </a>
1031
1032 <p>I've received a few reports of a sluggish boot process (a delay of about 30 seconds before starting rEFInd) on some Macs after installing rEFInd, as well as some other Mac-specific peculiarities. I've been unable to replicate thess problems myself, and their true causes remains mysterious to me. I have found several possible solutions, though: <a href="#shortform">Using the <tt>--shortform</tt> option,</a> <a href="#fallback">using the fallback filename,</a> <a href="#moving">moving rEFInd to an HFS+ volume,</a> <a href="#clearing">clearing NVRAM entries,</a> <a href="#wakeprobs">fixing wake problems,</a> and <a href="#nolinux">fixing a failure to find Linux.</a></p>
1033
1034 <a name="shortform">
1035 <h3>Using the <tt>--shortform</tt> Option</h3>
1036 </a>
1037
1038 <p>Prior to version 0.8.5, these instructions and the <tt>refind-install</tt> script omitted the <tt>--shortform</tt> option from the <tt>bless</tt> command when installing rEFInd to the ESP. A rEFInd user, however, discovered that using the option eliminated the 30-second delay, so it is now the default with 0.8.5's <tt>refind-install</tt>, and is specified in the instructions. If you installed rEFInd 0.8.4 or earlier, you may want to re-install or re-<tt>bless</tt> rEFInd using this option.</p>
1039
1040 <p>There is one caveat, though: The <tt>man</tt> page for <tt>bless</tt> notes that <tt>--shortform</tt> notes that its use can come "at the expense of boot time performance." Thus, it's not clear to me that this option might not actually <i>create</i> problems on some computers. (It's eliminated the boot delay on my 2014 MacBook Air and has no detrimental effect on an old 32-bit Mac Mini that's never had a boot delay problem, though.) Thus, if you have problems with rEFInd 0.8.5 or later, you might try running <tt>bless</tt>, as described in <a href="#osx">Installing rEFInd Manually Using OS X's</a> step 8, but <i>omit</i> the <tt>--shortform</tt> option.</p>
1041
1042 <a name="fallback">
1043 <h3>Using the Fallback Filename</h3>
1044 </a>
1045
1046 <p>I've received a few reports that installing rEFInd to the ESP using the fallback filename (<tt>EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi</tt> on most systems, or <tt>EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi</tt> on very old Macs) can work around a sluggish boot problem. In fact, version 0.8.4's <tt>refind-install</tt> script copied the rEFInd binary to this name when run under OS X. (Version 0.8.5 switches to using <tt>--shortform</tt> with the more conventional <tt>EFI/refind/refind_x64.efi</tt> or <tt>EFI/refind/refind_ia32.efi</tt> name, as just noted.) If you installed to a name other than <tt>EFI/BOOT/BOOT<tt class="variable">{ARCH}</tt></tt>, either manually or by using the 0.8.5 or later <tt>refind-install</tt>, renaming (and re-<tt>bless</tt>ing) the installation is worth trying.</p>
1047
1048 <a name="moving">
1049 <h3>Moving rEFInd to an HFS+ Volume</h3>
1050 </a>
1051
1052 <p>Most of the reports of sluggish Macintosh boots I've seen note that the user installed rEFInd to the ESP rather than to the OS X root partition. Some users have reported that re-installing rEFInd to the OS X root partition clears up the problem. This is obviously a straightforward solution to the problem, if it works. (This location is not an option when using WDE or OS X logical volumes.) Note that rEFInd can launch boot loaders that are stored on any partition that the EFI can read no matter where it's installed; therefore, you'll still be able to launch boot loaders stored on the ESP (or elsewhere) if you install it in this way.</p>
1053
1054 <p>A variant of this solution is to create a small (~100MiB) HFS+ volume to be used exclusively by rEFInd. You can then install rEFInd to that volume with the <tt>--ownhfs</tt> option to <tt>refind-install</tt>, as in <tt class="userinput">./refind-install --ownhfs /dev/disk0s6</tt> if the volume is <tt>/dev/disk0s6</tt>. This approach has the advantage that it can be managed via OS X's own Startup Disk tool in System Preferences.</p>
1055
1056 <p>The biggest drawback to storing rEFInd on an HFS+ volume is that you won't be able to edit the rEFInd configuration file or move rEFInd-related binaries from an EFI shell if you install it in this way, since Apple's HFS+ driver for EFI is read-only. (The same is true of rEFInd's HFS+ driver, so it won't help you overcome this limitation.) You may also be limited in making changes to your rEFInd configuration from Linux or other OSes, too, since Linux's HFS+ drivers disable write support by default on volumes with an active journal. You can force write access by using the <tt>force</tt> option to <tt>mount</tt>; however, this procedure is noted as being risky in the Linux HFS+ documentation, so I don't recommend doing this on a regular basis on the OS X boot volume. This isn't as risky if you use a dedicated HFS+ rEFInd partition, though. You could even mount it as the Linux <tt>/boot</tt> partition, in which case it would also hold the Linux kernel and related files.</p>
1057
1058 <p>A variant of this solution is suggested in <a href="http://www.sparxeng.com/blog/software/fixing-slow-boot-on-a-triple-boot-mountain-lion-mac">this blog post,</a> which recommends placing rEFInd on an HFS+ volume on the first SATA channel. (In the blogger's case, that channel used to hold an optical drive, but that drive was replaced by a hard disk.)</p>
1059
1060 <a name="clearing">
1061 <h3>Clearing the NVRAM Entries</h3>
1062 </a>
1063
1064 <p>Another possible solution is documented in <a href="http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=12256273&postcount=200">a Web forum post.</a> Be aware, though, that this procedure involves using the <tt>efibootmgr</tt> utility on Macs, which has been known to damage the firmware on some Macs. Other reports indicate that this problem has been fixed with 3.3.0 and later kernels. Thus, I present this information cautiously and with a strong "use at your own risk" warning. If you care to proceed, I recommend you update your Linux kernel to the latest possible version and then proceed as follows:</p>
1065
1066 <ol>
1067
1068 <li>Boot into Linux.</li>
1069
1070 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">efibootmgr</tt> as <tt>root</tt> to obtain a list of your boot loader entries. Each entry includes a boot number, as in <tt>Boot0003</tt> or <tt>Boot0027</tt>.</li>
1071
1072 <li>Remove all of the boot loader entries <i>except</i> rEFInd's by using <tt>efibootmgr</tt>'s <tt>-b <tt class="variable">bootnum</tt></tt> option to specify the boot entry and <tt>-B</tt> to delete it. For instance, typing <tt class="userinput">efibootmgr -b 0027 -B</tt> as <tt>root</tt> deletes boot entry <tt>Boot0027</tt>. Issue a separate <tt>efibootmgr</tt> command for each boot entry.</li>
1073
1074 <li>Re-install rEFInd using the install script. It's unclear from the original post if this meant installing from Linux or from OS X.</li>
1075
1076 </ol>
1077
1078 <a name="wakeprobs">
1079 <h3>Fixing Wake Problems</h3>
1080 </a>
1081
1082 <p>Some people have reported that installing rEFInd causes problems with resuming from a suspended OS X session. I know of two workarounds to such problems:</p>
1083
1084 <ul>
1085
1086 <li>Install rEFInd to an HFS+ volume using the <tt>--ownhfs</tt> option to <tt>refind-install</tt>. Unfortunately, this solution requires either creating a small HFS+ volume for rEFInd or using an already-existing non-bootable HFS+ volume (if you've got one for data storage, for example).</li>
1087
1088 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 0</tt> in a Terminal window. This solution is likely to work if sleep operations work normally up to a point, but fail after about three hours.</li>
1089
1090 </ul>
1091
1092 <p>I've recently acquired a 2014 MacBook Air, but I haven't yet had the chance to try to reproduce this problem and find a workaround. It's on my to-do list, though.</p>
1093
1094 <a name="nolinux">
1095 <h3>Fixing a Failure to Find Linux</h3>
1096 </a>
1097
1098 <p>Some users report that rEFInd doesn't detect Linux, or won't boot it when it is found. Broadly speaking, there are two common causes of this problem:</p>
1099
1100 <ul>
1101
1102 <li><b>A malfunctioning BIOS/legacy boot</b>&mdash;If you installed Linux in BIOS/legacy mode, as most online documentation suggests, it could be that your <a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html">hybrid MBR</a> is missing or damaged. The usual symptom of this problem is that rEFInd shows a generic Linux penguin icon and that selecting it produces a message to the effect that a bootable OS could not be found. As hybrid MBRs are ugly and dangerous, I recommend avoiding them if possible, so my preferred solution to this problem is to set up EFI filesystem drivers and boot that way; however, fixing the hybrid MBR may be an easier solution. This is especially true if you installed a 32-bit version of Linux on a 64-bit Mac (or a 64-bit version on a rare Mac with a 64-bit CPU but a 32-bit EFI).</li>
1103
1104 <li><b>EFI filesystem driver problems</b>&mdash;Ideally, rEFInd should be able to load and run your Linux kernel directly, but this approach normally requires you to have a working EFI driver for the filesystem that holds your Linux kernel. This won't always be the case; and even if it is installed, there can be interference from other drivers, so you may need to <i>remove</i> the drivers that you don't use. If drivers are the root of your problem, you won't see any Linux options, or you'll see the one penguin icon (as above) with no others that point to your Linux kernel(s).</li>
1105
1106 </ul>
1107
1108 <p>If you suspect that your hybrid MBR is damaged, you can try re-creating it with my <a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/">GPT fdisk (<tt>gdisk</tt>)</a> program. The GPT fdisk <a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html">hybrid MBR documentation</a> covers this procedure in detail. You can run <tt>gdisk</tt> from either OS X or Linux, although you may need to install it, particularly in OS X.</p>
1109
1110 <p>If you suspect driver problems, you'll need to mount your ESP (as described in the <a href="#osx">manual OS X installation instructions</a>), locate the rEFInd <tt>drivers_x64</tt> directory, and adjust its contents. Make sure you have a driver for the filesystem that holds your Linux kernel. If you don't know what filesystem this is, it's probably ext4fs. rEFInd ships with several filesystem drivers, including one for ext4fs. You should also remove unnecessary filesystem drivers. I've seen several reports of one driver interfering with others' operation. The biggest culprit seems to be the HFS+ driver when used on Macs.</p>
1111
1112 <p></p>
1113
1114 <a name="winprob">
1115 <h2>Fixing Windows Boot Problems</h2>
1116 </a>
1117
1118 <p>Most Windows boot problems are best addressed on Windows-specific sites, so I recommend you make the rounds of Windows forums to solve such problems. There is one that deserves mention here, though: If you accidentally erase the Windows boot loader file, <tt>EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi</tt>, you won't be able to boot Windows. The simplest solution is to restore this file from a backup you prepared ahead of time. If you don't have such a backup, though, you can restore it as follows:</p>
1119
1120 <ol>
1121
1122 <li>Boot from an emergency Windows recovery disk. If you don't have one, you can prepare one from a working Windows system as described <a href="http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows7/create-a-system-repair-disc">here.</a></li>
1123
1124 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">diskpart</tt> to enter the Windows disk-partitioning tool.</li>
1125
1126 <li>In <tt>diskpart</tt>, type <tt class="userinput">sel disk 0</tt> followed by <tt>list vol</tt>. You should see a set of partitions. This step is intended to help you identify your ESP, which will probably be the only FAT32 partition on the disk. (If you have multiple disks, you may need to try again with <tt class="userinput">sel disk 1</tt> or higher.) Note the volume number of your ESP.</li>
1127
1128 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">sel vol 1</tt>, changing <tt>1</tt> to whatever the ESP's volume number is.</li>
1129
1130 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">assign letter=S:</tt> to assign the ESP a Windows disk identifier of <tt>S:</tt>. (You can use another letter if you prefer.)</li>
1131
1132 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">exit</tt> to exit from <tt>diskutil</tt>.</li>
1133
1134 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">cd /d s:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\</tt> to change into the Windows boot loader directory. (If this directory doesn't exist, you may need to create it first with <tt>mkdir</tt>. If rEFInd or some other boot loader occupies this directory, back it up first.</li>
1135
1136 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">bootrec /fixboot</tt>.</li>
1137
1138 <li>Type <tt class="userinput">bcdboot c:\Windows /s s: /f ALL</tt>. Note that this command should set the Windows boot loader as the default. Omit <tt>/f ALL</tt> if you don't want to adjust the EFI's default boot program.</li>
1139
1140 <li>Reboot and hope it works! If the computer boots straight to Windows and you want to use rEFInd, use <tt>bcdedit</tt> in Windows, as described in step 9 of the <a href="#windows">Installing rEFInd Manually Using Windows</a> section of this page.</li>
1141
1142 </ol>
1143
1144 <p>For more information, see <a href="http://superuser.com/questions/460762/how-can-i-repair-the-windows-8-efi-bootloader">this SuperUser question and answer.</a></p>
1145
1146 <a name="uninstalling">
1147 <h2>Uninstalling rEFInd</h2>
1148 </a>
1149
1150 <p>If you decide you don't want to keep rEFInd, you can uninstall it. Doing so is a matter of removing the rEFInd files from your ESP (or from your OS X boot partition, if you installed the program there). The exact details of how to do this vary from one OS to another, though; and in some cases there are alternatives to completely uninstalling rEFInd that are easier to implement.</p>
1151
1152 <a name="uinst_linux">
1153 <h3>Uninstalling rEFInd from Linux</h3>
1154 </a>
1155
1156 <p>In Linux, a command like the following, typed as <tt>root</tt>, should remove rEFInd:</p>
1157
1158 <pre class="listing">
1159 # <tt class="userinput">rm -r /boot/efi/EFI/refind</tt>
1160 </pre>
1161
1162 <p>You must type this command as <tt>root</tt> (or use <tt>sudo</tt> in some environments, such as under Ubuntu). This example assumes that your ESP is mounted at <tt>/boot/efi</tt> and that rEFInd is installed in <tt>EFI/refind</tt> on that partition. If you've mounted your ESP elsewhere, or installed rEFInd elsewhere, you should adjust the command appropriately.</p>
1163
1164 <p>If you installed via an RPM or Debian package in Linux, using your package manager will remove the package files, but not the files that the installer places on your ESP. Thus, you must uninstall those files manually, as just described. To complete the job, you'll also have to remove <tt>/boot/refind_linux.conf</tt>, and perhaps the <tt>/etc/refind.d</tt> directory.</p>
1165
1166 <a name="uinst_osx">
1167 <h3>Uninstalling rEFInd from OS X</h3>
1168 </a>
1169
1170 <p>The easiest way to restore the standard OS X boot loader on a Mac is not to uninstall rEFInd; it's to bypass it. This can be accomplished with the Startup Disk item in the System Preferences panel:</p>
1171
1172 <br /><center><img src="startup-disk.png" align="center" width="668"
1173 height="355" alt="The OS X Startup Disk tool enables you to reset a Mac
1174 to use the standard OS X boot loader." border=2> </center><br />
1175
1176 <p>Select your startup disk (<i>Macintosh HD OS X, 10.10.1</i> in this example) and then click Restart. The computer should reboot into OS X, bypassing rEFInd.</p>
1177
1178 <p>I recommend stopping here, because the procedure for completely removing rEFInd from a Mac depends on your installation method and tends to be challenging for many Mac users, who are unfamiliar with the necessary command-line tools. Basically, you must reverse the steps described earlier, in <a href="#osx">Installing rEFInd Manually Using Mac OS X:</a></p>
1179
1180 <ol>
1181
1182 <li>You must first determine where rEFInd is installed. This can be any of
1183 several locations:
1184
1185 <ul>
1186
1187 <li>If you installed rEFInd 0.8.3 or earlier with the default options,
1188 or if you used the <tt>--notesp</tt> option with rEFInd 0.8.4 or
1189 later, it will be <tt>/EFI/refind</tt> on your main partition</li>
1190
1191 <li>If you installed rEFInd 0.8.4 or later with the default options, or
1192 if you used the <tt>--esp</tt> option with rEFInd 0.8.3 or earlier,
1193 it will be in <tt>EFI/refind</tt> or <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt> on the
1194 ESP.</li>
1195
1196 <li>If you used the <tt>--ownhfs</tt> option to <tt>refind-install</tt>,
1197 rEFInd will be in the <tt>System/Library/CoreServices</tt>
1198 directory on the volume you specified.</li>
1199
1200 <li>If you installed rEFInd manually, it will be wherever you put
1201 it.</li>
1202
1203 <li>In all cases, there could be duplicate (inactive) rEFInd files in
1204 unexpected places. This is particularly true if you tried
1205 installing rEFInd multiple times, each with different options to
1206 <tt>refind-install</tt>. Thus, if you delete rEFInd and it still comes
1207 up, you may have deleted the wrong files. (Note that dragging files
1208 to the Trash may have no effect, though&mdash;at least, not until
1209 you empty the Trash.)</li>
1210
1211 </ul>
1212
1213 <li>If necessary, mount the ESP or rEFInd-specific HFS+ volume, as
1214 described in <a href="#osx">Installing rEFInd Manually Using Mac OS
1215 X.</a> (The <tt>mountesp</tt> script that comes with rEFInd will handle
1216 this task.)</li>
1217
1218 <li>Verify that rEFInd is installed in the directory noted in step #1. If a
1219 <tt>refind.conf</tt> file is present, rEFInd is almost certainly
1220 installed in that directory. If not, it's not rEFInd there and you
1221 should <i>not</i> proceed. <b><i>Be extra cautious about deleting the
1222 <tt>System/Library/CoreServices</tt> directory,</i></b> since that's
1223 the default location of the OS X boot loader! <i>Never</i> delete this
1224 directory from your OS X root (<tt>/</tt>) partition, only from the
1225 partition you specified to <tt>refind-install</tt> using the
1226 <tt>--ownhfs</tt> option.</li>
1227
1228 <li>Once you've identified the rEFInd directory, delete it, or at least the
1229 rEFInd boot file. This file may be called <tt>refind_x64.efi</tt>,
1230 <tt>bootx64.efi</tt>, <tt>boot.efi</tt>, or conceivably something else.
1231 You may need to use <tt>sudo rm</tt> at the command line to accomplish
1232 this task, as in <tt class="userinput">sudo rm -r
1233 /Volumes/ESP/EFI/refind</tt>.</li>
1234
1235 </ol>
1236
1237 <a name="uinst_windows">
1238 <h3>Uninstalling rEFInd from Windows</h3>
1239 </a>
1240
1241 <p>From Windows, you must reverse the directions for <a href="#windows">installing in Windows</a>&mdash;type <tt class="userinput">mountvol S: /S</tt> to mount your ESP as <tt>S:</tt>, then navigate to the <tt>S:\EFI</tt> directory and delete the <tt>refind</tt> subdirectory.</p>
1242
1243 <a name="post_uninst">
1244 <h3>Post-Uninstallation Activity (UEFI-Based PCs)</h3>
1245 </a>
1246
1247 <p>On a UEFI-based PC, when the computer boots and cannot find the rEFInd files, it should move on to the next boot loader in its list. In my experience, some EFI firmware implementations remove boot loaders they can't find from their NVRAM lists, so nothing else will be required, provided you have another working boot loader in your firmware's list. If your firmware doesn't automatically clean up its NVRAM entries, rEFInd's entry will do little harm; however, you can delete it with the <tt>efibootmgr</tt> utility in Linux:</p>
1248
1249 <pre class="listing">
1250 # <tt class="userinput">efibootmgr --verbose</tt>
1251 Timeout: 10 seconds
1252 BootOrder: 0000,0007
1253 Boot0000* rEFInd HD(2,1b8,64000,f1b7598e-baa8-16ea-4ef6-3ff3b606ac1e)File(\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi)
1254 Boot0007* CD/DVD Drive BIOS(3,0,00)PATA: HP DVD Writer 1040r .
1255 # <tt class="userinput">efibootmgr --delete-bootnum --bootnum 0000</tt>
1256 Timeout: 10 seconds
1257 BootOrder: 0007
1258 Boot0007* CD/DVD Drive</pre>
1259
1260 <p>This example shows use of <tt>efibootmgr</tt>'s <tt>--verbose</tt> (<tt>-v</tt>) option to display boot programs so as to identify which one is rEFInd, followed by <tt>--delete-bootnum</tt> (<tt>-B</tt>) to delete a boot program and <tt>--bootnum</tt> (<tt>-b</tt>) to identify which one to delete. Of course, in this example there's not much else left, so you'd presumably want to install another boot program at this point! If you already have another one installed, you may want to check the <tt>BootOrder</tt> line to determine which one will take precedence when you reboot. If you don't like what it shows, you can adjust it with the <tt>--bootorder</tt> (<tt>-o</tt>) option; consult <tt>efibootmgr</tt>'s <tt>man</tt> page for details.</p>
1261
1262 <p>If you're not using Linux, you may be able to find a utility that serves
1263 a similar function. Under Windows, the <tt>bcdedit</tt> command, described
1264 in the <a href="#windows">section on installing rEFInd under Windows,</a>
1265 may work, although I've not attempted this.</p>
1266
1267 <hr />
1268
1269 <p>copyright &copy; 2012&ndash;2015 by Roderick W. Smith</p>
1270
1271 <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>
1272
1273 <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>
1274
1275 <p><a href="index.html">Go to the main rEFInd page</a></p>
1276
1277 <p><a href="yosemite.html">Comments on rEFInd and OS X 10.10 (Yosemite)</a></p>
1278
1279 <p><a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/">Return</a> to my main Web page.</p>
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