href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
<p>Originally written: 3/19/2012; last Web page update:
-1/6/2013, referencing rEFInd 0.6.3</p>
+2/3/2013, referencing rEFInd 0.6.7</p>
<p>I'm a technical writer and consultant specializing in Linux technologies. This Web page is provided free of charge and with no annoying outside ads; however, I did take time to prepare it, and Web hosting does cost money. If you find this Web page useful, please consider making a small donation to help keep this site up and running. Thanks!</p>
<h2>Using the EFI Stub Loader: Three Configuration Options</h2>
</a>
-<p>The EFI stub loader is basic and reliable, but it requires some setup to use it on some computers. I
describe three methods of using it: an <a href="#easiest">easiest method</a> for those with compatible partition and filesystem layouts, a <a href="#testing">quick test configuration</a> for those without such a layout, and <a href="#longterm">a long-term setup</a> for those without the ideal setup.</p>
+<p>The EFI stub loader is basic and reliable, but it requires some setup to use it on some computers. I
t also requires that you run a kernel with the same bit width as your EFI. In most cases, this means running a 64-bit kernel, since 32-bit EFI-based computers are so rare. I describe three methods of using the EFI stub loader: an <a href="#easiest">easiest method</a> for those with compatible partition and filesystem layouts, a <a href="#testing">quick test configuration</a> for those without such a layout, and <a href="#longterm">a long-term setup</a> for those without the ideal setup.</p>
<a name="easiest">
<h3>For Those With Foresight or Luck: The Easiest Method</h3>
<a name="refind_linux">
<pre class="listing">
-"Boot using default options" "root=/dev/sda3 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7"
-"Boot into single-user mode" "root=UUID=1cd95082-bce0-494c-a290-d2e642dd82b7 ro single"
-"Boot without graphics" "root=UUID=1cd95082-bce0-494c-a290-d2e642dd82b7 ro"
-# "Boot alternate install" "root=/dev/sdb9 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7"
+"Boot with standard options" "root=/dev/sda3 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7"
+"Boot to single-user mode" "root=UUID=1cd95082-bce0-494c-a290-d2e642dd82b7 ro single"
+"Boot with minimal options" "root=UUID=1cd95082-bce0-494c-a290-d2e642dd82b7 ro"
+# "Boot alternate install" "root=/dev/sdb9 ro quiet splash vt.handoff=7"
</pre>
</a>
<p>In the preceding example, the first line sets the options that rEFInd passes to the kernel by default (along with the name of the <tt>initrd.img-3.3.0</tt> file, since its version string matches that of the kernel). The next two lines set options that you can obtain by pressing Insert, F2, or + on the main menu, as shown here:</p>
<br /><center><img src="automatic-submenu.png" align="center"
- width="376" height="279" alt="rEFInd can load Linux boot options from
+ width="471" height="189" alt="rEFInd can load Linux boot options from
a refind_linux.conf file in the Linux kernel's directory."
border=2></center><br />
<p>Ordinarily, a kernel booted in this way must reside on the ESP, or at least on another FAT partition. On a Macintosh, though, you can use HFS+ to house your kernel files. In fact, that may be necessary; my Mac Mini hangs when I try to boot a Linux kernel via an EFI stub loader from the computer's ESP, but it works fine when booting from an HFS+ partition. If you use <a href="drivers.html">EFI drivers,</a> though, you can place your kernel on any filesystem for which an EFI driver exists. This list is currently rather limited (ext2fs/ext3fs, ReiserFS, ISO-9660, and HFS+), but even just one or two options might help a lot if you've got an undersized ESP or if copying your kernel file to the ESP is a hassle you'd rather avoid.</p>
-<p>
Beginning with version 0.3.1, rEFInd sorts boot loader entries <i>within each directory</i> by time stamp, so that the most recent entry comes first. Thus, if you specify a directory name (or a volume label, for loaders stored in a volume's root directory) as the <tt>default_selection</tt>, rEFInd will make the most recent loader in the directory the default. This can obviate the need to adjust this configuration parameter when you add a new kernel; chances are you want the most recently-added kernel to be the default, and rEFInd makes it so when you set the <tt>default_selection</tt> in this way. If you <i>don't</i> want the latest kernel to become the default, you can use <tt>touch</tt> to give the desired kernel (or other boot loader) in the directory a more recent time stamp, or you can set <tt>default_selection</tt> to a value that uniquely identifies your desired default loader. One caveat you should keep in mind is that the EFI and Windows interpret the hardware clock as local time, whereas Mac OS X uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time">Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)</a>. Linux can work either way. Thus, time stamps for boot loaders can be skewed by several hours depending on the environment in which they were created or last modified.</p>
+<p>rEFInd sorts boot loader entries <i>within each directory</i> by time stamp, so that the most recent entry comes first. Thus, if you specify a directory name (or a volume label, for loaders stored in a volume's root directory) as the <tt>default_selection</tt>, rEFInd will make the most recent loader in the directory the default. This can obviate the need to adjust this configuration parameter when you add a new kernel; chances are you want the most recently-added kernel to be the default, and rEFInd makes it so when you set the <tt>default_selection</tt> in this way. If you <i>don't</i> want the latest kernel to become the default, you can use <tt>touch</tt> to give the desired kernel (or other boot loader) in the directory a more recent time stamp, or you can set <tt>default_selection</tt> to a value that uniquely identifies your desired default loader. One caveat you should keep in mind is that the EFI and Windows interpret the hardware clock as local time, whereas Mac OS X uses <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coordinated_Universal_Time">Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)</a>. Linux can work either way. Thus, time stamps for boot loaders can be skewed by several hours depending on the environment in which they were created or last modified.</p>
<p class="sidebar"><b>Tip for distribution maintainers:</b> If you maintain an <tt>EFI/<tt class="variable">distname</tt></tt> directory for your kernels, you can place your version of rEFInd in a directory called <tt>EFI/<tt class="variable">distname</tt>/refind</tt>. This will avoid collisions with duplicate rEFInd installations from other distributions.</p>