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<h1>The rEFInd Boot Manager:<br />What's Your Boot Mode?</h1>\r
\r
href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>\r
\r
<p>Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update:\r
-11/10/2013, referencing rEFInd 0.7.5</p>\r
+3/4/2017, referencing rEFInd 0.10.5</p>\r
\r
\r
-<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>\r
+<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>\r
\r
<table border="1">\r
<tr>\r
<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="1.00">\r
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">\r
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">\r
-<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">\r
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<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="2.50">\r
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">\r
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">\r
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<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="5.00">\r
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<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">\r
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</form>\r
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<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="10.00">\r
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">\r
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">\r
-<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">\r
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</form>\r
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<input type="hidden" name="amount" value="20.00">\r
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">\r
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">\r
-<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">\r
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+<input type="image" src="donate.png" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">\r
</form>\r
</td>\r
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<input type="hidden" name="currency_code" value="USD">\r
<input type="hidden" name="item_name" value="rEFInd Boot Manager">\r
<input type="hidden" name="bn" value="PP-DonationsBF:btn_donate_LG.gif:NonHostedGuest">\r
-<input type="image" src="https://www.paypalobjects.com/en_US/i/btn/btn_donate_LG.gif" border="0" name="submit" alt="PayPal - The safer, easier way to pay online!">\r
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</td></tr>\r
</table>\r
\r
<li class="tight"><a href="#linux">Identifying Your Linux Boot Mode</a></li>\r
\r
-<li class="tight"><a href="#windows">Identifying Your Windows Boot Mode</a></li>\r
+<li class="tight"><a href="#windows">Identifying Your Windows Boot Mode</a>\r
+\r
+ <ul>\r
+\r
+ <li class="tight"><a href="#msinfo32">Using System Information</a></li>\r
+\r
+ <li class="tight"><a href="#parttable">Using Your Partition Table Type</a></li>\r
+\r
+ </ul></li>\r
\r
</ul>\r
\r
<h2>Identifying Your Hardware's Capabilities</h2>\r
</a>\r
\r
-<p>Let's get the easy case out of the way: If you have a Macintosh with an Intel CPU, it's got EFI capabilities, and you'll be able to use rEFInd. Earlier Macs with PowerPC CPUs use OpenFirmware, and rEFInd can't be used with them.</p>\r
+<p>Let's get the easy case out of the way: If you have a Macintosh with an Intel CPU, it's got EFI capabilities, and you'll be able to use rEFInd. Earlier Macs with PowerPC CPUs use OpenFirmware, and rEFInd can't be used with them. If your computer shipped new with Windows 8 or later, it almost certainly supports EFI; Microsoft requires that computers that bear a Windows 8 logo support EFI, and boot in EFI mode.</p>\r
\r
<p>For everything else, it can be harder to tell. Your best bet is to locate a PDF version of your computer's or motherboard's manual and search it for the string <i>EFI</i>. Checking your firmware's options via the firmware setup utility (typically access by pressing Del, F2, F10, or F12 at boot time) is also worth doing, but you'll need to check every option yourself. Most EFI-enabled PCs include at least one reference to an option you can set; however, manuals and firmware setup tools often don't make a big deal of this feature, particularly on boards with relatively primitive EFI support. For instance, the manual for a Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2P motherboard includes the following paragraph, on p. 28:</p>\r
\r
\r
<li>Launch a terminal program in GUI mode, or log in using text mode.</li>\r
\r
-<li>Type <b><tt>dmesg | grep EFI</tt></b>.\r
+<li>Type <b><tt>dmesg | grep -i EFI</tt></b>.\r
\r
</ol>\r
\r
<p>The result on a BIOS-based computer should be few or no lines of output. On an EFI-based computer, though, the output will be extensive:</p>\r
\r
<pre class="listing">\r
-[ 0.000000] Command line: BOOT_IMAGE=dev000:\EFI\elilo\bzImage-3.2.7 root=/dev/mapper/nessus-g_root dolvm ro\r
-[ 0.000000] EFI v2.10 by TianoCore.org\r
-[ 0.000000] Kernel-defined memdesc doesn't match the one from EFI!\r
-[ 0.000000] EFI: mem00: type=7, attr=0xf, range=[0x0000000000086000-0x000000000009c000) (0MB)\r
-[ 0.000000] EFI: mem01: type=4, attr=0xf, range=[0x000000000009c000-0x000000000009d000) (0MB)\r
+[ 0.000000] efi: EFI v2.31 by INSYDE Corp.\r
+[ 0.000000] efi: ACPI=0x9cffe000 ACPI 2.0=0x9cffe014 SMBIOS=0x9cebef98 \r
+[ 0.000000] efi: mem00: type=3, attr=0xf, range=[0x0000000000000000-0x0000000000001000) (0MB)\r
+[ 0.000000] efi: mem01: type=2, attr=0xf, range=[0x0000000000001000-0x0000000000008000) (0MB)\r
...\r
-[ 0.000000] EFI: mem58: type=0, attr=0x1, range=[0x00000000fec00000-0x0000000100000000) (20MB)\r
-[ 0.000000] EFI: mem59: type=7, attr=0xf, range=[0x0000000100000000-0x0000000230000000) (4864MB)\r
-[ 0.000000] Kernel command line: BOOT_IMAGE=dev000:\EFI\elilo\bzImage-3.2.7 root=/dev/mapper/nessus-g_root dolvm ro\r
-[ 0.844752] fbcon: EFI VGA (fb0) is primary device\r
-[ 0.853525] fb0: EFI VGA frame buffer device\r
-[ 1.061571] EFI Variables Facility v0.08 2004-May-17\r
+[ 0.000000] efi: mem62: type=11, attr=0x8000000000000001, range=[0x00000000ff980000-0x0000000100000000) (6MB)\r
+[ 0.000000] ACPI: UEFI 000000009cffc000 00236 (v01 LENOVO CB-01 00000001 ACPI 00040000)\r
+[ 0.632723] efifb: probing for efifb\r
+[ 0.634127] efifb: framebuffer at 0xa0000000, mapped to 0xffffc90021780000, using 8100k, total 8100k\r
+[ 0.634129] efifb: mode is 1920x1080x32, linelength=7680, pages=1\r
+[ 0.634130] efifb: scrolling: redraw\r
+[ 0.634132] efifb: Truecolor: size=8:8:8:8, shift=24:16:8:0\r
+[ 0.644648] fb0: EFI VGA frame buffer device\r
+[ 0.754748] EFI Variables Facility v0.08 2004-May-17\r
+[ 1.305636] fb: conflicting fb hw usage inteldrmfb vs EFI VGA - removing generic driver\r
</pre>\r
\r
-<p>I've actually cut quite a few lines from this output; there are a total of 60 <tt>EFI: mem<i>##</i></tt> lines on this computer. (Another of my computers has 148 such lines!) A BIOS-based computer will lack most or all of these lines, and certainly the <tt>EFI: mem<i>##</i></tt> lines. I've heard of some BIOS-based computers that produce the final <tt>EFI Variables Facility</tt> line, though.</p>\r
+<p>I've actually cut quite a few lines from this output; there are a total of 62 <tt>EFI: mem<i>##</i></tt> lines on this computer. (Another of my computers has 148 such lines!) A BIOS-based computer will lack most or all of these lines, and certainly the <tt>EFI: mem<i>##</i></tt> lines. I've heard of some BIOS-based computers that produce the <tt>EFI Variables Facility</tt> line, though.</p>\r
\r
<p>One caveat exists to these tests: It's possible to boot Linux in EFI mode but disable the EFI features that create the <tt>/sys/firmware/efi</tt> directory and the copious EFI output in <tt>dmesg</tt>. This can happen because your kernel was compiled without EFI support or because you've added the <tt>noefi</tt> line to your existing BIOS boot loader configuration. Some of these features will also be absent if the <tt>efivars</tt> driver is not built into the kernel and is not loaded as a module. Typing <tt class="userinput">modprobe efivars</tt> should load this module, so you might try that before concluding you've booted in BIOS mode. To the best of my knowledge, no major Linux distribution ships with EFI support disabled in any of these ways, so chances are your tests won't mislead you to thinking you're using BIOS mode unless you've recompiled your kernel or deliberately added a <tt>noefi</tt> parameter to your boot loader configuration.</p>\r
\r
<h2>Identifying Your Windows Boot Mode</h2>\r
</a>\r
\r
-<!-- NOTE: I have serious doubts about this method's reliability, so I'm commenting it out for now....\r
+<p>Depending on your Windows version, at least two ways of identifying your boot mode exist. The first method, <a href="#msinfo32">using the Windows <tt>msinfo32</tt> tool,</a> works in Windows 8 and later, and is likely to be more reliable. The second method, <a href="#parttable">checking your partition table,</a> works in any version of Windows but can be tricky or misleading, particularly if your computer has multiple hard disks.</p>\r
+\r
+<a name="msinfo32"><h3>Using System Information</h3></a>\r
+\r
+<p>To use System Information to identify your boot mode, follow these steps:</p>\r
+\r
+<ol>\r
\r
-<p>The easiest way to determine your boot mode in Windows is probably to use the <tt>bcdedit</tt> program to examine your boot loader configuration. To do so, launch an administrative Command Prompt (by right-clicking a Command Prompt icon and selecting Run As Administrator from the context menu) and then type <tt class="userinput">bcdedit</tt> in the window. The result will include two blocks of information, on the boot manager and the boot loader. The latter is more diagnostic. On an EFI-booted system, it will resemble the following:</p>\r
+<li>Press Win+R to open the Run dialog box.</li>\r
\r
-<pre class="listing">Windows Boot Loader\r
--------------------\r
-identifier {current}\r
-device partition=C:\r
-path \Windows\system32\winload.efi\r
-description Windows 7 Home Premium (recovered)\r
-locale en-US\r
-recoverysequence {2844aaae-9978-11e0-a381-afc0564c0e08}\r
-recoveryenabled Yes\r
-osdevice partition=C:\r
-systemroot \Windows\r
-resumeobject {3aa4c728-9935-11e0-9f12-806e6f6e6963}</pre>\r
+<li>Type <tt class="userinput">msinfo32</tt> into the Open field in this box and click OK. The System Information dialog box appears, as shown here:</li>\r
\r
-<p>The important part is the value of the <tt>path</tt> line. Note that it identifies an EFI executable—<tt>\Windows\system32\winload.efi</tt>. On a BIOS-based computer, by contrast, this line refers to <tt>\Windows\system32\winload.exe</tt>—a standard Windows <tt>.exe</tt> file, not an EFI <tt>.efi</tt> file.</p>\r
--->\r
+ <br /><img src="msinfo32.png" align="center" width="761" height="511"\r
+ alt="The msinfo32 program provides information about your computer,\r
+ including its boot mode." border=2> <br />\r
\r
-<p>The most reliable way I know of to identify your boot mode is to examine your partitions. Microsoft has tied use of the GUID Partition Table (GPT) to EFI booting. If you've booted from a GPT disk, then you <i>must</i> be using EFI, and if you've booted from a Master Boot Record (MBR) disk, you <i>must</i> have booted in BIOS mode. Therefore, you can check your partition table type as a proxy for your boot mode. To do this in Windows 7, follow these steps:</p>\r
+<li>Locate the OS Mode line in the list of information. (This line is highlighted in the above figure.)</li>\r
+\r
+<li>If the OS Mode is identified as UEFI, you've booted in EFI mode; if it reads Legacy, you've booted in BIOS/CSM/legacy mode.</li>\r
+\r
+<li>Close the System Information dialog box.</li>\r
+\r
+</ol>\r
+\r
+<p>Note that there are other ways to launch the System Information tool, so feel free to use one of them if you prefer it. Unfortunately, although Windows 7 provides the System Information utility, that version of the tool does not provide the boot mode information, so if you're using Windows 7, you must use another method to determine your boot mode.</p>\r
+\r
+<a name="parttable"><h3>Using Your Partition Table Type</h3></a>\r
+\r
+<p>If you can't use System Information to determine your boot mode, you can examine your partitions to identify your boot mode. Microsoft has tied use of the GUID Partition Table (GPT) to EFI booting. If you've booted from a GPT disk, then you must be using EFI, and if you've booted from a Master Boot Record (MBR) disk, you have almost certainly booted in BIOS mode. (I've heard of some exceptions to this rule, but they're exceedingly rare.) Therefore, you can check your partition table type as a proxy for your boot mode. To do this in Windows 7, follow these steps:</p>\r
\r
<ol>\r
\r
\r
<p>An important caveat with this method is that you must examine your boot disk. It's possible to use GPT on a data disk even on a BIOS-based computer, or to use an MBR data disk even on an EFI-based computer. Thus, if you examine the wrong disk, you can be led to an incorrect conclusion about your computer's boot mode.</p>\r
\r
+<p>Another caveat relates to the use of a <a href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html">hybrid MBR,</a> which is a variant on a GPT disk that's most often used on Macs to permit booting Windows in BIOS mode and OS X in EFI mode. Most Windows tools will identify a hybrid MBR disk as an MBR disk, but most non-Windows tools will identify it as a GPT disk. Of course, as hybrid MBRs are generally used to enable dual-booting Windows and OS X, and as OS X boots in EFI mode, you should be able to install rEFInd from OS X to help manage such a dual-boot configuration.</p>\r
+\r
<hr />\r
\r
-<p>copyright © 2012–2013 by Roderick W. Smith</p>\r
+<p>copyright © 2012–2017 by Roderick W. Smith</p>\r
\r
<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>\r
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