href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
<p>Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update:
-6/18/2013, referencing rEFInd 0.6.12</p>
+8/25/2013, referencing rEFInd 0.7.4</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>
<li class="tight"><a href="#addons">Installing Additional Components</a></li>
-<li class="tight"><a href="#sluggish">Fixing a Sluggish Macintosh Boot</a>
+<li class="tight"><a href="#sluggish">Fixing a Macintosh Boot</a>
<ul>
<p>Beginning with version 0.6.2, I've included RPM and Debian package files 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>
-<pre class="listing"># <tt class="userinput">rpm -Uvh refind-0.6.11-1.x86_64.rpm</tt></pre>
+<pre class="listing"># <tt class="userinput">rpm -Uvh refind-0.7.4-1.x86_64.rpm</tt></pre>
<p>On a Debian-based system, the equivalent command is:</p>
-<pre class="listing"># <tt class="userinput">dpkg -i refind_0.6.11-1_amd64.deb</tt></pre>
+<pre class="listing"># <tt class="userinput">dpkg -i refind_0.7.4-1_amd64.deb</tt></pre>
<p>Either command produces output similar to that described for <a href="#installsh">using the <tt>install.sh</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.</p>
<li><b><a
href="http://tianocore.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=tianocore/edk2;a=blob_plain;f=EdkShellBinPkg/FullShell/X64/Shell_Full.efi;hb=HEAD"><tt>shell.efi</tt></a></b>—This
- file, placed in the ESP's <tt>efi/tools</tt> directory, adds the
+ file, placed in the ESP's <tt>EFI/tools</tt> directory, adds the
ability to launch a text-mode EFI shell from rEFInd. Note that the
download link is to a 64-bit binary that must be renamed before rEFInd
will recognize it. Additional shell download links appear on the <a
Linux wiki,</a> and on other sites; try a Web search if the shell you
find doesn't work to your satisfaction.</li>
+<li><b><a
+ href="http://www.memtest86.com/download.htm">Memtest86</a></b>—This
+ is a popular tool for performing basic hardware tests, and especially
+ memory tests. rEFInd recognizes this program when it is stored in the
+ <tt>EFI/tools</tt>, <tt>EFI/tools/memtest</tt>,
+ <tt>EFI/tools/memtest86</tt>, <tt>EFI/memtest</tt>, or
+ <tt>EFI/memtest86</tt> directory, with a program filename of
+ <tt>memtest86.efi</tt>, <tt>memtest86_x64.efi</tt>,
+ <tt>memtest86x64.efi</tt>, or <tt>bootx64.efi</tt>. (Change
+ <tt>x64</tt> to <tt>ia32</tt> on IA-32 systems.) Be sure to download
+ the EFI version of the program. If you get the USB flash drive version,
+ you should mount the flash drive's ESP (partition 2) and copy the
+ <tt>EFI/BOOT</tt> directory to your own ESP's
+ <tt>EFI/tools/memtest</tt> or other Memtest86 directory name, as just
+ specified. rEFInd should then recognize it, provided the
+ <tt>showtools</tt> line includes the <tt>memtest</tt> or
+ <tt>memtest86</tt> token.</li>
+
<li><b><tt>gptsync.efi</tt> or <tt>gptsync_<tt
class="variable">arch</tt>.efi</tt></b>—This program creates a <a
href="http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html">hybrid MBR</a> from
<p>The biggest drawback to this approach 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. As a compromise, you might try creating a small non-journaled HFS+ volume that's dedicated to holding rEFInd. 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. You'll need to install rEFInd manually if you try this.</p>
+<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>
+
<a name="fallback">
<h3>Using the Fallback Filename</h3>
</a>
-<p>I've received one report 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 the problem.</p>
+<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 the problem.</p>
<a name="clearing">
<h3>Clearing the NVRAM Entries</h3>