Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update:
-12/8/2014, referencing rEFInd 0.8.4
+11/8/2015, referencing rEFInd 0.10.0
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Don't be scared by the length of this page! 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 install.sh script in minute or two.
+
Don't be scared by the length of this page! 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 refind-install script in minute or two.
-
Once you've obtained a rEFInd binary file, 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 install.sh script can be a good way to go. If you're using Windows, you'll have to install manually.
+
Once you've obtained a rEFInd binary file, as described on the preceding page, 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 refind-install script can be a good way to go. If you're using Windows, you'll have to install manually.
Important: A rEFInd zip file, when uncompressed, creates a directory called refind-version, where version is the version number. This directory includes a subdirectory called refind that holds the rEFInd binary along with another that holds documentation, as well as miscellaneous files in refind-version itself. When I refer to "the refind directory" on this page, I mean the directory with that precise name, not the refind-version directory that is its parent.
Installing rEFInd Using an RPM or Debian Package File
-
I provide RPM and Debian package files for rEFInd; and starting with version 0.8.4, 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:
+
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:
-
# rpm -Uvh refind-0.8.4-1.x86_64.rpm
+
# rpm -Uvh refind-0.10.0-1.x86_64.rpm
On a Debian-based system, the equivalent command is:
-
# dpkg -i refind_0.8.4-1_amd64.deb
+
# dpkg -i refind_0.10.0-1_amd64.deb
-
Either command produces output similar to that described for using the install.sh script, 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.
+
Either command produces output similar to that described for using the refind-install script, 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.
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 should 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.
-
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 install.sh uses might not persist for long. You might therefore want to use mvrefind.sh to move your rEFInd installation to another name after you boot Linux for the first time from rEFInd.
+
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 refind-install uses might not persist for long. You might therefore want to use mvrefind to move your rEFInd installation to another name after you boot Linux for the first time from rEFInd.
-
Since version 0.6.2-2, my package files have installed the rEFInd binaries to /usr/share/refind-version, the documentation to /usr/share/doc/refind-version, and a few miscellaneous files elsewhere. (The PPA package omits the version number from the file paths.) Upon installation, the package runs the install.sh script to copy the files to the ESP. This enables you to re-install rEFInd after the fact by running install.sh, should some other tool or OS wipe the ESP or should the installation go awry. In such cases you can use install.sh or install manually.
+
Since version 0.6.2-2, my package files have installed the rEFInd binaries to /usr/share/refind-version, the documentation to /usr/share/doc/refind-version, and a few miscellaneous files elsewhere. (The PPA package omits the version number from the file paths.) Upon installation, the package runs the refind-install script to copy the files to the ESP. This enables you to re-install rEFInd after the fact by running refind-install, should some other tool or OS wipe the ESP or should the installation go awry. In such cases you can use refind-install or install manually.
If you're using Linux or Mac OS X, the easiest way to install rEFInd is to use the refind-install 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, refind-install 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 extra instructions for this utility.
By default, the install.sh 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 --notesp option, or to a non-boot HFS+ partition by using the --ownhfs devicefile option. Under either OS, you can install to something other than the currently-running OS by using the --root /mountpoint option. (See Table 1 for details.)
+
By default, the refind-install 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 --notesp option, or to a non-boot HFS+ partition by using the --ownhfs devicefile option. Under either OS, you can install to something other than the currently-running OS by using the --root /mountpoint option. (See Table 1 for details.)
-
Under Linux, install.sh will be most reliable if your ESP is already mounted at /boot or /boot/efi, as described in more detail in the Installing rEFInd Manually Using Linux section. (If you installed Linux in EFI mode, chances are your ESP is properly mounted.) If your ESP is not so mounted, install.sh will attempt to locate and mount an ESP, but this action is not guaranteed to work correctly. If you run install.sh 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 mvrefind.sh script after you've booted in EFI mode.
+
Under Linux, refind-install will be most reliable if your ESP is already mounted at /boot or /boot/efi, as described in more detail in the Installing rEFInd Manually Using Linux section. (If you installed Linux in EFI mode, chances are your ESP is properly mounted.) If your ESP is not so mounted, refind-install will attempt to locate and mount an ESP, but this action is not guaranteed to work correctly. If you run refind-install 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 mvrefind script after you've booted in EFI mode.
-
Prior to version 0.8.4, install.sh 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, install.sh now installs to the ESP under OS X, just as it does under Linux; however, the default installation location under OS X is EFI/BOOT/ rather than EFI/refind/. This difference accommodates a quirk of Apple's EFI, which sometimes imposes a 30-second delay when using anything but the EFI/BOOT location. If you're upgrading a working install of rEFInd to the OS X root partition, it's best to pass the --notesp option to install.sh. This option is described in more detail shortly.
+
Prior to version 0.8.4, refind-install 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, refind-install now installs to the ESP under OS X, just as it does under Linux. If you're upgrading a working install of rEFInd to the OS X root partition, it's best to pass the --notesp option to refind-install. This option is described in more detail shortly.
A sample run under Linux looks something like this:
-# ./install.sh
+# ./refind-install
Installing rEFInd on Linux....
ESP was found at /boot/efi using vfat
Installing driver for ext4 (ext4_x64.efi)
@@ -266,7 +266,7 @@ Installation has completed successfully.
The output under OS X is a bit different:
-$ ./install.sh
+$ ./refind-install
Not running as root; attempting to elevate privileges via sudo....
Password:
Installing rEFInd on OS X....
@@ -292,161 +292,13 @@ Unmounting install dir
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 dont_scan_dirs or dont_scan_files in refind.conf. Before you do this, you should use rEFInd to identify the unwanted files—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.
Some details that can affect how the script runs include the following:
-
-
-
-
If you run the script as an ordinary user, it attempts to acquire
- root privileges by using the sudo command. This works
- on Mac OS X and some Linux installations (such as under Ubuntu or if
- you've added yourself to the sudo users list), but on some
- Linux installations this will fail. On such systems, you should run
- install.sh as root.
-
-
Under OS X, you can run the script with a mouse by opening a Terminal
- session and then dragging-and-dropping the install.sh file to
- the Terminal window. You'll need to press the Return or Enter key to
- run the script.
-
-
If you're using OS X 10.7's Whole Disk Encryption (WDE) feature, or the
- loogical volumes feature in OS X 10.10, you must install rEFInd
- to the ESP or to a separate HFS+ partition. The default in rEFInd 0.8.4
- and later is to install to the ESP. If you prefer to use a separate
- HFS+ volume, the --ownhfs device-file option to install.sh is
- required.
-
-
If you're not using WDE or logical volumes, you can install
- rEFInd to the OS X root (/) partition by using the
- --notesp option to install.sh. Using this option is
- recommended when upgrading from a working rEFInd installation in this
- location.
-
-
If you're replacing rEFIt with rEFInd on a Mac, there's a chance that
- install.sh will warn you about the presence of a program
- called /Library/StartupItems/rEFItBlesser and ask if you want
- to delete it. This program is designed to keep rEFIt set as the boot
- manager by automatically re-blessing it if the default boot manager
- changes. This is obviously undesirable if you install rEFInd as your
- primary boot manager, so it's generally best to remove this program. If
- you prefer to keep your options open, you can answer N when install.sh asks if you want to
- delete rEFItBlesser, and instead manually copy it elsewhere. If you
- subsequently decide to go back to using rEFIt as your primary boot
- manager, you can restore rEFItBlesser to its place.
-
-
If you're using OS X and an Advanced Format disk, heed the warning that
- install.sh displays and do not use bless
- --info to check your installation status; this combination has
- been reported to cause disk corruption on some Macs!
-
-
If you intend to boot BIOS-based OSes on a UEFI-based PC, you
- must edit the refind.conf file's scanfor line
- to enable the relevant searches. This is not necessary on Macs,
- though; because of the popularity of dual boots with Windows on Macs,
- the BIOS/legacy scans are enabled by default on Macs.
-
-
On Linux, install.sh checks the filesystem type of the
- /boot directory and, if a matching filesystem driver is
- available, installs it. Note that the "/boot directory" may be
- on a separate partition or it may be part of your root (/)
- filesystem, in which case the driver for your root filesystem is
- installed. This feature is unlikely to work properly from an emergency
- system, although it might if you have a separate /boot
- partition and if you mount that partition at /boot in your
- emergency system, and the ESP at /boot/efi.
-
-
On OS X, install.sh checks your partition tables for signs of
- a Linux installation. If such a sign is found, the script installs the
- EFI filesystem driver for the Linux ext4 filesystem. This will enable
- rEFInd to read your Linux kernel if it's on an ext2, ext3, or
- ext4 filesystem. Note that some configurations will require a
- /boot/refind_linux.conf file, which can be reliably generated
- only under Linux. (The mkrlconf.sh script that comes with
- rEFInd will do this job once you've booted Linux.) In the meantime, you
- can launch GRUB from rEFInd or press F2 or Insert twice after
- highlighting the Linux option in rEFInd. This will enable you to enter
- a root=/dev/whatever specification,
- where /dev/whatever is the device
- identifier of your Linux root (/) filesystem.
-
-
If you run install.sh on Linux and if
- /boot/refind_linux.conf doesn't already exist,
- install.sh creates this file and populates it with a few
- sample entries. If /boot is on a FAT partition (or HFS+ on a
- Mac), or if it's on an ext2fs, ext3fs, ext4fs, ReiserFS, or HFS+
- partition and you install an appropriate driver, the
- result is that rEFInd will detect your kernel and will probably boot it
- correctly. Some systems will require manual tweaking to
- refind_linux.conf, though—for instance, to add
- dolvm to the boot options on Gentoo systems that use LVM.
-
-
-
-
In addition to these quirks, you should be aware of some options that install.sh supports to enable you to customize your installation in various ways. The syntax for install.sh is as follows:
The details of the options are summarized in Table 1. Broadly speaking, they come in four classes: installation location options (--notesp, --usedefault, and --root), driver options (--nodrivers and --alldrivers), Secure Boot options (--shim and --localkeys), and a user input option (--yes). Using some of these options in unusual conditions can generate warnings and prompts to confirm your actions. In particular, using --shim or --localkeys when you're not booted in Secure Boot mode, or failing to use --shim when you are booted in Secure Boot mode, will generate a query and a request to confirm your installation. Consult the Managing Secure Boot page for more on this topic.
This option, which is valid only under OS X, tells install.sh 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 --esp (which is now the default behavior, although the --esp option no longer exists) or --ownhfs. You may also want to use --notesp on new installations if you're sure you're not using whole-disk encryption or logical volumes.
-
-
-
--usedefault device-file
-
You can install rEFInd to a disk using the default/fallback filename of EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi (and EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi, if the 32-bit build is available) using this option. The device-file should be an unmounted ESP, or at least a FAT partition, as in --usedefault /dev/sdc1. Your computer's NVRAM entries will not 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 --notesp and --root.
-
-
-
--ownhfs device-file
-
This option should be used only under OS X. It's used to install rEFInd to an HFS+ volume other than 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 not 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+.
-
-
-
--root /mount-point
-
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 /mount-point, including your /boot directory (if it's separate) at /mount-point/boot and (on Linux) your ESP at that location or at /mount-point/boot/efi. The install.sh script then installs rEFInd to the appropriate location—on Linux, /mount-point/boot/EFI/refind or /mount-point/boot/efi/EFI/refind, depending on where you've mounted your ESP. Under OS X, this option is only useful in conjunction with --notesp, in which case rEFInd will install to /mount-point/EFI/refind. The script also adds an entry to your NVRAM for rEFInd at this location. You cannot use this option with --usedefault. Note that this option is not needed when doing a dual-boot Linux/OS X installation; just install normally in OS X.
-
-
-
--nodrivers
-
Ordinarily install.sh attempts to install the driver required to read /boot 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 --nodrivers option. This option is the implicit when you use --usedefault.
-
-
-
--alldrivers
-
When you specify this option, install.sh copies all 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.
-
-
-
--shim shim-filename or --preloader preloader-filename
-
If you pass this option to install.sh, the script will copy the specified shim program file to the target directory, copy the MokManager.efi file from the shim program file's directory to the target directory, copy the 64-bit version of rEFInd as grubx64.efi, and register shim with the firmware. (If you also specify --usedefault, the NVRAM registration is skipped.) When the target file is identified as PreLoader, much the same thing happens, but install.sh copies HashTool.efi instead of MokManager.efi and copies rEFInd as loader.efi rather than as grubx64.efi. 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 keys subdirectory under the name refind.cer. Note that I'm not providing a shim binary myself, but you can download one from here. Some distributions also provide their own shim programs, so can point to them—for instance, in /boot/efi/EFI/fedora/shim.efi.
-
-
-
--localkeys
-
This option tells install.sh to generate a new Machine Owner Key (MOK), store it in /etc/refind.d/keys as refind_local.*, 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 openssl and sbsign binaries be installed. The former is readily available in most distributions' repositories, but the latter is not, so this option is not the default.
-
-
-
--yes
-
This option causes the script to assume a Y input to every yes/no prompt that can be generated under certain conditions, such as if you specify --shim but install.sh 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.
-
-
-
-
After you run install.sh, you should peruse the script's output to ensure that everything looks OK. install.sh 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.
+
The refind-install script supports a number of options that can affect how it operates. For information on these options, consult the script's man page: Type man refind-install if you installed rEFInd via an RPM or Debian package; or read it in HTML form.
Sometimes the install.sh 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 Linux, OS X, Windows, and the EFI shell.
+
Sometimes the refind-install 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 Linux, OS X, Windows, and the EFI shell.
Note: 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 efibootmgr didn't always work properly on Macs. This problem seems to have gone away with more recent versions of efibootmgr, 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 bless under OS X and so prevents rEFInd installation. The rEFInd and System Integrity Protection page of this document covers how to overcome SIP and install rEFInd. One of these methods is to do the job from Linux.
This example shows that /dev/sda1 is mounted at /boot/efi, which is a typical configuration. (The ESP can be on another disk or partition, but /dev/sda1 is the most common place for an ESP.) If your output shows /boot or / under the Mounted on column, then your ESP isn't mounted. (An exception is if you're mounting the ESP at /boot. This is an unusual configuration. If you're using it, you can proceed, making suitable adjustments to subsequent commands.) If you get a df: `/boot/efi': No such file or directory error message, then the /boot/efi directory doesn't even exist. In such cases, you may need to jump through some extra hoops, as described on my EFI Boot Loader Installation page.
@@ -481,7 +333,7 @@ Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
Weird: A bug exists 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 Windows Boot Manager or Red Hat Enterprise Linux. If you have such a system, you must pass one of those names (in quotes) rather than rEFInd to efibootmgr via its -L 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.
If other boot loaders are already installed, you can use efibootmgr to adjust their boot order. For instance, efibootmgr -o 3,7,2 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.
@@ -496,6 +348,8 @@ Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
Installing rEFInd Manually Using Mac OS X
+
Warning: 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—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 rEFInd and System Integrity Protection 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.
+
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 refind_x64.efi file with them; but very early Intel-based Macs have 32-bit EFIs (and sometimes 32-bit CPUs), which require the refind_ia32.efi file. You can determine whether your Mac needs the x86-64 or IA32 build by typing the following command in a Mac Terminal window:
Open a Terminal window in which you'll type the following
commands.
-
If you want to install rEFInd on your ESP, you must first mount it. You
- can do this by typing mkdir /Volumes/esp followed by
- sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/esp. Note
- that you may need to change /dev/disk0s1 to something else if
- your ESP is at an unusual location. Type diskutil
- list or use a tool such as my GPT fdisk (gdisk)
- to examine your partition table to find your ESP if necessary.
-
-
Type sudo mkdir -p /Volumes/esp/efi/refind to create a
+
If you want to install rEFInd on your ESP, you must first mount it. The
+ easy way to do this is to use the mountesp script that comes
+ with rEFInd. When you run it, the script should tell you where the ESP
+ was mounted. You can do the job manually by typing mkdir
+ /Volumes/ESP followed by sudo mount -t msdos
+ /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/ESP. Note that you may need to change
+ /dev/disk0s1 to something else if your ESP is at an unusual
+ location. Type diskutil list or use a tool
+ such as my GPT fdisk
+ (gdisk) to examine your partition table to find your ESP
+ if necessary.
+
+
Type sudo mkdir -p /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind to create a
suitable directory for rEFInd. If you want to place rEFInd on the OS X
root partition, you should adjust the pathname appropriately, as in
/efi/refind. Alternatively, you can use the Finder to create
@@ -533,18 +390,18 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
Copy the files in the refind subdirectory of the rEFInd binary
package to the like-named directory you've just created. You can do
this in the Finder or by typing sudo cp -r refind/*
- /Volumes/esp/efi/refind/ in your Terminal window after
+ /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/ in your Terminal window after
changing into the rEFInd package's main directory.
Remove the file for the version of rEFInd you're not using, as in
sudo rm Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind_ia32.efi on a Mac
with a 64-bit EFI or sudo rm
- /Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi on a Mac with a 32-bit
+ /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi on a Mac with a 32-bit
EFI.
Optionally, remove the drivers directory for the architecture you're
- not using—/Volumes/esp/efi/refind/drivers_ia32 or
- /Volumes/esp/efi/refind/drivers_x64, as appropriate. You may
+ not using—/Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/drivers_ia32 or
+ /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/drivers_x64, as appropriate. 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.
See the page on drivers for more on this
@@ -552,8 +409,8 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
HFS+ driver provided with rEFInd is useless on Macs.
If this is your first installation, type sudo mv
- /Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind.conf-sample
- /Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind.conf (adjusting the path as
+ /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind.conf-sample
+ /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind.conf (adjusting the path as
necessary) to rename the sample configuration file so that it will
serve as a real configuration file. (Again, you can do this with the
Finder, if you prefer.)
"Bless" rEFInd by typing one of the following two commands:
If you're installing rEFInd on the ESP, type sudo bless --mount /Volumes/esp --setBoot --file
- /Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi, adjusting the mount
- point and exact path to the file as appropriate for your
+ class="userinput">sudo bless --mount /Volumes/ESP --setBoot --file
+ /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi --shortform, adjusting
+ the mount point and exact path to the file as appropriate for your
installation.
If you're installing rEFInd to an ordinary HFS+ volume, type sudo bless --setBoot --folder /efi/refind --file
@@ -571,15 +428,13 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
necessary if you're placing rEFInd somewhere else or using the
32-bit version.)
- As per the Warning earlier, do not use bless's
- --info option to try to confirm the change to the boot status
- unless you're certain you do not have an Advanced Format hard
- disk.
+ This is the step that's likely to fail if your system is booted
+ with SIP active.
If you don't want to reboot immediately after installing rEFInd, you
may optionally unmount the ESP by typing sudo
umount /dev/disk0s1 or sudo umount
- /Volumes/esp. This step isn't strictly required, but if you want
+ /Volumes/ESP. This step isn't strictly required, but if you want
to keep the ESP out of your directory tree, it can be useful.
Warning: 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 powercfg /h off in it.
+
I know relatively little about Windows EFI management tools; however, I do know that at least two relevant tools exist: the standard bcdedit and the third-party EasyUEFI.
+
+
The EasyUEFI tool 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 bcdedit at the end of the following procedure.
+
+
Caution: 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.
+
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:
Type rename refind.conf-sample refind.conf to rename rEFInd's configuration file.
+
Note: I've heard from a couple of Windows 10 users that the bcdedit commands described here don't work. I don't yet know if this is a coincidence or if Microsoft has changed bcdedit 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 Linux method from a Linux emergency boot disc.
+
Type bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi to set rEFInd as the default EFI boot program. Note that {bootmgr} is entered as such; that's not a notation for a variable. Also, change refind_x64.efi to refind_ia32.efi 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.
If you like, type bcdedit /set {bootmgr} description "rEFInd description" to set a description (change rEFInd description as you see fit).
The easiest way to move a rEFInd installation, at least in Linux, is to use the mvrefind.sh script. If you installed from one of my RPM or Debian packages, this script should be installed in /usr/sbin, 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 mv command, but you pass it the directory in which a rEFInd installation appears and a target location:
+
The easiest way to move a rEFInd installation, at least in Linux, is to use the mvrefind script. If you installed from one of my RPM or Debian packages, this script should be installed in /usr/sbin, 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 mv command, but you pass it the directory in which a rEFInd installation appears and a target location:
This example moves rEFInd from /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT to /boot/efi/EFI/refind. It differs from mv in several ways:
@@ -780,7 +643,7 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
The script renames rEFInd in a way that's sensitive to its source and
- destination directories—for instance, mvrefind.sh knows
+ destination directories—for instance, mvrefind knows
that rEFInd (or shim, for Secure Boot installations) must be called
bootx64.efi on a 64-bit installation in
/boot/efi/EFI/BOOT, so it looks for rEFInd under that name
@@ -801,7 +664,7 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
-
The mvrefind.sh script is likely to be useful in resolving boot problems—if your system won't boot, you can try copying the installation to /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT, /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot, and /boot/efi/EFI/refind in turn, testing the boot process after each attempt. (These filenames all assume your ESP is mounted at /boot/efi.) You could also copy a BIOS-mode install from /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT or /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot to /boot/efi/EFI/refind to make it more robust against Windows repairs (assuming your firmware isn't broken).
+
The mvrefind script is likely to be useful in resolving boot problems—if your system won't boot, you can try copying the installation to /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT, /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot, and /boot/efi/EFI/refind in turn, testing the boot process after each attempt. (These filenames all assume your ESP is mounted at /boot/efi.) You could also copy a BIOS-mode install from /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT or /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot to /boot/efi/EFI/refind to make it more robust against Windows repairs (assuming your firmware isn't broken).
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: using the fallback filename,moving rEFInd to an HFS+ volume,clearing NVRAM entries, and fixing wake problems.
Prior to version 0.8.5, these instructions and the refind-install script omitted the --shortform option from the bless 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 refind-install, and is specified in the instructions. If you installed rEFInd 0.8.4 or earlier, you may want to re-install or re-bless rEFInd using this option.
+
+
There is one caveat, though: The man page for bless notes that --shortform 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 create 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 bless, as described in Installing rEFInd Manually Using OS X's step 8, but omit the --shortform option.
I've received a few reports that installing rEFInd to the ESP using the fallback filename (EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi on most systems, or EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi on very old Macs) can work around a sluggish boot problem. In fact, since version 0.8.4, the install.sh script copies the rEFInd binary to this name when run under OS X. If you installed manually to another name, though, renaming (and re-blessing) the installation is worth trying.
+
I've received a few reports that installing rEFInd to the ESP using the fallback filename (EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi on most systems, or EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi on very old Macs) can work around a sluggish boot problem. In fact, version 0.8.4's refind-install script copied the rEFInd binary to this name when run under OS X. (Version 0.8.5 switches to using --shortform with the more conventional EFI/refind/refind_x64.efi or EFI/refind/refind_ia32.efi name, as just noted.) If you installed to a name other than EFI/BOOT/BOOT{ARCH}, either manually or by using the 0.8.5 or later refind-install, renaming (and re-blessing) the installation is worth trying.
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:
+
+
+
+
A malfunctioning BIOS/legacy boot—If you installed Linux in BIOS/legacy mode, as most online documentation suggests, it could be that your hybrid MBR 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).
+
+
EFI filesystem driver problems—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 remove 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).
+
+
+
+
If you suspect that your hybrid MBR is damaged, you can try re-creating it with my GPT fdisk (gdisk) program. The GPT fdisk hybrid MBR documentation covers this procedure in detail. You can run gdisk from either OS X or Linux, although you may need to install it, particularly in OS X.
+
+
If you suspect driver problems, you'll need to mount your ESP (as described in the manual OS X installation instructions), locate the rEFInd drivers_x64 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.
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). In Linux, a command like the following, typed as root, should do the trick:
+
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.
In Linux, a command like the following, typed as root, should remove rEFInd:
# rm -r /boot/efi/EFI/refind
-
This example assumes that your ESP is mounted at /boot/efi and that rEFInd is installed in EFI/refind on that partition. If you've mounted your ESP elsewhere, or installed rEFInd elsewhere, you should adjust the command appropriately.
+
You must type this command as root (or use sudo in some environments, such as under Ubuntu). This example assumes that your ESP is mounted at /boot/efi and that rEFInd is installed in EFI/refind on that partition. If you've mounted your ESP elsewhere, or installed rEFInd elsewhere, you should adjust the command appropriately.
+
+
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 /boot/refind_linux.conf, and perhaps the /etc/refind.d directory.
-
The same procedure works in OS X, with the caveat that the ESP isn't normally mounted in OS X. Thus, you must first mount the ESP, as described earlier, in the section on manually installing rEFInd in OS X. (You can forego this step if you installed to the OS X root partition.) You'll also need to use sudo to acquire root privileges. Thus, you'd probably use a command like the following in OS X:
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:
-
Many variants of both of these commands are possible on both OS X and Linux. For instance, you'd probably use sudo on Ubuntu. Note that dragging the rEFInd files to the Trash in OS X does not delete them; it just moves them to a different folder. Given the way that Macs reference boot loaders, this means that rEFInd may still launch. If you want to use the Finder to delete rEFInd, be sure to empty the trash after you drag the files there. That should do the job, provided there's no second installation hiding somewhere.
+
-
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 /boot/refind_linux.conf, and perhaps the /etc/refind.d directory.
+
Select your startup disk (Macintosh HD OS X, 10.10.1 in this example) and then click Restart. The computer should reboot into OS X, bypassing rEFInd.
+
+
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 Installing rEFInd Manually Using Mac OS X:
+
+
+
+
You must first determine where rEFInd is installed. This can be any of
+ several locations:
+
+
+
+
If you installed rEFInd 0.8.3 or earlier with the default options,
+ or if you used the --notesp option with rEFInd 0.8.4 or
+ later, it will be /EFI/refind on your main partition
+
+
If you installed rEFInd 0.8.4 or later with the default options, or
+ if you used the --esp option with rEFInd 0.8.3 or earlier,
+ it will be in EFI/refind or EFI/BOOT on the
+ ESP.
+
+
If you used the --ownhfs option to refind-install,
+ rEFInd will be in the System/Library/CoreServices
+ directory on the volume you specified.
+
+
If you installed rEFInd manually, it will be wherever you put
+ it.
+
+
In all cases, there could be duplicate (inactive) rEFInd files in
+ unexpected places. This is particularly true if you tried
+ installing rEFInd multiple times, each with different options to
+ refind-install. Thus, if you delete rEFInd and it still comes
+ up, you may have deleted the wrong files. (Note that dragging files
+ to the Trash may have no effect, though—at least, not until
+ you empty the Trash.)
+
+
+
+
If necessary, mount the ESP or rEFInd-specific HFS+ volume, as
+ described in Installing rEFInd Manually Using Mac OS
+ X. (The mountesp script that comes with rEFInd will handle
+ this task.)
+
+
Verify that rEFInd is installed in the directory noted in step #1. If a
+ refind.conf file is present, rEFInd is almost certainly
+ installed in that directory. If not, it's not rEFInd there and you
+ should not proceed. Be extra cautious about deleting the
+ System/Library/CoreServices directory, since that's
+ the default location of the OS X boot loader! Never delete this
+ directory from your OS X root (/) partition, only from the
+ partition you specified to refind-install using the
+ --ownhfs option.
+
+
Once you've identified the rEFInd directory, delete it, or at least the
+ rEFInd boot file. This file may be called refind_x64.efi,
+ bootx64.efi, boot.efi, or conceivably something else.
+ You may need to use sudo rm at the command line to accomplish
+ this task, as in sudo rm -r
+ /Volumes/ESP/EFI/refind.
From Windows, you must reverse the directions for installing in Windows—type mountvol S: /S to mount your ESP as S:, then navigate to the S:\EFI directory and delete the refind subdirectory.
-
In any of these cases, 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 efibootmgr utility in Linux:
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 efibootmgr utility in Linux:
Warning: As noted earlier, efibootmgr has been linked to firmware corruption on some Macs, at least with pre-3.3.0 Linux kernels. Therefore, I don't recommend using efibootmgr on Macs.
-
This example shows use of efibootmgr's --verbose (-v) option to display boot programs so as to identify which one is rEFInd, followed by --delete-bootnum (-B) to delete a boot program and --bootnum (-b) 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 BootOrder 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 --bootorder (-o) option; consult efibootmgr's man page for details.
-
If you're not using Linux, you may be able to find a utility that serves a similar function. The OS X bless utility (or its GUI equivalent, the Startup Disk item in System Preferences) should do the trick; but Macs pick up standard OS X boot loaders when they boot and find that a configured non-standard boot loader is missing, so this shouldn't be necessary on Macs. Under Windows, the bcdedit command, described in the section on installing rEFInd under Windows, may work, although I've not attempted this.
+
If you're not using Linux, you may be able to find a utility that serves
+a similar function. Under Windows, the bcdedit command, described
+in the section on installing rEFInd under Windows,
+may work, although I've not attempted this.
+
@@ -56,8 +57,7 @@ href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
-
-