Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update:
-1/6/2013, referencing rEFInd 0.6.3
+4/24/2016, referencing rEFInd 0.10.3
-
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!
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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!
Once you've obtained a rEFInd binary file, you must install it to your computer's 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.
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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 refind-install script in minute or two.
+
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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 boot loader, 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.
+
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
-
Beginning with version 0.6.2, I've included an RPM package file for rEFInd, and I quickly updated this (in 0.6.2-2) to be more sophisticated and to include a Debian package file, as well. 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:
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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-0.6.2-2.x86_64.rpm
+
# rpm -Uvh refind-0.10.3-1.x86_64.rpm
On a Debian-based system, the equivalent command is:
-
# dpkg -i refind_0.6.2-2_amd64.deb
+
# dpkg -i refind_0.10.3-1_amd64.deb
+
+
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.
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.
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 last 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.
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Warning: I know of one bug with the version of rEFInd built with GNU-EFI: On my 32-bit Mac Mini, the filesystem drivers hang when launched. This can render the system unbootable until you bypass rEFInd. This bug does not manifest when running the same binaries under a 32-bit VirtualBox, and I've never run into it on any 64-bit system (including a 64-bit MacBook Air). Debugging suggests that a function is being entered mid-function, which implies a bug in the EFI or in the development tools. In any event, the bottom line is to not use the PPA on a 32-bit Mac.
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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. 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.
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The PPA version asks if you want to install rEFInd to your ESP. (Chances are you want to respond affirmatively.) 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.
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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.
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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 install.sh 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, install.sh 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.
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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.
Under Linux, the install.sh script installs rEFInd to your disk's ESP. Under Mac OS X, the script installs rEFInd to your current OS X boot partition by default; but you can install to your ESP instead by passing the script the --esp 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.)
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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.
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Before running this script under Linux, you should ensure that your ESP is 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.) This precaution isn't necessary under OS X. 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.
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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)
@@ -201,158 +268,33 @@ 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....
-Installing rEFInd to the partition mounted at '/'
+Installing rEFInd to the partition mounted at /Volumes/ESP
+Found suspected Linux partition(s); installing ext4fs driver.
+Installing driver for ext4 (ext4_ia32.efi)
Copied rEFInd binary files
Copying sample configuration file as refind.conf; edit this file to configure
rEFInd.
+Installation has completed successfully.
-WARNING: If you have an Advanced Format disk, *DO NOT* attempt to check the
-bless status with 'bless --info', since this is known to cause disk corruption
-on some systems!!
-
-
-Installation has completed successfully.
+Unmounting install dir
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....
Some details that can affect how the script runs include the following:
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-
-
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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, you
- must install rEFInd to the ESP, so the --esp option to
- install.sh is required. I'm still a little bit foggy about
- what's required to boot the system once this is done; see this
- forum thread for a discussion of the topic.
-
-
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. If install.sh detects that the filesystem in
- question is ext2fs or ext3fs, it installs the ext4fs driver, which can
- handle all three of these filesystem types. 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.
-
-
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:
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.
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The details of the options are summarized in Table 1. Broadly speaking, they come in four classes: installation location options (--esp, --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 tells install.sh to install rEFInd to the ESP of your computer. This option is only useful on OS X; on Linux, installing to the ESP is a practical necessity, so --esp is implicit on Linux. Be aware that some users have reported sluggish boots when installing rEFInd to the ESP on Macs. Installing rEFInd anywhere but the ESP makes little sense on UEFI-based PCs, except for the partial exception of removable boot media, which you can prepare with --usedefault.
-
-
-
--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 --esp and --root (except for implicit use of --esp on Linux).
-
-
-
--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; or on OS X, 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 either --esp or --usedefault, except for implicit use of --esp on Linux. 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 default on OS X or 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.
-
-
-
--shim shim-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.) 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 will launch, and you must use it to locate and install a public key. This 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. In the not-too-distant future, most distributions will provide their own shim programs, so you'll be able to 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. Note: I introduced this option with the 0.6.2-2 incremental release, which was primarily an update of the 0.6.2 RPM package; it's not yet available in the mainline 0.6.2 version.
-
-
-
-
In any event, 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.
@@ -378,16 +320,16 @@ Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
Type cd /boot/efi/EFI/refind to change into rEFInd's new directory on the ESP.
-
Type rm refind_ia32.efi to remove the IA32 binary if you're using an x86-64 (64-bit) system; or type rm refind_x64.efi to remove the x86-64 binary if you're using an x86 (32-bit) system. You can optionally rename the binary you keep as refind.efi, but this isn't required. (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 refind_x64.efi.
+
You may optionally remove the rEFInd binaries for the CPU types you're not using. For instance, you might type rm refind_ia32.efi refind_aa64.efi to remove the IA32 and AARCH64 binaries if you're using an x86-64 (AMD64, X64) system.
-
Optionally, type rm -r drivers_ia32 to remove the x86 drivers from an x86-64 system, or rm -r drivers_x64 to remove the x86-64 drivers from a 32-bit x86 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, if you're using Secure Boot, rEFInd can load just one shim/MOK-signed driver. See the page on drivers for more on this topic.
+
Similarly, you may optionally remove the drivers subdirectories for the CPU types you're not using. For instance, you could type rm -r drivers_ia32 drivers_aa64 to remove the x86 and ARM64 drivers from an x86-64 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 page on drivers for more on this topic.
Rename the configuration file by typing mv refind.conf-sample refind.conf. Consult the Editing the rEFInd Configuration File page for information on how to adjust your options.
-
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, so with any luck updated firmware without this bug will be available later this year or early in 2013. I can make no promises about this, though.
+
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.
@@ -402,6 +344,8 @@ 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:
The result should include either EFI32 or EFI64, indicating that you should use the refind_ia32.efi or refind_x64.efi binary, respectively.
+
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 cannot install to the OS X root partition; you must 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.
+
Warning: Numerous rEFIt bug reports indicate disk corruption problems on disks over about 500 GiB. This report on the problem, and particularly the post by mic-marchen, suggests that the problem is related to a bug in OS X's bless utility, and particularly its --info option, that causes it to corrupt data on disks with 4 KiB sectors. These Advanced Format disks are becoming increasingly common, particularly at larger disk sizes. Therefore, I strongly recommend that you not type sudo bless --info 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.)
-
The procedure for installing rEFInd on a Mac is similar to that for installing it under Linux, except that you can (and probably should) install it to OS X's system partition or some other HFS+ partition rather than to the ESP, and you must use the bless utility rather than efibootmgr. To be precise, you should follow these steps:
+
The procedure for installing rEFInd on a Mac is similar to that for installing it under Linux, except that you must use the bless utility rather than efibootmgr 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:
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 this step is usually optional, and it makes the procedure a bit
- more complex, so you might want to forego it. On the other hand,
- installing to the ESP is required if you're using the whole-disk
- encryption feature of OS X 10.7. Note that you may need to change
+
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. Use a tool such as my GPT fdisk (gdisk)
- to examine your partition table to find your ESP if necessary.
+ 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 /efi/refind to create a suitable
- directory for rEFInd. If you want to place rEFInd on the ESP or some
- other partition, you should adjust the pathname appropriately, as in
- /Volumes/esp/efi/refind. Alternatively, you can use the Finder
- to create the directory.
+
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
+ the directory.
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/*
- /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 /efi/refind/refind_ia32.efi on a Mac with a
- 64-bit EFI or sudo rm /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—/efi/refind/drivers_ia32 or
- /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 topic. Note
- that Apple's firmware includes its own HFS+ driver, so the HFS+ driver
- provided with rEFInd is useless on Macs.
+ /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/ in your Terminal window after
+ changing into the rEFInd package's main directory.
+
+
Remove the files for the versions of rEFInd you're not using, as in sudo rm Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind_ia32.efi
+ Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind_aa64.efi on a Mac with a 64-bit EFI or
+ sudo rm /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi
+ Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind_aa64.efi on a Mac with a 32-bit EFI.
+
+
Optionally, remove the drivers directories for the architectures you're not
+ using—/Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/drivers_ia32 or
+ /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/drivers_x64, as appropriate. (No Mac uses
+ an ARM CPU, so you'd also remove
+ /Volumes/ESP/efi/refind/drivers_aa64 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 topic. Note that
+ Apple's firmware includes its own HFS+ driver, so the HFS+ driver provided
+ with rEFInd is useless on Macs.
If this is your first installation, type sudo mv
- /efi/refind/refind.conf-sample /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.)
+ /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 --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
/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi. (Adjust the path and filename as
necessary if you're placing rEFInd somewhere else or using the
32-bit version.)
-
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
- installation.
- 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.
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 bless 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.
-
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 /Library/StartupItems/rEFItBlesser. 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 refit.efi file with refind_x64.efi or refind_ia32.efi (renaming it to refit.efi. Used in this way, rEFInd will still look for its own configuration file, refind.conf, so you'll need to move it but not 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.
+
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 /Library/StartupItems/rEFItBlesser. 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 refit.efi file with refind_x64.efi or refind_ia32.efi (renaming it to refit.efi). Used in this way, rEFInd will still look for its own configuration file, refind.conf, so you'll need to move it but not 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.
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 bless 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.
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.
-
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:
+
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 xcopy /E refind S:\EFI\refind\ to copy the refind directory tree to the ESP's EFI directory. If you omit the trailing backslash from this command, xcopy will ask if you want to create the refind directory. Tell it to do so.
-
Type cd S: to change to the ESP.
+
Type S: to change to the ESP.
Type cd EFI\refind to change into the refind subdirectory
-
Type del refind_ia32.efi to delete the unused 32-bit version of rEFInd. (Windows only supports EFI boots on 64-bit EFI implementations and in 64-bit versions of Windows.)
-
-
Optionally type rd /s drivers_ia32 to delete the drivers_ia32 directory and its contents. You may also want to selectively delete some of the drivers in the drivers_x64 directory, depending on your needs. Unnecessary drivers may slow the rEFInd start process. See the page on drivers for more on this topic.
+
You may want to selectively delete some of the drivers in the drivers_x64, drivers_ia32, or drivers_aa64 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 page on drivers for more on this topic.
Type rename refind.conf-sample refind.conf to rename rEFInd's configuration file.
-
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.
+
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).
-
At this point, when you reboot, rEFInd should appear as your new default boot program. One caveat: My only EFI Windows installation uses UEFI DUET, which "forgets" its boot options upon reboot. Thus, I'm unable to test the last two steps (which were provided by a helpful user) myself. If it doesn't work for you, you have several other options, such as:
+
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:
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 sudo apt-get install efibootmgr to install efibootmgr, but you can then use that program as described earlier. (If you're using Ubuntu, you'll need to precede the command with sudo.
+
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 sudo apt-get install efibootmgr to install efibootmgr, but you can then use that program as described earlier. (If you're using Ubuntu, you'll need to precede the command with sudo. If you use an Ubuntu image, you can install rEFInd via its PPA, which is an easy way to do the job. (In fact, the rEFInd PPA depends on the efibootmgr 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.
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 efibootmgr, bless, or some other tool to restore rEFInd as the default boot loader.
Warning: 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!
+
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 bcfg 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.
In addition to emergency situations, using bcfg can be desirable if efibootmgr 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 alternative names for rEFInd.
Note that the 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. Once you've booted the shell, you can proceed as follows:
+
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 x86-64 shell on the CD-R is the alternate shell, which should work on any x86-64 computer. Once you've booted the shell, you can proceed as follows:
@@ -579,7 +537,7 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
need to adjust them if it's not.) If rEFInd's source files are on
another device, you must identify it, too.
-
Note: Skip ahead to step #9 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.
+
Note: 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.
If necessary, create a directory for rEFInd by typing mkdir fs0:\EFI\refind. (If the fs0:\EFI
@@ -588,8 +546,8 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
Change to the directory in which rEFInd's files exist.
-
Type cp refind_x64.efi fs0:\EFI\refind to
- copy the rEFInd binary file. (Adjust the name if you're using a 32-bit
+
Type cp refind_x64.efi fs0:\EFI\refind to copy
+ the rEFInd binary file. (Adjust the name if you're using an IA32 or AARCH64
computer.)
Optionally, type cp -r drivers_x64
- fs0:\EFI\refind\ to copy rEFInd's 64-bit drivers. (You could
- instead copy the 32-bit drivers or limit yourself to just the drivers
- you need, of course.)
+ fs0:\EFI\refind\ to copy rEFInd's X64 drivers. (You could instead copy
+ the IA32 or AARCH64 drivers or limit yourself to just the drivers you need,
+ of course.)
Type fs0:, if necessary, to change to the
ESP.
@@ -627,7 +585,7 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
(3 in this example), filesystem (fs0:), and filename
(\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi) as necessary for your system. If
you're used to Linux, be sure to use backslashes (\), not
- Linux-style forward slashes (/) as directory separators. Note
+ Linux-style forward slashes (/), as directory separators. Note
that some shells may ignore the number you entered and use another one,
so watch for this possibility.
@@ -666,16 +624,16 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
-
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:
@@ -683,7 +641,7 @@ $ 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
@@ -704,17 +662,17 @@ $ 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).
Some EFI implementations do a poor job of honoring the boot options set via Linux's efibootmgr 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. To do this, follow these steps:
+
You can move and rename rEFInd manually from any OS by following these steps:
-
Access your ESP and install rEFInd to it, as described in earlier sections.
+
Access your ESP, as described in earlier sections.
Look for an existing directory called EFI/BOOT or EFI/Microsoft/Boot. If neither of these directories exist, skip the next step. (Note that FAT is case-insensitive, so the name may vary in case.)
In OS X, if you copy over the original file with the new one, you'll
probably have to re-bless it to make it work.
-
Under Linux or OS X, you can re-run the install.sh script. In
+
Under Linux or OS X, you can re-run the refind-install script. In
most cases this works fine, but you'll end up with a duplicate of the
icons directory (icons-backup, which holds the original icons,
whereas icons holds the icons from the new package). Normally
this just wastes some disk space; but if you've customized your icons,
- you'll need to copy your altered icons back. Since version 0.6.2,
- install.sh has searched for rEFInd in several locations on the
- ESP, and will upgrade whatever it finds.
+ you'll need to copy your altered icons back. Under Linux, versions
+ 0.6.2 and later of refind-install search for rEFInd in several
+ locations on the ESP, and will upgrade whatever is found. The same is
+ true with versions 0.8.5 and later under OS X when installing to the
+ ESP. If you install to a location other than the ESP under OS X, be
+ sure to include the same option to refind-install
+ (--notesp or --ownhfs) to replace the original rather
+ than create a new installation to the ESP.
Under an RPM- or Debian-based Linux distribution, you can use your
package system to install a newer version of the RPM or Debian package
that I provide. This will upgrade the files in your Linux filesystem
- and re-run the install.sh script, so as with the previous
+ and re-run the refind-install script, so as with the previous
options, you'll waste a little disk space on duplicated icons, but the
process should otherwise work quite well.
+
If you installed using my Ubuntu PPA or a package provided by an OS
+ distribution (such as the packages that ship with Arch and ALT Linux),
+ performing a system update will probably update rEFInd, too. Depending
+ on how the package was created, though, this update might or might not
+ install the update to the ESP; you might need to manually re-run the
+ installation script. Consult your distribution's documentation for
+ details. My Ubuntu PPA will automatically run refind-install after
+ the package is installed if you selected the option to install
+ to the ESP; if you opted to skip this step, my PPA version will
+ continue to do so at every update, leaving you to manually update the
+ copy on the ESP. (You can change this behavior by typing sudo dpkg-reconfigure refind.)
+
-
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 refind.conf with refind.conf-sample from the rEFInd zip file. (When using install.sh, 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.
+
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 refind.conf with refind.conf-sample from the rEFInd zip file. (When using refind-install, 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.)
-
If you're upgrading to rEFInd from rEFIt, you can simply run the install.sh 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 /EFI/refit.
+
If you're upgrading to rEFInd from rEFIt, you can simply run the refind-install 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 /EFI/refit.
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 these other programs, you must download and install them separately from rEFInd:
+
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:
shell.efi—This
- file, placed in the ESP's efi/tools directory, adds the
+ file, placed in the ESP's EFI/tools 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 ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
Linux wiki, and on other sites; try a Web search if the shell you
find doesn't work to your satisfaction.
-
gptsync.efi—This program creates a Memtest86—This
+ is a popular tool for performing basic hardware tests, and especially
+ memory tests. rEFInd recognizes this program when it is stored in the
+ EFI/tools, EFI/tools/memtest,
+ EFI/tools/memtest86, EFI/memtest, or
+ EFI/memtest86 directory, with a program filename of
+ memtest86.efi, memtest86_x64.efi,
+ memtest86x64.efi, or bootx64.efi. (Change
+ x64 to ia32 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
+ EFI/BOOT directory to your own ESP's
+ EFI/tools/memtest or other Memtest86 directory name, as just
+ specified. rEFInd should then recognize it, provided the
+ showtools line includes the memtest or
+ memtest86 token.
+
+
gptsync.efi or gptsync_arch.efi—This program creates a hybrid MBR from
your regular GPT disk. A hybrid MBR is a dangerous hack that enables
Windows and OS X to coexist on a Macintosh disk. If you're using a
- UEFI-based PC, a hybrid MBR will be useless at best, so you shouldn't
- create one, and it's safest to not install gptsync.efi. If
- you're using a hybrid MBR to enable dual-booting Windows and OS X on a
- Mac, though, placing this program file in the ESP's or Mac boot
- partition's efi/tools directory will enable you to regenerate
- your hybrid MBR should some other tool convert the MBR to a standard
- protective MBR. You can obtain the file from the original rEFIt package.
+ UEFI-based PC, a hybrid MBR is likely to be useless at best, so you
+ shouldn't create one, and it's safest to not install
+ gptsync.efi. If you're using a hybrid MBR to enable
+ dual-booting Windows and OS X on a Mac, though, placing this program
+ file in the ESP's or Mac boot partition's EFI/tools directory
+ will enable you to regenerate your hybrid MBR should some other tool
+ convert the MBR to a standard protective MBR. You can obtain the file
+ from the original rEFIt
+ package, or beginning with rEFInd 0.6.9, an updated version is
+ included in the rEFInd package. The rEFInd version of gptsync_arch.efi uses a more sophisticated algorithm
+ for determining what GPT partitions to duplicate in the MBR and it
+ includes additional safeguards to minimize the risk of damage should
+ you run the program on a disk that might have been damaged. The
+ original rEFIt version of the program usually goes by the filename
+ gptsync.efi, whereas the updated rEFInd version ships with an
+ architecture code, as in gptsync_x64.efi or
+ gptsync_ia32.efi. The rEFInd refind-install script
+ installs gptsync_arch.efi when run
+ under OS X, but not when run on Linux. In addition to installing the
+ program, you must edit refind.conf, uncomment the
+ showtools line, and add gptsync to its list of
+ options.
Drivers—You can install drivers to extend the capabilities
- of the EFI. rEFInd ships with filesystem drivers for ext2fs and
+ of the EFI. rEFInd ships with filesystem drivers for ext2fs, ext4fs, and
ReiserFS, which can enable you to boot a Linux kernel with EFI stub
support from an ext2fs, ext3fs, ext4fs, or ReiserFS partition. (rEFInd also
provides ISO-9660 and HFS+ drivers.) You can find additional drivers
@@ -821,15 +831,61 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
detail on the Managing Secure Boot
page.
+
iPXE—This tool provides the
+ ability to boot a computer from a network server. Consult the
+ BUILDING.txt file in the rEFInd source code package for
+ information on building and installing these tools. You must also
+ activate rEFInd's support by adding the netboot option to the
+ scanfor and/or showtools lines in
+ refind.conf. Network-boot/iPXE support is currently
+ experimental; I recommend that only developers or those who are
+ willing to use "bleeding-edge" software try it. Once activated, rEFInd
+ will present a new menu item for booting from the network server.
+ rEFInd itself will normally be installed locally. (You can deliver
+ rEFInd as a network-boot image, but that image will be able to boot
+ only OSes on the local disk.)
+
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.
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. I've been unable to replicate this problem myself, and its true cause remains mysterious to me. I have found a Web forum post describing a possible fix. Be aware, though, that this procedure involves using the efibootmgr 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:
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, 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.
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.
+
+
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 --ownhfs option to refind-install, as in ./refind-install --ownhfs /dev/disk0s6 if the volume is /dev/disk0s6. This approach has the advantage that it can be managed via OS X's own Startup Disk tool in System Preferences.
+
+
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 force option to mount; 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 /boot partition, in which case it would also hold the Linux kernel and related files.
+
+
A variant of this solution is suggested in this blog post, 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.)
Another possible solution is documented in a Web forum post. Be aware, though, that this procedure involves using the efibootmgr 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:
Some sources suggest that delayed launches of rEFInd on Macs are more common when installing rEFInd to the ESP, so if you've done this, you could try re-installing it to your OS X boot partition.
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:
+
+
+
+
Install rEFInd to an HFS+ volume using the --ownhfs option to refind-install. 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).
+
+
Type sudo pmset -a autopoweroff 0 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.
+
+
+
+
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.
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.
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, EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi, 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:
+
+
+
+
Boot from an emergency Windows recovery disk. If you don't have one, you can prepare one from a working Windows system as described here.
+
+
Type diskpart to enter the Windows disk-partitioning tool.
+
+
In diskpart, type sel disk 0 followed by list vol. 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 sel disk 1 or higher.) Note the volume number of your ESP.
+
+
Type sel vol 1, changing 1 to whatever the ESP's volume number is.
+
+
Type assign letter=S: to assign the ESP a Windows disk identifier of S:. (You can use another letter if you prefer.)
+
+
Type exit to exit from diskutil.
+
+
Type cd /d s:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\ to change into the Windows boot loader directory. (If this directory doesn't exist, you may need to create it first with mkdir. If rEFInd or some other boot loader occupies this directory, back it up first.
+
+
Type bootrec /fixboot.
+
+
Type bcdboot c:\Windows /s s: /f ALL. Note that this command should set the Windows boot loader as the default. Omit /f ALL if you don't want to adjust the EFI's default boot program.
+
+
Reboot and hope it works! If the computer boots straight to Windows and you want to use rEFInd, use bcdedit in Windows, as described in step 9 of the Installing rEFInd Manually Using Windows section of this page.
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.
-
The same procedure works in OS X, with the caveat that the ESP isn't normally mounted in OS X and rEFInd is installed to the OS X boot partition by default. You'll also need to use sudo to acquire root privileges. Thus, you'd probably use a command like the following in OS X:
+
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.
Many variants of both of these commands are possible on both OS X and Linux. For instance, you'd probably use sudo on Ubuntu; and if you installed rEFInd to your ESP on a Mac, you'd need to first mount the ESP and include its path in the rm command.
+
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:
-
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, 10.11.3 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-3.0 Linux kernels. Therefore, I don't recommend using efibootmgr on Macs.
-
-
This example shows use of efibootmgr's --verbose (-v) option to display boot loaders 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 loader 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.
+
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.
