X-Git-Url: https://code.delx.au/refind/blobdiff_plain/d63a7f66945791bf980b4545f0f0edf0e1608eeb..ddf4d9b9c4ec448514742816534787de1c07879c:/docs/refind/installing.html diff --git a/docs/refind/installing.html b/docs/refind/installing.html index f36d85b..b54a829 100644 --- a/docs/refind/installing.html +++ b/docs/refind/installing.html @@ -8,16 +8,19 @@ + +
by Roderick W. Smith, by Roderick W. Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
-Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update: 3/23/2012, referencing rEFInd 0.2.2
+Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update: +3/4/2017, referencing rEFInd 0.10.5
-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!
+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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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.
+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, 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.
+ +Note: As of version 10.12 ("Sierra"), Apple has renamed its OS X OS to macOS. I continue to use "OS X" to refer to any version of this OS. I've seen reports of rEFInd not working with macOS 10.12; however, my own experience is that it works fine—with the caveat that the upgrade produces a boot coup, as described on this page of the rEFInd documentation,
Once you've uncompressed a rEFInd binary zip file, you can copy the entire refind directory into your EFI System Partition's (ESP's) EFI directory on UEFI-based PCs, so that rEFInd resides in EFI/refind. If you've tried rEFInd using a CD-R image file, you can copy the files from the EFI/refind directory on the CD to create an equivalent directory on the ESP. To avoid confusion, though, you should delete the rEFInd binary file for the CPU type your computer does not use. To the best of my knowledge, all UEFI-based PCs use 64-bit CPUs, so you should keep the refind_x64.efi binary and delete the refind_ia32.efi binary. Most Intel-based Macs also have 64-bit EFI implementations, so you should do the same thing; 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:
+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-0.10.4-1.x86_64.rpm+ +
On a Debian-based system, the equivalent command is:
+ +# dpkg -i refind_0.10.4-1_amd64.deb+ +
Warning: Ubuntu 16.04's sbsigntool package has a bug that causes the sbsign utility to crash randomly. (See this bug report for details.) When installing Ubuntu with Secure Boot active from the PPA, this bug will be triggered and is likely to prevent successful installation. Therefore, I recommend you disable Secure Boot or install from the Debian package (with the sbsigntool package uninstalled) to avoid this problem. This bug does not exist in Ubuntu 15.10 and earlier.
+ +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.
+ + +If you're using Ubuntu, you should be able to install the PPA as follows:
+ +$ sudo apt-add-repository ppa:rodsmith/refind +$ sudo apt-get update +$ sudo apt-get install refind+ +
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.
+ +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.
+ +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 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.
+ + +Note: If you're using a Macintosh, it's best to install rEFInd from OS X, if possible. In the past, the Mac's firmware was quirky enough that the Linux tools didn't always work reliably. The matter seems to have improved with recent versions of Linux tools, but I can't guarantee success if you use Linux for this task. There is one significant issue with OS X 10.11, though (see the next Warning sidebar).
+ +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 man page for this utility.
+ +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.
+ +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, 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, 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:
-$ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi -+# ./refind-install +Installing rEFInd on Linux.... +ESP was found at /boot/efi using vfat +Installing driver for ext4 (ext4_x64.efi) +Copied rEFInd binary files + +Copying sample configuration file as refind.conf; edit this file to configure +rEFInd. + + +Installation has completed successfully. + +
The output under OS X is a bit different:
+ ++$ ./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 /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. --The result should read either EFI32 or EFI64, indicating that you should use the refind_ia32.efi or refind_x64.efi binary, respectively.
+Unmounting install dir
Of course, before you can install the files, you must be able to access the ESP. The details of this task vary from one OS to another. If you have a choice, I recommend using Linux for rEFInd installation on UEFI PCs and OS X on Macs. (On Macs, you can optionally use OS X's main partition rather than the ESP for this purpose.) Windows provides relatively primitive tools for accessing the ESP and manipulating the EFI's boot list. I also describe some options for naming rEFInd that may be useful on some systems. Finally, I describe how to install some extra tools that you may find useful but that are not included with rEFInd.
+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....
+ +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.
+ +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 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.
-Accessing the ESP is easiest from Linux: The ESP is usually mounted at /boot/efi. You can verify that this is the case by using the df command:
+On a UEFI-based PC, you'll normally install rEFInd to the ESP, which is usually mounted at /boot/efi. You can verify that this is the case by using the df command:
$ df /boot/efi @@ -117,28 +312,28 @@ Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on /dev/sda1 191284 16604 174681 9% /boot/efi-
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. 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.
+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.
Assuming the ESP is mounted at /boot/efi, you can install the rEFInd files as follows (you must be root to issue these commands, or precede each of them with sudo):
Warning: I've seen reports that Linux's efibootmgr utility can damage some Macs' firmware, necessitating re-flashing it. Therefore, I recommend using bless from OS X to do this job on Apple hardware.
- -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.
-On some systems, efibootmgr won't do what you expect. On such systems, you may have better luck renaming the rEFInd files, as described in the Alternative Naming Options section.
-One of the reasons I've abandoned rEFIt's GUI installation tools for Mac OS X is that there are several bug reports (such as this one and this one) that the rEFIt installer may be causing filesystem corruption on disks over about 500 MiB. I don't have such a disk on my Mac, so I can't test solutions. Rather than risk other peoples' hard disks, I thought it best to revert to a manual installation proceudure that will, I hope, be less likely to cause problems.
+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 procedure for installing rEFInd on a Mac is similar to that for installing it under Linux, except that you can install it to the OS X's system directory rather than to the ESP, and you must use the bless utility rather than efibootmgr. To be precise, you should follow these steps:
- -+$ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi +-
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 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:
-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.
+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.
+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.
-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:
+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:
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.
+ +Unfortunately, I know of no Windows tool that's equivalent to efibootmgr under Linux or bless under OS X. (Such a tool must exist, but I don't know what it is. If you do, please e-mail me a pointer!) This can make adding rEFInd to your system a bit tricky, particularly if your firmware provides few boot options. In the best of all possible worlds, you'll be able to use your firmware's user interface to add rEFInd to your firmware's own boot manager; however, far too many EFI implementations lack even this modest capability. If you're stuck in this boat, you have several 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:
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.
+ +To begin, you must have a way to launch your shell. Unfortunately, this can pose a dilemma, since without rEFInd or some other boot manager, many EFI implementations lack the means to launch a shell. Some will do so, though, if the shell is stored as shellx64.efi (for x86-64) or shellia32.efi (for x86) in the root directory of the ESP. Thus, you can try copying your shell file there. You can obtain EFI 2 shells here:
+ +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:
+ +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.
+ +With any luck, rEFInd will start up at this point. If not, you can check your settings using a shell or an emergency system for your OS of choice. In an EFI shell, you might type bcfg boot dump -b to view your boot loader entries and verify that rEFInd appears at the top of the list. Be sure to check the pathname for typos. If you continue to have problems, you might look into giving rEFInd a fallback filename that your firmware will recognize.
+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:
+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. Broadly speaking, there are two alternative names that are most useful:
+ +If you need to use one of these names, or something more exotic, you can do so in either of two ways: You can use the mvrefind script to move your installation in one step, or you can move and rename your files manually.
+ + +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:
+ ++# mvrefind /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT /boot/efi/EFI/refind ++ +
This example moves rEFInd from /boot/efi/EFI/BOOT to /boot/efi/EFI/refind. It differs from mv in several ways: + +
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).
+ + +You can move and rename rEFInd manually from any OS by following these steps:
When you reboot, rEFInd should come up. With any luck, it will detect your old boot loader as an option, if one was installed before.
+ +If you've installed an earlier version of rEFInd, you can upgrade a bit more easily than you can install directly:
+ +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 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:
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, 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 --shortform option, using the fallback filename, moving rEFInd to an HFS+ volume, clearing NVRAM entries, fixing wake problems, and fixing a failure to find Linux.
+ + +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 people have reported that installing rEFInd causes problems with resuming from a suspended OS X session. I know of two workarounds to such problems:
+ +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:
+ +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:
+ +For more information, see this SuperUser question and answer.
+ + +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 ++ +
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 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:
+ +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:
+ +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.
+ + +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:
+ ++# efibootmgr --verbose +Timeout: 10 seconds +BootOrder: 0000,0007 +Boot0000* rEFInd HD(2,1b8,64000,f1b7598e-baa8-16ea-4ef6-3ff3b606ac1e)File(\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi) +Boot0007* CD/DVD Drive BIOS(3,0,00)PATA: HP DVD Writer 1040r . +# efibootmgr --delete-bootnum --bootnum 0000 +Timeout: 10 seconds +BootOrder: 0007 +Boot0007* CD/DVD Drive+ +
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. Under Windows, the bcdedit command, described +in the section on installing rEFInd under Windows, +may work, although I've not attempted this.
+copyright © 2012 by Roderick W. Smith
+copyright © 2012–2017 by Roderick W. Smith
This document is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (FDL), version 1.3.
@@ -299,7 +1102,7 @@ Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on - +Preventing and Repairing Boot Coups
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