Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update: -12/31/2012, referencing rEFInd 0.6.2-2
+6/23/2014, referencing rEFInd 0.8.2 -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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Don't be scared by the length of this page! Only portions of this page apply to any given user, and most people can install rEFInd from an RPM or Debian package in a matter of seconds or by using the install.sh script in minute or two.
+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.
@@ -114,8 +154,6 @@ href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.comBeginning 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:
+Beginning with version 0.6.2, I've included RPM and Debian package files for rEFInd; and starting with version 0.8.2, 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-0.8.2-1.x86_64.rpm
On a Debian-based system, the equivalent command is:
-# dpkg -i refind_0.6.2-2_amd64.deb+
# dpkg -i refind_0.8.2-1_amd64.deb
Either command produces output similar to that described for using the install.sh script, so you can check it for error messages and other signs of trouble. The package file installs rEFInd and registers it with the EFI to be the default boot loader. The script that runs as part of the installation process tries to determine if you're using Secure Boot, and if so it will try to configure rEFInd to launch using shim; however, this won't work correctly on all systems. Ubuntu 12.10 users who are booting with Secure Boot active should be wary, since the resulting installation will probably try to use Ubuntu's version of shim, which won't work correctly with rEFInd.
-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 run the refind-unhijack.sh script after you boot Linux in EFI mode for the first time.
+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 +$ apt-get install 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. 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.
+The PPA version will update automatically with your other software, which you might or might not want to have happen. It's also built with GNU-EFI rather than with TianoCore. This last detail should have no practical effects, but it might be important if you've got a buggy EFI or if there's some undiscovered rEFInd bug that interacts with the build environment.
+ +Since version 0.6.3, the installation script makes an attempt to install rEFInd in a bootable way even if you run the script from a BIOS-mode boot, and therefore the RPM and Debian packages do the same. I cannot guarantee that this will work, though, and even if it does, some of the tricks that install.sh uses might not 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.
+ +Since version 0.6.2-2, my package files have installed the rEFInd binaries to /usr/share/refind-version, the documentation to /usr/share/doc/refind-version, and a few miscellaneous files elsewhere. (The PPA package omits the version number from the file paths.) Upon installation, the package runs the install.sh script to copy the files to the ESP. This enables you to re-install rEFInd after the fact by running install.sh, should some other tool or OS wipe the ESP or should the installation go awry. In such cases you can use install.sh or install manually.
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.)
+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, or to a non-boot HFS+ partition by using the --ownhfs devicefile option. Under either OS, you can install to something other than the currently-running OS by using the --root /mountpoint option. (See Table 1 for details.)
+ +Under Linux, install.sh will be most reliable if your ESP is already mounted at /boot or /boot/efi, as described in more detail in the Installing rEFInd Manually Using Linux section. (If you installed Linux in EFI mode, chances are your ESP is properly mounted.) If your ESP is not so mounted, install.sh will attempt to locate and mount an ESP, but this action is not guaranteed to work correctly. If you run install.sh from a BIOS/legacy-mode boot, particularly on a computer that also runs Windows, you should be aware that the tricks the script uses to install itself from BIOS mode are rather delicate. You can convert to a more conventional configuration using the mvrefind.sh script.
-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 refind-unhijack.sh script.
+Under OS X, install.sh attempts to install rEFInd to the OS X root partition by default. You can pass the script the --esp or --ownhfs device-file option, as noted in Table 1, to modify the installation location. This is helpful, and even necessary, in some cases, such as when your computer uses whole-disk encryption or if you use suspend-to-disk features.
A sample run under Linux looks something like this:
@@ -236,7 +306,8 @@ Installation has completed successfully. run the script.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:
-install.sh [--esp | --usedefault device-file | --root mount-point ] \
+install.sh [--esp | --usedefault device-file | --root mount-point | \
+ --ownhfs device-file ] \
[--nodrivers | --alldrivers] [--shim shim-filename] [--localkeys] [--yes]
@@ -314,6 +383,10 @@ install.sh [--esp | --usedefault device-file | --root
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.
- -Sometimes it's necessary to install rEFInd from a BIOS/legacy-mode boot. This can happen because you've accidentally installed Linux in this mode or because you're using a BIOS-mode emergency disc to do the installation, for instance. Ordinarily, such installations are unlikely to work, particularly if the computer already has an EFI-mode OS installed. Since version 0.6.3, though, rEFInd's install.sh script has attempted to install in one of three ways when run from BIOS mode:
- -The first two approaches are perfectly legitimate and are unlikely to cause problems, although they also might not work in all circumstances. The third approach is essentially an act of desperation, and it violates the usual rule that each OS should manage its own boot loader directory. It has the benefit of working, though; and in fact on some computers with buggy firmware, this approach may be the only way to get rEFInd (or any other non-Microsoft boot loader) to work. When install.sh uses this method, it notifies you of the fact:
- -Running in BIOS mode with a suspected Windows installation; moving boot loader -files so as to install to /boot/efi/EFI/Microsoft/Boot.- -
The install.sh script preserves the Windows boot loader, and rEFInd should continue to be able to boot Windows when installed in this way. It's possible, though, that Windows will notice the change and will attempt to "fix" the "damage," which will remove rEFInd from the boot process. To avoid this problem, you can run the refind-unhijack.sh script. This script moves the rEFInd installation files to a more appropriate location on the ESP (EFI/refind) and registers rEFInd with the EFI in the officially-sanctioned manner.
- -Unfortunately, on some systems you really should leave rEFInd installed as EFI/Microsoft/Boot/bootmgfw.efi; some EFIs have bugs that prevent them from launching any boot loader but that one. Thus, there are no hard-and-fast rules; you'll have to determine what works on your system and run refind-unhijack.sh or not as you deem best.
- -To run the script, type its name (and perhaps its path) as root. It will report on what it does:
- -# ./refind-unhijack.sh -I'm not yet written!- -
If you run this script on a system whose Windows boot loader has not been "hijacked" by rEFInd, no harm will come of it; the script only does its thing when it detects that rEFInd is installed where the Windows boot loader should be.
-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.
@@ -589,9 +626,11 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abiNote 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:
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.
+ +If you're using OS X's Whole-Disk Encryption (WDE) feature, you must do two extra things:
+ +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.sh 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.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:
+ ++# mvrefind.sh /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.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).
+ + +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:
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 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.)
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.
@@ -738,13 +864,13 @@ $ ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abirEFInd 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 this problem myself, and its true cause remains mysterious to me. I have found three possible solutions, though: moving rEFInd to an HFS+ volume, using the fallback filename, and clearing NVRAM entries.
+ + +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:
+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. 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 install.sh, as in ./install.sh --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. If you use disk encryption, you can't store rEFInd on the OS X root (/) partition, but you could still use an (unencrypted) separate HFS+ partition.
+ +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.)
+ + +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 the problem.
+ + +The first is a Web forum post that describes 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:
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:
+ +Unfortunately, I lack a recent Mac and so can't investigate these issues myself, so I'm dependent upon others (mostly non-programmers) to offer workarounds. This is the type of problem that really requires hands-on interactive debugging sessions with the code to stand any chance of finding a better solution.
+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.
+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.
+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:
@@ -832,7 +1034,7 @@ $ sudo rm -r /EFI/refind # efibootmgr --verbose Timeout: 10 seconds BootOrder: 0000,0007 -Boot0000* rEFInd HD(2,1b8,64000,f1b7598e-baa8-16ea-4ef6-3ff3b606ac1e)File(\EFI\refind\refind.efi) +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 @@ -847,7 +1049,7 @@ Boot0007* CD/DVD Drivecopyright © 2012 by Roderick W. Smith
+copyright © 2012–2014 by Roderick W. Smith
This document is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (FDL), version 1.3.