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7 <title>The rEFInd Boot Manager: Installing rEFInd
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12 <h1>The rEFInd Boot Manager:
<br />Installing rEFInd
</h1>
14 <p class=
"subhead">by Roderick W. Smith,
<a
15 href=
"mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com
</a></p>
17 <p>Originally written:
3/
14/
2012; last Web page update:
18 12/
21/
2012, referencing rEFInd
0.6.1</p>
21 <p>I'm a technical writer and consultant specializing in Linux technologies. This Web page is provided free of charge and with no annoying outside ads; however, I did take time to prepare it, and Web hosting does cost money. If you find this Web page useful, please consider making a small donation to help keep this site up and running. Thanks!
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89 <p>This page is part of the documentation for the rEFInd boot manager. If a Web search has brought you here, you may want to start at the
<a href=
"index.html">main page.
</a></p>
93 <p class=
"sidebar"><b>Important:
</b> A rEFInd zip file, when uncompressed, creates a directory called
<tt>refind-
<i>version
</i></tt>, where
<tt><i>version
</i></tt> is the version number. This directory includes a subdirectory called
<tt>refind
</tt> that holds the boot loader, along with another that holds documentation, as well as miscellaneous files in
<tt>refind-
<i>version
</i></tt> itself. When I refer to
"the <tt>refind</tt> directory" on this page, I mean the directory with that precise name, not the
<tt>refind-
<i>version
</i></tt> directory that is its parent.
</p>
95 <p>Once you've uncompressed a rEFInd binary zip 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. For Linux and Mac OS X, you can use the installation script,
<a href=
"#installsh"><tt>install.sh
</tt>,
</a> which provides easy one-command installation on most systems. Occasionally this script will fail, though, so I also provide explicit instructions for
<a href=
"#linux">Linux
</a> and
<a href=
"#osx">Mac OS X.
</a> Installation under
<a href=
"#windows">Windows
</a> also must be done manually. You can even install rEFInd using an
<a href=
"#efishell">EFI shell
</a> (version
2 only). In some cases, you'll have to deviate from the default naming conventions, as described in
<a href=
"#naming">a section on this topic.
</a> If you're upgrading rEFInd, see the
<a href=
"#upgrading">section on upgrading.
</a> Finally, I describe how to install some
<a href=
"#addons">additional components
</a> you might find useful.
</a></p>
98 <h2>Installing rEFInd Using
<tt>install.sh
</tt> under Linux or Mac OS X
</h2>
100 <p class=
"sidebar"><b>Warning:
</b> If you're using a Macintosh, you should run
<tt>install.sh
</tt> from Mac OS X rather than from Linux. If run from Linux, rEFInd is unlikely to be fully installed. Worse, it's conceivable that running
<tt>install.sh
</tt> from Linux will damage your firmware, requiring that it be re-flashed. The reason is that Apple uses non-standard methods to enable a boot loader, and the Linux functions in
<tt>install.sh
</tt> assume standard EFI installation methods.
</p>
102 <p>If you're using Linux or Mac OS X, the easiest way to install rEFInd is to use the
<tt>install.sh
</tt> 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,
<tt>install.sh
</tt> 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
<a href=
"#extra_installsh">extra instructions
</a> for this utility.
</p>
104 <h3>Quick
<tt>install.sh
</tt> Instructions
</h3>
106 <p>Under Linux, the
<tt>install.sh
</tt> 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
<tt>--esp
</tt> option. Under either OS, you can install to something other than the currently-running OS by using the
<tt>--root
<tt class=
"variable">/mountpoint
</tt></tt> option. (See
<a href=
"#table1">Table
1</a> for details.)
</p>
108 <p>Before running this script under Linux, you should ensure that your ESP is mounted at
<tt>/boot
</tt> or
<tt>/boot/efi
</tt>, as described in more detail in the
<a href=
"#linux">Installing rEFInd Manually Using Linux
</a> section. (If you installed Linux in EFI mode, chances are your ESP is properly mounted.) This precaution isn't necessary under OS X.
</p>
110 <p>A sample run under Linux looks something like this:
</p>
112 <pre class=
"listing">
113 #
<tt class=
"userinput">./install.sh
</tt>
114 Installing rEFInd on Linux....
115 ESP was found at /boot/efi using vfat
116 Installing driver for ext4 (ext4_x64.efi)
117 Copied rEFInd binary files
119 Copying sample configuration file as refind.conf; edit this file to configure
123 Installation has completed successfully.
</pre>
125 <p>The output under OS X is a bit different:
</p>
127 <pre class=
"listing">
128 $
<tt class=
"userinput">./install.sh
</tt>
129 Not running as root; attempting to elevate privileges via sudo....
131 Installing rEFInd on OS X....
132 Installing rEFInd to the partition mounted at '/'
133 Copied rEFInd binary files
135 Copying sample configuration file as refind.conf; edit this file to configure
139 WARNING: If you have an Advanced Format disk, *DO NOT* attempt to check the
140 bless status with 'bless --info', since this is known to cause disk corruption
144 Installation has completed successfully.
</pre>
146 <p>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....
</p>
148 <a name=
"extra_installsh">
149 <h3>Extra
<tt>install.sh
</tt> Instructions
</h3>
152 <p>Some details that can affect how the script runs include the following:
</p>
156 <li>If you run the script as an ordinary user, it attempts to acquire
157 <tt>root
</tt> privileges by using the
<tt>sudo
</tt> command. This works
158 on Mac OS X and some Linux installations (such as under Ubuntu or if
159 you've added yourself to the
<tt>sudo
</tt> users list), but on some
160 Linux installations this will fail. On such systems, you should run
161 <tt>install.sh
</tt> as
<tt>root
</tt>.
</li>
163 <li>Under OS X, you can run the script with a mouse by opening a Terminal
164 session and then dragging-and-dropping the
<tt>install.sh
</tt> file to
165 the Terminal window. You'll need to press the Return or Enter key to
168 <li>If you're using OS X
10.7's Whole Disk Encryption (WDE) feature, you
169 <i>must
</i> install rEFInd to the ESP, so the
<tt>--esp
</tt> option to
170 <tt>install.sh
</tt> is required. I'm still a little bit foggy about
171 what's required to boot the system once this is done; see
<a
172 href=
"https://sourceforge.net/p/refind/discussion/general/thread/5c7d0195/">this
173 forum thread
</a> for a discussion of the topic.
</li>
175 <li>If you're replacing rEFIt with rEFInd on a Mac, there's a chance that
176 <tt>install.sh
</tt> will warn you about the presence of a program
177 called
<tt>/Library/StartupItems/rEFItBlesser
</tt> and ask if you want
178 to delete it. This program is designed to keep rEFIt set as the boot
179 manager by automatically re-blessing it if the default boot manager
180 changes. This is obviously undesirable if you install rEFInd as your
181 primary boot manager, so it's generally best to remove this program. If
182 you prefer to keep your options open, you can answer
<tt
183 class=
"userinput">N
</tt> when
<tt>install.sh
</tt> asks if you want to
184 delete rEFItBlesser, and instead manually copy it elsewhere. If you
185 subsequently decide to go back to using rEFIt as your primary boot
186 manager, you can restore rEFItBlesser to its place.
</li>
188 <li>If you're using OS X and an Advanced Format disk, heed the warning that
189 <tt>install.sh
</tt> displays and
<i><b>do not
</b></i> use
<tt>bless
190 --info
</tt> to check your installation status; this combination has
191 been reported to cause disk corruption on some Macs!
</li>
193 <li>If you intend to boot BIOS-based OSes on a UEFI-based PC, you
194 <i>must
</i> edit the
<tt>refind.conf
</tt> file's
<tt>scanfor
</tt> line
195 to enable the relevant searches. This is
<i>not
</i> necessary on Macs,
196 though; because of the popularity of dual boots with Windows on Macs,
197 the BIOS/legacy scans are enabled by default on Macs.
</li>
199 <li>On Linux,
<tt>install.sh
</tt> checks the filesystem type of the
200 <tt>/boot
</tt> directory and, if a matching filesystem driver is
201 available, installs it. Note that the
"<tt>/boot</tt> directory" may be
202 on a separate partition or it may be part of your root (
<tt>/
</tt>)
203 filesystem, in which case the driver for your root filesystem is
204 installed. If
<tt>install.sh
</tt> detects that the filesystem in
205 question is ext2fs or ext3fs, it installs the ext4fs driver, which can
206 handle all three of these filesystem types. This feature is unlikely to
207 work properly from an emergency system, although it might if you have a
208 separate
<tt>/boot
</tt> partition and if you mount that partition at
209 <tt>/boot
</tt> in your emergency system, and the ESP at
210 <tt>/boot/efi
</tt>.
</li>
212 <li>If you run
<tt>install.sh
</tt> on Linux and if
213 <tt>/boot/refind_linux.conf
</tt> doesn't already exist,
214 <tt>install.sh
</tt> creates this file and populates it with a few
215 sample entries. If
<tt>/boot
</tt> is on a FAT partition (or HFS+ on a
216 Mac), or if it's on an ext2fs, ext3fs, ext4fs, ReiserFS, or HFS+
217 partition and you install an appropriate driver, the
218 result is that rEFInd will detect your kernel and will probably boot it
219 correctly. Some systems will require manual tweaking to
220 <tt>refind_linux.conf
</tt>, though
—for instance, to add
221 <tt>dolvm
</tt> to the boot options on Gentoo systems that use LVM.
</li>
225 <p>In addition to these quirks, you should be aware of some options that
<tt>install.sh
</tt> supports to enable you to customize your installation in various ways. The syntax for
<tt>install.sh
</tt> is as follows:
</p>
227 <pre class=
"listing">
228 install.sh [--esp | --usedefault
<tt class=
"variable">device-file
</tt> | --root
<tt class=
"variable">mount-point
</tt> ] \
229 [--nodrivers | --alldrivers] [--shim
<tt class=
"variable">shim-filename
</tt>] [--localkeys]
232 <p>The details of the options are summarized in
<a href=
"#table1">Table
1.
</a> Broadly speaking, they come in three classes: installation location options (
<tt>--esp
</tt>,
<tt>--usedefault
</tt>, and
<tt>--root
</tt>), driver options (
<tt>--nodrivers
</tt> and
<tt>--alldrivers
</tt>), and Secure Boot options (
<tt>--shim
</tt> and
<tt>--localkeys
</tt>). Using some of these options in unusual conditions can generate warnings and prompts to confirm your actions. In particular, using
<tt>--shim
</tt> or
<tt>--localkeys
</tt> when you're
<i>not
</i> booted in Secure Boot mode, or failing to use
<tt>--shim
</tt> when you
<i>are
</i> booted in Secure Boot mode, will generate a query and a request to confirm your installation. Consult the
<a href=
"secureboot.html">Managing Secure Boot
</a> page for more on this topic.
</p>
234 <table border=
"1" cellpadding=
"1" cellspacing=
"2" summary=
"Table 1: Options to <tt>install.sh</tt>"><a name=
"table1"><caption><b>Table
1: Options to
<tt>install.sh
</tt></b></caption></a>
240 <td><tt>--esp
</tt></td>
241 <td>This option tells
<tt>install.sh
</tt> 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
<tt>--esp
</tt> 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
<tt>--usedefault
</tt>.
</td>
244 <td><tt>--usedefault
<tt class=
"variable">device-file
</tt></tt></td>
245 <td>You can install rEFInd to a disk using the default/fallback filename of
<tt>EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi
</tt> (and
<tt>EFI/BOOT/bootia32.efi
</tt>, if the
32-bit build is available) using this option. The
<tt class=
"variable">device-file
</tt> should be an
<i>unmounted
</i> ESP, or at least a FAT partition, as in
<tt>--usedefault /dev/sdc1
</tt>. Your computer's NVRAM entries will
<i>not
</i> 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
<tt>--esp
</tt> and
<tt>--root
</tt> (except for implicit use of
<tt>--esp
</tt> on Linux).
</td>
248 <td><tt>--root
<tt class=
"variable">/mount-point
</tt></tt></td>
249 <td>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
<tt class=
"variable">/mount-point
</tt>, including your
<tt>/boot
</tt> directory (if it's separate) at
<tt class=
"variable">/mount-point
</tt><tt>/boot
</tt> and (on Linux) your ESP at that location or at
<tt class=
"variable">/mount-point
</tt><tt>/boot/efi
</tt>. The
<tt>install.sh
</tt> script then installs rEFInd to the appropriate location
—on Linux,
<tt class=
"variable">/mount-point
</tt><tt>/boot/EFI/refind
</tt> or
<tt class=
"variable">/mount-point
</tt><tt>/boot/efi/EFI/refind
</tt>, depending on where you've mounted your ESP; or on OS X, to
<tt class=
"variable">/mount-point
</tt><tt>/EFI/refind
</tt>. The script also adds an entry to your NVRAM for rEFInd at this location. You cannot use this option with either
<tt>--esp
</tt> or
<tt>--usedefault
</tt>, except for implicit use of
<tt>--esp
</tt> on Linux. Note that this option is
<i>not
</i> needed when doing a dual-boot Linux/OS X installation; just install normally in OS X.
</td>
252 <td><tt>--nodrivers
</tt></td>
253 <td>Ordinarily
<tt>install.sh
</tt> attempts to install the driver required to read
<tt>/boot
</tt> 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
<tt>--nodrivers
</tt> option. This option is the default on OS X or when you use
<tt>--usedefault
</tt>.
</td>
256 <td><tt>--alldrivers
</tt></td>
257 <td>When you specify this option,
<tt>install.sh
</tt> copies
<i>all
</i> 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.
</td>
260 <td><tt>--shim
<tt class=
"variable">shim-filename
</tt></tt></td>
261 <td>If you pass this option to
<tt>install.sh
</tt>, the script will copy the specified shim program file to the target directory, copy the
<tt>MokManager.efi
</tt> file from the shim program file's directory to the target directory, copy the
64-bit version of rEFInd as
<tt>grubx64.efi
</tt>, and register shim with the firmware. (If you also specify
<tt>--usedefault
</tt>, 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
<tt>keys
</tt> subdirectory under the name
<tt>refind.cer
</tt>. Note that I'm not providing a shim binary myself, but you can download one from
<a href=
"http://www.codon.org.uk/~mjg59/shim-signed/">here.
</a> 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
<tt>/boot/efi/EFI/fedora/shim.efi
</tt>.
</td>
264 <td><tt>--localkeys
</tt></td>
265 <td>This option tells
<tt>install.sh
</tt> to generate a new Machine Owner Key (MOK), store it in
<tt>/etc/refind.d/keys
</tt> as
<tt>refind_local.*
</tt>, 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
<tt>openssl
</tt> and
<tt>sbsign
</tt> binaries be installed. The former is readily available in most distributions' repositories, but the latter is not, so this option is not the default.
</td>
269 <p>In any event, you should peruse the script's output to ensure that everything looks OK.
<tt>install.sh
</tt> 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.
</p>
272 <h2>Installing rEFInd Manually Using Linux
</h2>
275 <p>On a UEFI-based PC, you'll normally install rEFInd to the ESP, which is usually mounted at
<tt>/boot/efi
</tt>. You can verify that this is the case by using the
<tt>df
</tt> command:
</p>
277 <pre class=
"listing">
278 $
<b>df /boot/efi
</b>
279 Filesystem
1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
280 /dev/sda1
191284 16604 174681 9% /boot/efi
283 <p class=
"sidebar"><b>Warning:
</b> 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, so you'll probably have to use a tool called
<tt>bless
</tt> under Mac OS to do the job. Alternatively, there's a new Linux program,
<tt>hfs-bless
</tt>, part of the
<a href=
"http://www.codon.org.uk/~mjg59/mactel-boot/"><tt>mactel-boot
</tt></a> package, that's supposed to work with
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> to make a Mac HFS partition bootable. I've not yet tried it, though. There are also reports that the
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> tool used under Linux can corrupt some Macs' firmware. Although I've seen some vague suggestions that this problem has been fixed under
3.
<i>x
</i> kernels, I haven't tested this claim.
</p>
285 <p>This example shows that
<tt>/dev/sda1
</tt> is mounted at
<tt>/boot/efi
</tt>, which is a typical configuration. (The ESP can be on another disk or partition, but
<tt>/dev/sda1
</tt> is the most common place for an ESP.) If your output shows
<tt>/boot
</tt> or
<tt>/
</tt> under the
<tt>Mounted on
</tt> column, then your ESP isn't mounted. (An exception is if you're mounting the ESP at
<tt>/boot
</tt>. This is an unusual configuration. If you're using it, you can proceed, making suitable adjustments to subsequent commands.) If you get a
<tt>df: `/boot/efi': No such file or directory
</tt> error message, then the
<tt>/boot/efi
</tt> directory doesn't even exist. In such cases, you may need to jump through some extra hoops, as described on my
<a href=
"http://www.rodsbooks.com/efi-bootloaders/installation.html">EFI Boot Loader Installation
</a> page.
</p>
287 <p>Assuming the ESP is mounted at
<tt>/boot/efi
</tt>, you can install the rEFInd files as follows (you must be
<tt>root
</tt> to issue these commands, or precede each of them with
<tt><b>sudo
</b></tt>):
</p>
291 <li>Type
<tt><b>cp -r refind /boot/efi/EFI/
</b></tt> from the
<tt>refind-
<i>version
</i></tt> directory in which the
<tt>refind
</tt> directory exists. This copies all the files that rEFInd needs to work. Note that this includes
<i>all
</i> of rEFInd's drivers. This command also copies the rEFInd binaries as signed by me; if you prefer to re-sign the binaries yourself, you'll have to do so before or during the copy operation, as described on the
<a href=
"secureboot.html">Managing Secure Boot
</a> page.
</li>
293 <li>Type
<tt><b>cd /boot/efi/EFI/refind
</b></tt> to change into rEFInd's new directory on the ESP.
</li>
295 <li>Type
<tt><b>rm refind_ia32.efi
</b></tt> to remove the IA32 binary if you're using an
<i>x
</i>86-
64 (
64-bit) system; or type
<tt><b>rm refind_x64.efi
</b></tt> to remove the
<i>x
</i>86-
64 binary if you're using an
<i>x
</i>86 (
32-bit) system. You can optionally rename the binary you keep as
<tt>refind.efi
</tt>, 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
<tt>refind_x64.efi
</tt>.
</li>
297 <li>Optionally, type
<tt class=
"userinput">rm -r drivers_ia32
</tt> to remove the
<i>x
</i>86 drivers from an
<i>x
</i>86-
64 system, or
<tt class=
"userinput">rm -r drivers_x64
</tt> to remove the
<i>x
</i>86-
64 drivers from a
32-bit
<i>x
</i>86 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
<a href=
"drivers.html">page on drivers
</a> for more on this topic.
</li>
299 <li>Rename the configuration file by typing
<tt><b>mv refind.conf-sample refind.conf
</b></tt>. Consult the
<a href=
"configfile.html">Editing the rEFInd Configuration File
</a> page for information on how to adjust your options.
</li>
301 <p class=
"sidebar"><b>Weird:
</b> A
<a href=
"http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/20187.html">bug exists
</a> 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
<tt>Windows Boot Manager
</tt> or
<tt>Red Hat Enterprise Linux
</tt>. If you have such a system, you must pass one of those names (in quotes) rather than
<tt>rEFInd
</tt> to
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> via its
<tt>-L
</tt> 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.
</p>
303 <a name=
"efibootmgr">
304 <li>On a UEFI-based system, type
<tt><b>efibootmgr -c -l \\EFI\\refind\\refind_x64.efi -L rEFInd
</b></tt> to add rEFInd to your EFI's list of available boot loaders, which it stores in NVRAM. Adjust the path to the binary as required if you install somewhere else. You may also need to include additional options if your ESP isn't on
<tt>/dev/sda1
</tt> or if your configuration is otherwise unusual; consult the
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> man page for details. You may need to install this program on some systems; it's a standard part of most distributions' repositories. Also, if you're installing in Secure Boot mode, you must normally register
<tt>shim.efi
</tt> rather than the rEFInd binary, and rename
<tt>refind_x64.efi
</tt> to
<tt>grubx64.efi
</tt>.
</li>
307 <li>If other boot loaders are already installed, you can use
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> to adjust their boot order. For instance,
<b><tt>efibootmgr -o
3,
7,
2</tt></b> 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.
</li>
311 <p>Note the use of doubled-up backslashes (
<tt>\\
</tt>) rather than forward slashes (
<tt>/
</tt>) in the directory separators when using
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt>. This command will work on most systems that are already booted into EFI mode; however, it won't work if you're booted in BIOS mode. You may also need to add options if your ESP is in some unusual location or if your system is unusual in some way. Consult the
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> man page if you need help.
</p>
313 <p>On some systems,
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> won't do what you expect. On such systems, you may have better luck renaming the rEFInd files, as described in the
<a href=
"#naming">Alternative Naming Options
</a> section.
</p>
316 <h2>Installing rEFInd Manually Using Mac OS X
</h2>
319 <p>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
<tt>refind_x64.efi
</tt> file with them; but very early Intel-based Macs have
32-bit EFIs (and sometimes
32-bit CPUs), which require the
<tt>refind_ia32.efi
</tt> file. You can determine whether your Mac needs the
<i>x
</i>86-
64 or IA32 build by typing the following command in a Mac Terminal window:
</p>
321 <pre class=
"listing">
322 $
<b>ioreg -l -p IODeviceTree | grep firmware-abi
</b>
325 <p>The result should include either
<tt>EFI32
</tt> or
<tt>EFI64
</tt>, indicating that you should use the
<tt>refind_ia32.efi
</tt> or
<tt>refind_x64.efi
</tt> binary, respectively.
</p>
327 <p class=
"sidebar"><b>Warning:
</b> Numerous rEFIt bug reports indicate disk corruption problems on disks over about
500 GiB.
<a href=
"https://sourceforge.net/tracker/?func=detail&aid=3218104&group_id=161917&atid=821764">This
</a> report on the problem, and particularly the post by mic-marchen, suggests that the problem is related to a bug in OS X's
<tt>bless
</tt> utility, and particularly its
<tt>--info
</tt> option, that causes it to corrupt data on disks with
4 KiB sectors. These
<i>Advanced Format
</i> disks are becoming increasingly common, particularly at larger disk sizes. Therefore, I
<i>strongly
</i> recommend that you
<i>not
</i> type
<tt class=
"userinput">sudo bless --info
</tt> 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.)
</p>
329 <p>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
<tt>bless
</tt> utility rather than
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt>. To be precise, you should follow these steps:
</p>
333 <li>Open a Terminal window in which you'll type the following
336 <li>If you want to install rEFInd on your ESP, you must first mount it. You
337 can do this by typing
<b><tt>mkdir /Volumes/esp
</tt></b> followed by
338 <b><tt>sudo mount -t msdos /dev/disk0s1 /Volumes/esp
</tt></b>. Note
339 that this step is usually optional, and it makes the procedure a bit
340 more complex, so you might want to forego it. On the other hand,
341 installing to the ESP is required if you're using the whole-disk
342 encryption feature of OS X
10.7. Note that you may need to change
343 <tt>/dev/disk0s1
</tt> to something else if your ESP is at an unusual
344 location. Use a tool such as my
<a
345 href=
"http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/">GPT fdisk (
<tt>gdisk
</tt>)
</a>
346 to examine your partition table to find your ESP if necessary.
</li>
348 <li>Type
<b><tt>sudo mkdir -p /efi/refind
</tt></b> to create a suitable
349 directory for rEFInd. If you want to place rEFInd on the ESP or some
350 other partition, you should adjust the pathname appropriately, as in
351 <tt>/Volumes/esp/efi/refind
</tt>. Alternatively, you can use the Finder
352 to create the directory.
</li>
354 <li>Copy the files in the
<tt>refind
</tt> subdirectory of the rEFInd binary
355 package to the like-named directory you've just created. You can do
356 this in the Finder or by typing
<b><tt>sudo cp -r refind/*
357 /efi/refind/
</tt></b> in your Terminal window after changing into the
358 rEFInd package's main directory.
</li>
360 <li>Remove the file for the version of rEFInd you're not using, as in
361 <b><tt>sudo rm /efi/refind/refind_ia32.efi
</tt></b> on a Mac with a
362 64-bit EFI or
<b><tt>sudo rm /efi/refind/refind_x64.efi
</tt></b> on a
363 Mac with a
32-bit EFI.
</li>
365 <li>Optionally, remove the drivers directory for the architecture you're
366 not using
—<tt>/efi/refind/drivers_ia32
</tt> or
367 <tt>/efi/refind/drivers_x64
</tt>, as appropriate. You may also want to
368 remove some or all of the drivers for the architecture you are using;
369 if you don't need them, they'll slow down the start process. See the
<a
370 href=
"drivers.html">page on drivers
</a> for more on this topic. Note
371 that Apple's firmware includes its own HFS+ driver, so the HFS+ driver
372 provided with rEFInd is useless on Macs.
</li>
374 <li>If this is your first installation, type
<b><tt>sudo mv
375 /efi/refind/refind.conf-sample /efi/refind/refind.conf
</tt></b>
376 (adjusting the path as necessary) to rename the sample configuration
377 file so that it will serve as a real configuration file. (Again, you
378 can do this with the Finder, if you prefer.)
</li>
380 <li>"Bless" rEFInd by typing one of the following two commands:
382 <li>If you're installing rEFInd to an ordinary HFS+ volume, type
<tt
383 class=
"userinput">sudo bless --setBoot --folder /efi/refind --file
384 /efi/refind/refind_x64.efi
</tt>. (Adjust the path and filename as
385 necessary if you're placing rEFInd somewhere else or using the
386 32-bit version.)
</li>
387 <li>If you're installing rEFInd on the ESP, type
<tt
388 class=
"userinput">sudo bless --mount /Volumes/esp --setBoot --file
389 /Volumes/esp/efi/refind/refind_x64.efi
</tt>, adjusting the mount
390 point and exact path to the file as appropriate for your
393 As per the Warning earlier,
<i>do not
</i> use
<tt>bless
</tt>'s
394 <tt>--info
</tt> option to try to confirm the change to the boot status
395 unless you're certain you do
<i>not
</i> have an Advanced Format hard
398 <li>If you don't want to reboot immediately after installing rEFInd, you
399 may optionally unmount the ESP by typing
<tt class=
"userinput">sudo
400 umount /dev/disk0s1
</tt> or
<tt class=
"userinput">sudo umount
401 /Volumes/esp
</tt>. This step isn't strictly required, but if you want
402 to keep the ESP out of your directory tree, it can be useful.
</li>
406 <p>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
<tt>bless
</tt> 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.
</p>
408 <p>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
<tt>/Library/StartupItems/rEFItBlesser
</tt>. 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
<tt>refit.efi
</tt> file with
<tt>refind_x64.efi
</tt> or
<tt>refind_ia32.efi
</tt> (renaming it to
<tt>refit.efi
</tt>. Used in this way, rEFInd will still look for its own configuration file,
<tt>refind.conf
</tt>, so you'll need to move it but
<i>not
</i> 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.
</p>
410 <p>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
<tt>bless
</tt> 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.
</p>
413 <h2>Installing rEFInd Manually Using Windows
</h2>
416 <p class=
"sidebar"><b>Warning:
</b> 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
<tt class=
"userinput">powercfg /h off
</tt> in it.
</p>
418 <p>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:
</p>
422 <li>Locate Command Prompt in the Start menu, right-click it, and select Run as Administrator. This action opens a Command Prompt window with administrative privileges.
</li>
424 <li>Type
<b><tt>mountvol S: /S
</tt></b> in the Administrator Command Prompt window. This makes the ESP accessible as drive
<tt>S:
</tt> from that window. (You can use a drive identifier other than
<tt>S:
</tt> if you like.)
</li>
426 <li>Change into the main rEFInd package directory, so that the
<tt>refind
</tt> subdirectory is visible when you type
<b><tt>dir
</tt></b>.
</li>
428 <li>Type
<b><tt>xcopy /E refind S:\EFI\refind\
</tt></b> to copy the
<tt>refind
</tt> directory tree to the ESP's
<tt>EFI
</tt> directory. If you omit the trailing backslash from this command,
<tt>xcopy
</tt> will ask if you want to create the
<tt>refind
</tt> directory. Tell it to do so.
</li>
430 <li>Type
<b><tt>cd S:
</tt></b> to change to the ESP.
</li>
432 <li>Type
<b><tt>cd EFI\refind
</tt></b> to change into the
<tt>refind
</tt> subdirectory
</li>
434 <li>Type
<b><tt>del refind_ia32.efi
</tt></b> 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.)
</li>
436 <li>Optionally type
<tt class=
"userinput">rd /s drivers_ia32
</tt> to delete the
<tt>drivers_ia32
</tt> directory and its contents. You may also want to selectively delete some of the drivers in the
<tt>drivers_x64
</tt> directory, depending on your needs. Unnecessary drivers may slow the rEFInd start process. See the
<a href=
"drivers.html">page on drivers
</a> for more on this topic.
</li>
438 <li>Type
<b><tt>rename refind.conf-sample refind.conf
</tt></b> to rename rEFInd's configuration file.
</li>
440 <li>Type
<b><tt>bcdedit /set {bootmgr} path \EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
</tt></b> to set rEFInd as the default EFI boot program. Note that
<tt>{bootmgr}
</tt> is entered as such; that's not a notation for a variable.
</li>
442 <li>If you like, type
<b><tt>bcdedit /set {bootmgr} description
"<i>rEFInd description</i>"</tt></b> to set a description (change
<tt><i>rEFInd description
</i></tt> as you see fit).
</li>
446 <p>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:
</p>
450 <li>You can rename files on the ESP. as described in the next section,
<a href=
"#naming">Alternative Naming Options.
</a></li>
452 <li>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
<b><tt>sudo apt-get install efibootmgr
</tt></b> to install
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt>, but you can then use that program as described
<a href=
"#efibootmgr">earlier
</a>. (If you're using Ubuntu, you'll need to precede the command with
<b><tt>sudo
</tt></b>.
</li>
454 <li>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
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt>,
<tt>bless
</tt>, or some other tool to restore rEFInd as the default boot loader.
</li>
459 <h2>Installing rEFInd Manually Using Windows
</h2>
462 <p>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
<tt>bcfg
</tt> 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.
</p>
464 <p>In addition to emergency situations, using
<tt>bcfg
</tt> can be desirable if
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> 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
<a href=
"#naming">alternative names for rEFInd.
</a></p>
466 <p>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
<tt>shellx64.efi
</tt> (for
<i>x
</i>86-
64) or
<tt>shellia32.efi
</tt> (for
<i>x
</i>86) in the root directory of the ESP. Thus, you can try copying your shell file there. You can obtain EFI
2 shells here:
</p>
470 <li><a href=
"https://edk2.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/edk2/trunk/edk2/ShellBinPkg/UefiShell/X64/Shell.efi"><i>x
</i>86-
64 (
64-bit) shell
2</a></li>
472 <li><a href=
"https://edk2.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/edk2/trunk/edk2/ShellBinPkg/UefiShell/Ia32/Shell.efi"><i>x
</i>86 (
32-bit) shell
2</a></li>
476 <p>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:
</p>
480 <li>If you haven't installed rEFInd previously, unpack its zip file to a
481 FAT partition. This can be the ESP itself or another partition, such as
482 a USB flash drive. If you're simply repairing a lost NVRAM entry, you
483 needn't move your existing rEFInd files.
</li>
485 <li>Identify your filesystems, which are labelled with the form
<tt>fs
<tt
486 style=
"variable">n
</tt>:
</tt>, as in
<tt>fs0:
</tt> for the first
487 filesystem,
<tt>fs1:
</tt> for the second, and so on. Type the
488 filesystem number followed by the Enter key to begin using it. You can
489 then type
<tt class=
"userinput">ls
</tt> or
<tt
490 class=
"userinput">dir
</tt> to see the contents of the filesystem.
491 Chances are your ESP will be
<tt>fs0:
</tt>, but it could be something
492 else. (The following steps assume your ESP is
<tt>fs0:
</tt>; you'll
493 need to adjust them if it's not.) If rEFInd's source files are on
494 another device, you must identify it, too.
</li>
496 <p class=
"sidebar"><b>Note:
</b> 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.
</p>
498 <li>If necessary, create a directory for rEFInd by typing
<tt
499 class=
"userinput">mkdir fs0:\EFI\refind
</tt>. (If the
<tt>fs0:\EFI
</tt>
500 directory doesn't already exist, you must create it first,
503 <li>Change to the directory in which rEFInd's files exist.
</li>
505 <li>Type
<tt class=
"userinput">cp refind_x64.efi fs0:\EFI\refind
</tt> to
506 copy the rEFInd binary file. (Adjust the name if you're using a
32-bit
509 <li>Type
<tt class=
"userinput">cp refind.conf-sample
510 fs0:\EFI\refind\refind.conf
</tt> to copy and rename the sample rEFInd
511 configuration file.
</li>
513 <li>Type
<tt class=
"userinput">cp -r icons fs0:\EFI\refind\
</tt> to copy
516 <li>Optionally, type
<tt class=
"userinput">cp -r drivers_x64
517 fs0:\EFI\refind\
</tt> to copy rEFInd's
64-bit drivers. (You could
518 instead copy the
32-bit drivers or limit yourself to just the drivers
519 you need, of course.)
</li>
521 <li>Type
<tt class=
"userinput">fs0:
</tt>, if necessary, to change to the
524 <li>Type
<tt class=
"userinput">cd \EFI\refind
</tt> to change to rEFInd's
525 installation directory.
</li>
527 <li>If you want to edit rEFInd's options, type
<tt class=
"userinput">edit
528 refind.conf
</tt> and use the shell's built-in text editor to do so.
529 Press F2 followed by the Enter key to save your changes and F3 to
532 <li>Type
<tt class=
"userinput">bcfg boot dump -b
</tt> to see a list of
533 existing NVRAM entries. Pay attention to their numbers (labelled
534 <tt>Option:
</tt> and
<tt>Variable:
</tt>, with the latter number
535 preceded by the string
<tt>Boot
</tt>, as in
<tt>Boot0007
</tt>). You'll
536 want to create a boot entry for rEFInd using a number that's not in
539 <li>Type
<tt class=
"userinput">bcfg boot add
3
540 fs0:\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
"rEFInd"</tt>, adjusting the number
541 (
<tt>3</tt> in this example), filesystem (
<tt>fs0:
</tt>), and filename
542 (
<tt>\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi
</tt>) as necessary for your system. If
543 you're used to Linux, be sure to use backslashes (
<tt>\
</tt>), not
544 Linux-style forward slashes (
<tt>/
</tt>) as directory separators. Note
545 that some shells may ignore the number you entered and use another one,
546 so watch for this possibility.
</li>
548 <li>Type
<tt class=
"userinput">bcfg boot mv
<i>3</i> 0</tt>, substituting
549 the option number for the entry you created for
<tt
550 class=
"variable">3</tt>. This moves rEFInd to the top of the boot
553 <li>Type
<tt class=
"userinput">reset
</tt> to reboot the computer.
</li>
557 <p>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
<tt class=
"userinput">bcfg boot dump -b
</tt> 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
<a href=
"#naming">fallback filename
</a> that your firmware will recognize.
</p>
560 <h2>Alternative Naming Options
</h2>
563 <p>Some EFI implementations do a poor job of honoring the boot options set via Linux's
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> 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:
</p>
567 <li>Access your ESP and install rEFInd to it, as described in earlier sections.
</li>
569 <li>Look for an existing directory called
<tt>EFI/BOOT
</tt> or
<tt>EFI/Microsoft/BOOT
</tt>. If neither of these directories exist, skip the next step. (Note that FAT is case-insensitive, so the name may vary in case.)
</li>
571 <li>Rename the existing directory or boot loader file to something else. For
<tt>EFI/BOOT
</tt>, try renaming it to
<tt>EFI/Oldboot
</tt>. For
<tt>EFI/Microsoft/BOOT
</tt>, move or rename the
<tt>bootmgfw.efi
</tt> file it contains. For instance, you can move it to
<tt>EFI/Microsoft
</tt>. This will keep the boot loader accessible to rEFInd's menu, while preventing the firmware from launching it automatically.
</li>
573 <li>Rename/move your
<tt>EFI/refind
</tt> directory to
<tt>EFI/BOOT
</tt>. If you're working from
<tt>EFI/Microsoft/BOOT
</tt>, you should move the contents of your rEFInd directory to
<tt>EFI/Microsoft/BOOT
</tt>.
</li>
575 <li>Rename
<tt>EFI/BOOT/refind_x64.efi
</tt> to the name of the boot loader it's replacing
—it should become
<tt>EFI/BOOT/bootx64.efi
</tt> or
<tt>EFI/Microsoft/BOOT/bootmgfw.efi
</tt>.
</li>
579 <p>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.
</p>
582 <h2>Upgrading rEFInd
</h2>
585 <p>If you've installed an earlier version of rEFInd, you can upgrade a bit more easily than you can install directly:
</p>
589 <li>On a UEFI-based PC, under any OS, you should be able to replace your
590 old rEFInd file with the new one. Make sure that the new rEFInd has the
591 same name as the old one, and that it's for the correct CPU type. Since
592 UEFI launches boot programs by filename, a simple file replacement will
593 suffice to launch the new version. If the new version includes new
594 icons, you may want to copy some or all of them.
</li>
596 <li>On a Mac, you can copy over the old rEFInd binary file
<i>from
597 Linux
</i> and it will usually work, provided you copy
<i>directly
</i>
598 over the old file (rather than rename or delete the old file and then
599 copy the new one in its place). The same caveats about icons as apply
600 to UEFI-based PCs apply in this case. This method requires an extra
601 step in Mac OS X, though....
</li>
603 <li>In OS X, if you copy over the original file with the new one, you'll
604 probably have to re-bless it to make it work.
</li>
606 <li>Under Linux or OS X, you can re-run the
<tt>install.sh
</tt> script. In
607 most cases this works fine, but you'll end up with a duplicate of the
608 icons directory (
<tt>icons-backup
</tt>, which holds the original icons,
609 whereas
<tt>icons
</tt> holds the icons from the new package). Normally
610 this just wastes some disk space; but if you've customized your icons,
611 you'll need to copy your altered icons back.
</li>
615 <p>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
<tt>refind.conf
</tt> with
<tt>refind.conf-sample
</tt> from the rEFInd zip file. (When using
<tt>install.sh
</tt>, 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.
</p>
617 <p>If you're upgrading to rEFInd from rEFIt, you can simply run the
<tt>install.sh
</tt> 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
<tt>/EFI/refit
</tt>.
</p>
620 <h2>Installing Additional Components
</h2>
623 <p>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:
</p>
628 href=
"http://tianocore.git.sourceforge.net/git/gitweb.cgi?p=tianocore/edk2;a=blob_plain;f=EdkShellBinPkg/FullShell/X64/Shell_Full.efi;hb=HEAD"><tt>shell.efi
</tt></a></b>—This
629 file, placed in the ESP's
<tt>efi/tools
</tt> directory, adds the
630 ability to launch a text-mode EFI shell from rEFInd. Note that the
631 download link is to a
64-bit binary that must be renamed before rEFInd
632 will recognize it. Additional shell download links appear on the
<a
633 href=
"https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface#UEFI_Shell_download_links">Arch
634 Linux wiki,
</a> and on other sites; try a Web search if the shell you
635 find doesn't work to your satisfaction.
</li>
637 <li><b><tt>gptsync.efi
</tt></b>—This program creates a
<a
638 href=
"http://www.rodsbooks.com/gdisk/hybrid.html">hybrid MBR
</a> from
639 your regular GPT disk. A hybrid MBR is a dangerous hack that enables
640 Windows and OS X to coexist on a Macintosh disk. If you're using a
641 UEFI-based PC, a hybrid MBR will be useless at best, so you shouldn't
642 create one, and it's safest to not install
<tt>gptsync.efi
</tt>. If
643 you're using a hybrid MBR to enable dual-booting Windows and OS X on a
644 Mac, though, placing this program file in the ESP's or Mac boot
645 partition's
<tt>efi/tools
</tt> directory will enable you to regenerate
646 your hybrid MBR should some other tool convert the MBR to a standard
647 protective MBR. You can obtain the file from the
<a
648 href=
"http://refit.sourceforge.net">original rEFIt package.
</a></li>
650 <li><b>Drivers
</b>—You can install drivers to extend the capabilities
651 of the EFI. rEFInd ships with filesystem drivers for ext2fs and
652 ReiserFS, which can enable you to boot a Linux kernel with EFI stub
653 support from an ext2fs, ext3fs, ext4fs, or ReiserFS partition. (rEFInd also
654 provides ISO-
9660 and HFS+ drivers.) You can find additional drivers
655 from other sources, although they're still on the scarce side. See the
656 <a href=
"drivers.html">Using EFI Drivers
</a> page for more on this
659 <li><b>Secure Boot files
</b>—If you're running on a system that
660 supports Secure Boot, chances are you'll need extra support files, such
661 as
<tt>shim.efi
</tt> and
<tt>MokManager.efi
</tt>. I describe these in
662 detail on the
<a href=
"secureboot.html">Managing Secure Boot
</a>
667 <p>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.
</p>
670 <h2>Fixing a Sluggish Macintosh Boot
</h2>
673 <p>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 href=
"http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=12256273&postcount=200">a Web forum post
</a> describing a possible fix. Be aware, though, that this procedure involves using the
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> 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:
</p>
677 <li>Boot into Linux.
</li>
679 <li>Type
<tt class=
"userinput">efibootmgr
</tt> as
<tt>root
</tt> to obtain a list of your boot loader entries. Each entry includes a boot number, as in
<tt>Boot0003
</tt> or
<tt>Boot0027
</tt>.
</li>
681 <li>Remove all of the boot loader entries
<i>except
</i> rEFInd's by using
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt>'s
<tt>-b
<tt class=
"variable">bootnum
</tt></tt> option to specify the boot entry and
<tt>-B
</tt> to delete it. For instance, typing
<tt class=
"userinput">efibootmgr -b
0027 -B
</tt> as
<tt>root
</tt> deletes boot entry
<tt>Boot0027
</tt>. Issue a separate
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> command for each boot entry.
</li>
683 <li>Re-install rEFInd using the install script. It's unclear from the original post if this meant installing from Linux or from OS X.
</li>
687 <p>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.
</p>
689 <a name=
"uninstalling">
690 <h2>Uninstalling rEFInd
</h2>
693 <p>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
<tt>root
</tt>, should do the trick:
</p>
695 <pre class=
"listing">
696 #
<tt class=
"userinput">rm -r /boot/efi/EFI/refind
</tt>
699 <p>This example assumes that your ESP is mounted at
<tt>/boot/efi
</tt> and that rEFInd is installed in
<tt>EFI/refind
</tt> on that partition. If you've mounted your ESP elsewhere, or installed rEFInd elsewhere, you should adjust the command appropriately.
</p>
701 <p>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
<tt>sudo
</tt> to acquire
<tt>root
</tt> privileges. Thus, you'd probably use a command like the following in OS X:
</p>
703 <pre class=
"listing">
704 $
<tt class=
"userinput">sudo rm -r /EFI/refind
</tt>
707 <p>Many variants of both of these commands are possible on both OS X and Linux. For instance, you'd probably use
<tt>sudo
</tt> 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
<tt>rm
</tt> command.
</p>
709 <p>From Windows, you must reverse the directions for
<a href=
"#windows">installing in Windows
</a>—type
<tt class=
"userinput">mountvol S: /S
</tt> to mount your ESP as
<tt>S:
</tt>, then navigate to the
<tt>S:\EFI
</tt> directory and delete the
<tt>refind
</tt> subdirectory.
</p>
711 <p>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
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> utility in Linux:
</p>
713 <pre class=
"listing">
714 #
<tt class=
"userinput">efibootmgr --verbose
</tt>
717 Boot0000* rEFInd HD(
2,
1b8,
64000,f1b7598e-baa8-
16ea-
4ef6-
3ff3b606ac1e)File(\EFI\refind\refind.efi)
718 Boot0007* CD/DVD Drive BIOS(
3,
0,
00)PATA: HP DVD Writer
1040r .
719 #
<tt class=
"userinput">efibootmgr --delete-bootnum --bootnum
0000</tt>
722 Boot0007* CD/DVD Drive
</pre>
724 <p class=
"sidebar"><b>Warning:
</b> As noted earlier,
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> has been linked to firmware corruption on some Macs, at least with pre-
3.0 Linux kernels. Therefore, I don't recommend using
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt> on Macs.
</p>
726 <p>This example shows use of
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt>'s
<tt>--verbose
</tt> (
<tt>-v
</tt>) option to display boot loaders so as to identify which one is rEFInd, followed by
<tt>--delete-bootnum
</tt> (
<tt>-B
</tt>) to delete a boot program and
<tt>--bootnum
</tt> (
<tt>-b
</tt>) 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
<tt>BootOrder
</tt> 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
<tt>--bootorder
</tt> (
<tt>-o
</tt>) option; consult
<tt>efibootmgr
</tt>'s
<tt>man
</tt> page for details.
</p>
728 <p>If you're not using Linux, you may be able to find a utility that serves a similar function. The OS X
<tt>bless
</tt> 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
<tt>bcdedit
</tt> command, described in the
<a href=
"#windows">section on installing rEFInd under Windows,
</a> may work, although I've not attempted this.
</p>
732 <p>copyright
© 2012 by Roderick W. Smith
</p>
734 <p>This document is licensed under the terms of the
<a href=
"FDL-1.3.txt">GNU Free Documentation License (FDL), version
1.3.
</a></p>
736 <p>If you have problems with or comments about this Web page, please e-mail me at
<a href=
"mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com.
</a> Thanks.
</p>
738 <p><a href=
"index.html">Go to the main rEFInd page
</a></p>
740 <p><a href=
"using.html">Learn how to use rEFInd
</a></p>
742 <p><a href=
"http://www.rodsbooks.com/">Return
</a> to my main Web page.
</p>