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<h1>The rEFInd Boot Manager:<br />Configuring the Boot Manager</h1>
href="mailto:rodsmith@rodsbooks.com">rodsmith@rodsbooks.com</a></p>
<p>Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update:
-2/8/2015, referencing rEFInd 0.8.6</p>
+7/21/2015, referencing rEFInd 0.9.0</p>
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<li class="tight"><a href="#adjusting">Adjusting the Global Configuration</a></li>
-<li class="tight"><a href="#stanzas">Creating OS Stanzas</a></li>
+<li class="tight"><a href="#stanzas">Creating Manual Boot Stanzas</a></li>
<li class="tight"><a href="#submenu">Creating Submenu Entries</a></li>
<tr>
<td><tt>scan_all_linux_kernels</tt></td>
<td>none or one of <tt>true</tt>, <tt>on</tt>, <tt>1</tt>, <tt>false</tt>, <tt>off</tt>, or <tt>0</tt></td>
- <td>When uncommented or set to <tt>true</tt>, <tt>on</tt>, or <tt>1</tt>, causes rEFInd to add Linux kernels (files with names that begin with <tt>vmlinuz</tt> or <tt>bzImage</tt>) to the list of EFI boot loaders, even if they lack <tt>.efi</tt> filename extensions. This simplifies use of rEFInd on most Linux distributions, which usually provide kernels with EFI stub loader support but don't give those kernels names that end in <tt>.efi</tt>. Of course, the kernels must still be stored on a filesystem that rEFInd can read, and in a directory that it scans. (<a href="drivers.html">Drivers</a> and the <tt>also_scan_dirs</tt> options can help with those issues.) As of version 0.5.0, this option is enabled in the default configuration file. The program default remains to not scan for such kernels, though, so you can delete or uncomment this option to keep them from appearing in your boot menu. Passing <tt>false</tt>, <tt>off</tt>, or <tt>0</tt> causes these kernels to not be scanned. (This could be useful if you want to override a setting of <tt>scan_all_linux_kernels</tt> in an included secondary configuration file.)</td>
+ <td>When uncommented or set to <tt>true</tt>, <tt>on</tt>, or <tt>1</tt>, causes rEFInd to add Linux kernels (files with names that begin with <tt>vmlinuz</tt> or <tt>bzImage</tt>) to the list of EFI boot loaders, even if they lack <tt>.efi</tt> filename extensions. This simplifies use of rEFInd on most Linux distributions, which usually provide kernels with EFI stub loader support but don't give those kernels names that end in <tt>.efi</tt>. Of course, the kernels must still be stored on a filesystem that rEFInd can read, and in a directory that it scans. (<a href="drivers.html">Drivers</a> and the <tt>also_scan_dirs</tt> options can help with those issues.) As of version 0.8.3, this option is enabled by default; to disable this feature, you must uncomment this token and set it to <tt>false</tt> or one of its synonyms (<tt>off</tt> or <tt>0</tt>).</td>
+</tr>
+<tr>
+ <td><tt>fold_linux_kernels</tt></td>
+ <td>none or one of <tt>true</tt>, <tt>on</tt>, <tt>1</tt>, <tt>false</tt>, <tt>off</tt>, or <tt>0</tt></td>
+ <td>When uncommented or set to <tt>true</tt>, <tt>on</tt>, or <tt>1</tt>, causes rEFInd to "fold" all Linux kernels in a given directory into a single main-menu icon. Selecting that icon launches the most recent kernel. To launch an older kernel, you must press F2 or Insert; older kernels appear on the resulting submenu display. If you prefer to see all your kernels in the main menu, set this option to <tt>false</tt>, <tt>off</tt>, or <tt>0</tt>. Note that this option is new with version 0.9.0, which changes the default behavior; earlier versions of rEFInd behaved as if <tt>fold_linux_kernels false</tt> was set.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td><tt>max_tags</tt></td>
<p>This example sets a timeout of 5 seconds; loads a custom graphic file called <tt>custom.bmp</tt> from the directory in which the rEFInd binary resides; scans the <tt>drivers</tt> and <tt>EFI/tools/drivers</tt> directories for EFI drivers; uses manual boot loader configuration but also scans for external EFI boot loaders and EFI boot loaders on optical discs; and sets the default boot loader to the first loader found that includes the string <tt>elilo</tt>. Of course, since this file specifies use of manual boot loader configuration, it's not complete; you'll need to add at least one OS stanza to be able to boot from anything but an external disk or optical drive, as described shortly.</p>
<a name="stanzas">
-<h2>Creating OS Stanzas</h2>
+<h2>Creating Manual Boot Stanzas</h2>
</a>
-<p>OS stanzas in rEFInd are similar to those in GRUB Legacy, GRUB 2, or ELILO. You can use them to add EFI boot loaders to those that are auto-detected. rEFInd does not yet support manual boot stanzas for BIOS-mode boot loaders. You also cannot modify the auto-detected options; if you just want to tweak one OS's configuration, you have several options, none of which is ideal:</p>
+<p class="sidebar"><b>Note:</b> Don't create manual boot stanzas unless you need to do so! Many people try to create them when rEFInd's auto-detection mechanisms will do the job just as well and with less hassle and chance of error. (Note that you can pass kernel options to a Linux kernel in the <tt>/boot/refind_linux.conf</tt> file; see the <a href="linux.html">Methods of Booting Linux</a> page for details.) Efforts to create manual boot stanzas when auto-detection can do the job just create pointless work for yourself!</p>
+
+<p>Manual boot stanzas in rEFInd are similar to those in GRUB Legacy, GRUB 2, or ELILO. You can use them to add EFI boot loaders to those that are auto-detected. rEFInd does not yet support manual boot stanzas for BIOS-mode boot loaders. You also cannot modify the auto-detected options; if you just want to tweak one OS's configuration, you have several options:</p>
<ul>
+<li>You can use the <tt>dont_scan_volumes</tt>, <tt>dont_scan_dirs</tt>, or <tt>dont_scan_files</tt> options in <tt>refind.conf</tt> to hide the tag you want to modify, then create a manual boot stanza to replace it.</li>
+
<li>You can move or rename the boot loader file for the boot loader you want to tweak.</li>
<li>You can disable all auto-detection options and add manual configurations for all your boot loaders, even those that work fine when auto-detected.</li>
}
</pre>
-<p>The main menu item for this entry won't look different with the submenus defined than without them; but if you press the Insert key, you'll see the submenu items:</p>
+<p>The main menu item for this entry won't look different with the submenus defined than without them; but if you press the F2 or Insert key, you'll see the submenu items:</p>
- <br /><center><img src="manual-submenu.png" align="center" width="372"
- height="272" alt="Manually defining submenus enables you to customize
+ <br /><center><img src="manual-submenu.png" align="center" width="403"
+ height="411" alt="Manually defining submenus enables you to customize
your boot options." border=2></center><br />
<p>The main menu item appears at the top of the list—<tt>Run bzImage-3.3.0-rc7</tt> in this example. The three submenus defined in this example's configuration file appear next, enabling you to launch in single-user mode, run the 3.3.0 release kernel, or boot via ELILO, respectively. Submenus also include an item called <tt>Return to Main Menu</tt> that does just as it says. (Alternatively, you can return to the main menu by pressing the Esc key.)</p>