Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update: -1/3/2014, referencing rEFInd 0.7.7
+5/15/2014, referencing rEFInd 0.8.1 -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!
| showtools | -shell, memtest, gptsync, apple_recovery, mok_tool, about, exit, shutdown, reboot, and firmware | -Specifies which tool tags to display on the second row. shell launches an EFI shell, memtest (or memtest86 launches the Memtest86 program, gptsync launches a tool that creates a hybrid MBR, apple_recovery boots the OS X Recovery HD, windows_recovery boots a Windows recovery tool, mok_tool launches a tool to manage Machine Owner Keys (MOKs) on systems with Secure Boot active, about displays information about the program, exit terminates rEFInd, shutdown shuts down the computer (or reboots it, on some UEFI PCs), reboot reboots the computer, and firmware reboots the computer into the computer's own setup utility. The tags appear in the order in which you specify them. The default is shell, memtest, apple_recovery, mok_tool, about, shutdown, reboot, firmware. Note that the shell, memtest, apple_recovery, and mok_tool options all require the presence of programs not included with rEFInd. The gptsync option requires use of a like-named program which, although it ships with rEFInd 0.6.9 and later, is not installed by default except under OS X. See the "Installing Additional Components" section of the Installing rEFInd page for pointers to the shell, Memtest86, and gptsync programs. The apple_recovery option will appear only if you've got an Apple Recovery HD partition (which has a boot loader called com.apple.recovery.boot/boot.efi). The firmware option works only on computers that support this option; on other computers, the option is quietly ignored. See the Secure Boot page for information on Secure Boot and MOK management. | +shell, memtest, gdisk, gptsync, apple_recovery, mok_tool, about, exit, shutdown, reboot, and firmware | +Specifies which tool tags to display on the second row. shell launches an EFI shell, memtest (or memtest86) launches the Memtest86 program, gdisk launches the partitioning tool of the same name, gptsync launches a tool that creates a hybrid MBR, apple_recovery boots the OS X Recovery HD, windows_recovery boots a Windows recovery tool, mok_tool launches a tool to manage Machine Owner Keys (MOKs) on systems with Secure Boot active, about displays information about the program, exit terminates rEFInd, shutdown shuts down the computer (or reboots it, on some UEFI PCs), reboot reboots the computer, and firmware reboots the computer into the computer's own setup utility. The tags appear in the order in which you specify them. The default is shell, memtest, gdisk, apple_recovery, mok_tool, about, shutdown, reboot, firmware. Note that the shell, memtest, apple_recovery, and mok_tool options all require the presence of programs not included with rEFInd. The gptsync option requires use of a like-named program which, although it ships with rEFInd 0.6.9 and later, is not installed by default except under OS X. See the "Installing Additional Components" section of the Installing rEFInd page for pointers to the shell, Memtest86, and gptsync programs. The apple_recovery option will appear only if you've got an Apple Recovery HD partition (which has a boot loader called com.apple.recovery.boot/boot.efi). The firmware option works only on computers that support this option; on other computers, the option is quietly ignored. See the Secure Boot page for information on Secure Boot and MOK management. |
| font | @@ -320,8 +324,8 @@ timeout 20||||
| dont_scan_volumes or don't_scan_volumes | -filesystem label(s) | -Adds the specified volume or volumes to a volume "blacklist"—these filesystems are not scanned for EFI boot loaders. This may be useful to keep unwanted EFI boot entries, such as for a Macintosh recovery partition, from appearing on the main list of boot loaders. The default value is "Recovery HD", LRS_ESP, to keep the Mac OS X and Lenovo Windows recovery volumes from appearing. (These should get their own tools icon instead—see the showtools token.) Note that on a Macintosh with whole-disk encryption, you may need to uncomment this token and leave "Recovery HD" off the list to boot the system. | +filesystem or partition label(s) | +Adds the specified volume or volumes to a volume "blacklist"—these filesystems are not scanned for EFI boot loaders. This may be useful to keep unwanted EFI boot entries, such as for a Macintosh recovery partition, from appearing on the main list of boot loaders. The default value is "Recovery HD", LRS_ESP, to keep the Mac OS X and Lenovo Windows recovery volumes from appearing. (These should get their own tools icon instead—see the showtools token.) Note that on a Macintosh with whole-disk encryption, you may need to uncomment this token and leave "Recovery HD" off the list to boot the system. You can use dont_scan_volumes to hide disks or partitions from legacy-mode scans, too. In this case, you can enter any part of the description that appears beneath the icons to hide entries that include the string you specify. |
| dont_scan_dirs or don't_scan_dirs | @@ -341,7 +345,7 @@ timeout 20||||
| scan_all_linux_kernels | none or 0 | -When set, causes rEFInd to add Linux kernels (files with names that begin with vmlinuz or bzImage) to the list of EFI boot loaders, even if they lack .efi filename extensions. The hope is that this will simplify use of rEFInd on distributions that provide kernels with EFI stub loader support but that don't give those kernels names that end in .efi. Of course, the kernels must still be stored on a filesystem that rEFInd can read, and in a directory that it scans. (Drivers and the also_scan_dirs options can help with those issues.) Note that this option can cause unwanted files to be improperly detected and given loader tags, such as older kernels without EFI stub loader support. Versions of rEFInd prior to 0.5.0 left this option commented out in the refind.conf-sample file, but 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 any option but 0 causes scans for all kernels to occur; passing a 0 causes these kernels to not be scanned. (This could be useful if you want to override a setting of scan_all_linux_kernels in an included secondary configuration file.) | +When set, causes rEFInd to add Linux kernels (files with names that begin with vmlinuz or bzImage) to the list of EFI boot loaders, even if they lack .efi 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 .efi. Of course, the kernels must still be stored on a filesystem that rEFInd can read, and in a directory that it scans. (Drivers and the also_scan_dirs 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 any option but 0 causes scans for all kernels to occur; passing a 0 causes these kernels to not be scanned. (This could be useful if you want to override a setting of scan_all_linux_kernels in an included secondary configuration file.) | |
| max_tags | @@ -379,7 +383,7 @@ default_selection elilo||||
| volume | -filesystem label | -Sets the volume that's used for subsequent file accesses (by icon and loader, and by implication by initrd if loader follows volume). You pass this token a filesystem's label or a volume number. A filesystem label is typically displayed under the volume's icon in file managers and that rEFInd displays on its menu at the end of the boot prompt string. If this label isn't unique, the first volume with the specified label is used. The matching is nominally case-insensitive, but on some EFIs it's case-sensitive. If a filesystem has no label, you can use a volume number followed by a colon, such as 0: to refer to the first filesystem or 1: to refer to the second. The assignment of numbers is arbitrary and may not be consistent across boots, though. It might change if you insert an optical disc or plug in a USB flash drive, for instance. If this option is not set, the volume defaults to the one from which rEFInd launched. | +filesystem label, partition label, GUID value, or filesystem number | +Sets the volume that's used for subsequent file accesses (by icon and loader, and by implication by initrd if loader follows volume). You pass this token a filesystem's label, a partition's label, a partition's GUID, or a volume number. A filesystem or partition label is typically displayed under the volume's icon in file managers and rEFInd displays it on its menu at the end of the boot prompt string. If this label isn't unique, the first volume with the specified label is used. The matching is nominally case-insensitive, but on some EFIs it's case-sensitive. If a filesystem has no label, you can use a partition GUID number. You can also use a volume number followed by a colon, such as 0: to refer to the first filesystem or 1: to refer to the second. The assignment of numbers is arbitrary and may not be consistent across boots, though. It might change if you insert an optical disc or plug in a USB flash drive, for instance. If this option is not set, the volume defaults to the one from which rEFInd launched. |
| loader | @@ -476,9 +480,9 @@ menuentry "Windows via shell script" {