Talk:REFInd

Kernel image at ESP (Optional)
I believe this can be automated somewhat more than the notes here imply, depending on how people choose to build/install their kernels. For instance, with genkernel there is a command-line parameter and setting in /etc/genkernel.conf named BOOTDIR which can be used to install kernels directly to the ESP (whether it's at /boot/efi/EFI/Gentoo, /boot/EFI/Gentoo, /efi/EFI/Gentoo, or wherever the sysadmin chooses). All the genkernel(8) manpage says about this variable is "Set the location of the boot-directory, default is /boot." There may be some caveats I'm failing to recognize though. If this variable influences other behavior, it might not work as intended.

There may be other ways to streamline installing kernel updates directly to the ESP. I'd like to take a closer look at how gentoo-kernel-bin works in particular. I'm going to experiment with this for a while longer before I change anything in the article and give people half-baked advice though. --Porkroll (talk) 14:41, 28 December 2022 (UTC)

Example configuration file location
Using 0.10.4-r1,

I found the refind.conf-sample file in /usr/share/refind-0.10.4/refind/refind.conf-sample, not /usr/share/doc/refind-*/refind.conf-sample. — The preceding unsigned comment was added by Russk (talk • contribs) 12 November 2016‎


 * Hi, Feel free to fix the path! It's a publicly editable wiki. Also, don't forget to sign you comments! :) --Maffblaster (talk) 17:40, 14 November 2016 (UTC)

Remove "Manual installation" section
It seems to me that the command works so well that there no need any longer for the "Manual installation" section. So I opt for deleting it. Any objections? --Charles17 (talk) 12:37, 15 June 2017 (UTC)


 * I can't really contribute much since I don't use refined, but if you say it works I think it's okay to remove the section. It sounds like it's deprecated anyway now that this bootloader has an installation command. --Maffblaster (talk) 16:24, 15 June 2017 (UTC)


 * Done. Who ever wants it back may get it from the older revisions.--Charles17 (talk) 07:24, 16 June 2017 (UTC)

Kernel management simplification
Using rEFInd for kernel management can be so much simpler than what is presented here:


 * 1) Leave the kernels (and initrd images, if they exist) in /boot, which is where "make install" (or genkernel) is going to install them anyway, and don't bother adding ".efi" extensions to the kernel names. If the user has followed the handbook instructions, /boot is the root of the EFI system partition (ESP), so rEFInd doesn't need to install any filesystem drivers to read it.
 * 2) Edit /boot/refind_linux.conf to pass a "root=" command line argument to the kernel so that the kernel knows where to find the root partition as it boots. 'echo \"Default\"  \"root=PARTUUID=partitionUUID\" > /boot/refind_linux.conf' would suffice for most people.
 * 3) Tell the user to hit  at the rEFInd boot screen to see the complete list of kernels available, which should be any kernel that has been dropped into /boot.

Note that this scheme is even simpler than using GRUB, since new kernels dropped into /boot will show up automatically, without needing to run a separate command akin to "grub-mkconfig". Having the kernels in /boot gives up the nice Gentoo logo (at least without some additional refind.conf configuration), but that seems like a small price to pay....

--G2boojum (talk) 22:20, 11 September 2017 (UTC)


 * May I regard that proposal a dirty hack? I am using another one but for this wiki article I keep recommending kind of EFI_System_Partition. The article is meant to complement Handbook:AMD64/Installation/Bootloader in accordance with other articles like EFI stub kernel and EFI System Partition.  But feel free to add your proposal as an alternative for users who like editing the  file and using the kernel's  command. --Charles17 (talk) 05:50, 12 September 2017 (UTC)


 * I would argue that my proposal is not a dirty hack, but is, in fact, how rEFInd was intended to be used by its author (see http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/linux.html, especially the "For Those With Foresight or Luck: The Easiest Method" section). [Also, do people do something other than use genkernel or the kernel's "make install" to put kernels in the proper spot? Perhaps I'm more out-of-date than I had thought.] I'm rather confused by the "dirty hack" that you're using, since I wouldn't think the EFI firmware would pick up those kernels automatically. Are you manually running efibootmgr to add the desired kernel images to the nvram boot list? That's the part of the process (running efibootmgr, or grub-mkconfig, or whatever) that I'm trying to avoid. All that said, I'm happy to bow to your opinion in these matters. --G2boojum (talk) 21:13, 12 September 2017 (UTC)


 * I fully agree, it is a question of personal preferences and what I said before is my very personal humble opinion. Let's see what's the difference.  In the one case, the user will maintain the EFI directory according to a certain standard layout without ever touching .  In the other case, the user will edit exactly this file and ignore the ESP's EFI directory.  Please regard a situation where users have several .efi applications, like EFI shell, grub, rEFInd, Microsoft Windows, other Linux distros.  Would you still recommend having them all at the root of the  directory?


 * Regarding your questions: I cannot say how many users like or dislike genkernel or the make install voodoo. For my own "dirty hack" I am using the laptop's built-in configuration tool allowing me to go without using efibootmgr.  That being said, I am keeping rEFInd installed only as a fallback in case there was trouble with EFI stub kernel.


 * Please feel free to edit the wiki articles directly. It is a user's wiki and helpful contributions are always welcome. --Charles17 (talk) 08:02, 13 September 2017 (UTC)


 * I've removed the debianutils section, as it is overly complicated. I've also explained the auto detection system of rEFInd for kernels, initramfs and icons. Furthermore, I've removed the recommendation of FS layout and explained better how rEFInd does its job, which gives the admin more flexibility. --Muhlemmer (talk) 13:11, 19 October 2020 (UTC)


 * The whole new section starting with »During boot, rEFInd can automatically find EFI boot images and Linux kernels« is misplaced. It is pure Usage and got nothing to do with Installation where you placed it. --Charles17 (talk) 06:02, 20 October 2020 (UTC)

USE -flag descriptions in France (?) instead of English?
This seems to be the only page where I get USE -flag descriptions is some other language than English. Is this a bug in wiki? Do others have the same problem?


 * Zucca (talk) 10:46, 12 April 2018 (UTC)


 * Seen https://gitweb.gentoo.org/repo/gentoo.git/commit/sys-boot/refind?id=6122936ded ? --Charles17 (talk) 17:28, 12 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Now I have, but why wiki picks up the French translations anyway? --Zucca (talk) 18:17, 12 April 2018 (UTC)


 * Looks like it was because the change was reverted to fix a bug in equery. See this (later) commit. It would appear the current packages.g.o implementation does not respect the   tags; it seems to grab the content from the last lang tag. --Maffblaster (talk) 23:21, 12 April 2018 (UTC)
 * Ok. The bug has nothing to do with the wiki then, or rather this wiki page. :( Closing the discussion. --Zucca (talk) 10:32, 13 April 2018 (UTC)

windows Prep...
refind install @ /dev/sdb/ aka /boot/efi/BOOT > copy to /mnt/winefi/efi/refind

efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sda -p 2 -L "rEFInd Boot Manager" -l "\efi\refind\bootx64.efi" set up bios take bl even though bios is old and janky-efi, trying to swap to an easy gui os loader (laptops older asus rog)

Windows 10 has $$ " freemium" https://www.easyuefi.com/index-us.html, http://neosmart.net/EasyBCD/ with the free easyuefi often cake, however since fall 2017 creators and above adding sabayon/gentoo/pentoo or simular gentoo dirivatives... been stymied, easybcd is broken by windows updates. so if windows 10 takes over from grub again... (like MK game each boot loader seems to try to kill each other....)

i have w10 on sda and gentoo on sdb, as long has ms clobbered grub etc.. hence looking to migrate to Refind to avoid deps hell or bios boot menu force ... since MS office is defacto for Grad papers or a few MMO's to let out steam... on the go and w10 killing bcd editor so if grub-efi/windows efi MK-FIGHT!!, "the Fatality" isn't my productivity nor day whom has time for their boot-loaders at war... pardon the MK meme but ... hopefully can tidy up to a config etc section... just "MK" can describe historically the dual boot hell without a paid or good 3rd party boot mngr... --Necrose99 (talk) 16:39, 22 September 2018 (UTC)


 * Don't know what this is meant to accomplish, but it looks like just some rambling. Nothing to discuss for this page. --Grknight (talk) 12:36, 20 October 2020 (UTC)

Correction proposal: Change /dev/sda --> /dev/sdaN
I propose that the line: refind-install --usedefault /dev/sda should be changed to something like refind-install --usedefault /dev/sda1