# The rEFInd Boot Manager:
Configuring the Boot Manager

by Roderick W. Smith, rodsmith@rodsbooks.com

Originally written: 3/14/2012; last Web page update: 12/15/2013, referencing rEFInd 0.7.6

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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 main page.

Many casual users will be able to use rEFInd without making changes to its settings; in its default configuration, the boot manager automatically detects all the EFI boot loader programs you have on your ESP (or your OS X boot partition, in the case of Macs) and displays icons for them. On Macs, rEFInd also presents legacy BIOS boot options by default. Sometimes, though, you may want to tweak rEFInd's configuration. Sometimes you can obtain your desired results by adjusting the filenames of your boot loaders. Other times, you can edit rEFInd's configuration file, `refind.conf`, which resides in the same directory as its binary file (`refind_x64.efi` or whatever you've renamed it).

Broadly speaking, rEFInd's configuration file is broken down into two sections: global options and OS stanzas. The global options section sets options that apply globally—to set the timeout period, enable graphics or text mode, and so on. OS stanzas are optional, but if present, they enable you to add new boot options or replace the auto-detected options with customized ones. Both sections include configuration lines and comment lines, the latter being denoted by a leading hash mark (`#`). rEFInd ignores comment lines, so you can add explanatory text. The default configuration file includes numerous comments explaining each of the options.

## Hiding and Displaying EFI Boot Loaders

Before delving into the configuration file, you should be aware of what you can do by renaming files. By default, rEFInd scans all the filesystems it can read for boot loaders. It scans most of the subdirectories of the `EFI` directory on every filesystem it can access for files with names that end in `.efi`. (rEFInd gives special treatment to the `tools` subdirectory, where it looks for system tools rather than boot loaders.)

If you're like me, you may sometimes want to hide a boot loader from rEFInd's menu for a brief period—say, because you're testing a variety of configurations but you don't want them all to clutter the menu at once. You might also want to hide a boot loader if you want to override its default settings using a custom entry in `refind.conf` and you don't want an automatic search to duplicate that entry. You can easily hide a boot loader by removing or changing its `.efi` filename extension—for instance, changing `grub.efi` to `grub`.

Another way to hide a boot loader is to move it into rEFInd's own directory. In order to keep rEFInd from showing up in its own menu, it ignores boot loaders in its own directory. This obviously includes the rEFInd binary file itself, but also anything else you might store there.

In addition to hiding boot loaders, you can adjust their icons. You can do this in any of five ways for auto-detected boot loaders:

- You can name an icon file after your boot loader, but with an extension of `.icns` or `.png` for ICNS-format and PNG-format icons, respectively. For instance, if you're using `loader``.efi`, you would name the icon file `loader``.icns`. (If you use the `scan_all_linux_kernels` option, you can give an icon for a Linux kernel without a `.efi` extension a name based on the kernel name but with a `.icns` or `.png` extension—for instance, `bzImage-3.6.9.png` will serve as the icon for the `bzImage-3.6.9` kernel.) These icon files should be 128x128 images in Apple's ICNS or Portable Network Graphics (PNG) format, depending on the filename extension.
- If you're booting OS X from its standard boot loader, or if you place a boot loader file for any OS in the root directory of a partition, you can create a file called `.VolumeIcon.icns` or `.VolumeIcon.png` that holds an icon file. OS X uses the `.VolumeIcon.icns` file for its volume icons, so rEFInd picks up these icons automatically, provided they include 128x128 bitmaps.
- You can place a boot loader in a directory with a name that matches one of rEFInd's standard icons, which take names of the form `os_`name`.icns` or `os_`name`.png`. To use such an icon, you would place the boot loader in the directory called `name`.
- You can give the filesystem from which the boot loader is loaded a name that matches the OS name component of the icon filename. For instance, if you call your boot filesystem `CentOS`, it matches the `os_centos.icns` icon. This match is performed on a word-by-word basis within the name, with "words" being delimited by spaces, dashes (`-`), and underscores (`_`). Thus, a volume called `Debian-boot` will match `os_debian.icns` or `os_boot.icns`.
- Certain boot loaders have hard-coded icons associated with them. For instance, filenames beginning with `vmlinuz` or `bzImage` acquire Linux "Tux" icons and the `bootmgfw.efi` loader acquires a Windows icon. For the most part, these are the associations you want to overcome with the preceding rules, but sometimes renaming a boot loader to a more conventional name is the better approach.

As a special case, rEFInd assigns icons to the Windows and OS X boot loaders based on their conventional locations, so they get suitable icons even if they don't follow these rules.

In addition to the main OS tag icon, you can set the badge icon for a volume by creating a file called `.VolumeBadge.icns` or `.VolumeBadge.png` in the root directory of a partition. This icon file must include a 32x32 bitmap. If present, it replaces the disk-type icons that are overlaid on the main OS icon. If you use this feature, the badge is applied to all the boot loaders read from the disk, not just those stored in the root directory or the Apple boot loader location. You could use this feature to set a custom badge for different specific disks or to help differentiate multiple OS X installations on one computer. If you don't want any badges, you can replace the three badge icons in the rEFInd `icons` subdirectory (`vol_external.icns`, `vol_internal.icns`, and `vol_optical.icns`) with a completely transparent badge. The `transparent.icns` file in the rEFInd `icons` directory may be used for this purpose.

## Adjusting the Global Configuration

You can adjust many of rEFInd's options by editing its `refind.conf` file. You can use any text editor you like for the job, but be sure it saves the file in plain ASCII text, not in a word processing format. (In theory, a UTF-16 encoding should also work, but I've not tried that myself.) Note that the EFI shell includes its own editor. If you need to make a change before you launch an OS, you can launch a shell, change to the rEFInd directory, and type `edit refind.conf` to edit the file. This EFI editor is quite primitive, but it gets the job done. After editing, you'll need to reboot for rEFInd to read the changed configuration file.

Global configuration file options consist of a name token followed by one or more parameters, as in:

    timeout 20

This example's name token is `timeout` and its parameter is `20`. The net effect of this line is to set the timeout period to 20 seconds—rEFInd will wait 20 seconds before launching the default boot loader. Some options can take multiple parameters. These may be separated by commas, spaces, or tabs. The global options are summarized in the Table 1.

Table 1: Global options in `refind.conf`
Token | Possible parameters | Explanation
--- | --- | ---
`timeout` | numeric value | Sets the timeout period in seconds. If `0`, the timeout is disabled—rEFInd waits indefinitely for user input.
`screensaver` | numeric value | Sets the number of seconds of inactivity before the screen blanks to prevent burn-in. The display returns after most keypresses (unfortunately, not including modifiers such as Shift, Control, Alt, or Option). The default is `0`, which disables this feature. Setting this token to `-1` causes a blank display until the `timeout` value passes or you press a key.
`hideui` | `banner`, `label`, `singleuser`, `safemode`, `hwtest`, `arrows`, `hints`, `editor`, or `all` | Removes the specified user interface features. `banner` removes the banner graphic or background image, `label` removes the text description of each tag and the countdown timer, `singleuser` removes the single-user option from the OS X sub-menu, `safemode` removes the option to boot to safe mode from the OS X sub-menu, `hwtest` removes the Macintosh hardware test option, `arrows` removes the arrows to the right or left of the OS tags when rEFInd finds too many OSes to display simultaneously, `hints` removes the brief description of what basic keypresses do, `editor` disables the options editor, and `all` removes all of these options. You can specify multiple parameters with this option. The default is to set none of these values.
`icons_dir` | directory name | Specifies a directory in which custom icons may be found. This directory should contain files with the same names as the files in the standard `icons` directory. The directory name is specified relative to the directory in which the rEFInd binary resides. The standard `icons` directory is searched if an icon can't be found in the one specified by `icons_dir`, so you can use this location to redefine just some icons.
`banner` | filename | Specifies a custom banner file to replace the rEFInd banner image. The file should be a BMP or PNG image with a color depth of 24, 8, 4, or 1 bits. The file path is relative to the directory where the rEFInd binary is stored.
`selection_big` | filename | Specifies a graphics file that can be used to highlight the OS selection icons. This should be a 144x144 image in BMP format, stored in rEFInd's main directory.
`selection_small` | filename | Like `selection_big`, this sets an alternate highlight graphic, but for the smaller utility tags on the second row. This should be a 64x64 image in BMP format, stored in rEFInd's main directory.
`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, `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.
`font` | font (PNG) filename | You can change the font that rEFInd uses in graphics mode by specifying the font file with this token. The font file should exist in rEFInd's main directory and must be a PNG-format graphics file holding glyphs for all the characters between ASCII 32 (space) through 126 (tilde, `~`), plus a glyph used for all characters outside of this range. See the Theming rEFInd page for more details.
`textonly` | none or `0` | rEFInd defaults to a graphical mode; however, if you prefer to do without the flashy graphics, you can run it in text mode by including this option. Passing any option but `0` causes text mode to be used; passing a `0` causes graphics mode to be used. (This could be useful if you want to override a text-mode setting in an included secondary configuration file.)
`textmode` | text mode number | Sets the text-mode video resolution to be used in conjunction with `textonly` or for the line editor and program-launch screens. This option takes a single-digit code. Mode `0` is guaranteed to be present and should be 80x25. Mode `1` is supposed to be either invalid or 80x50, but some systems use this number for something else. Higher values are system-specific. Mode `1024` is a rEFInd-specific code that means to not set any mode at all; rEFInd instead uses whatever mode was set when it launched. If you set this option to an invalid value, rEFInd pauses during startup to tell you of that fact. Note that setting `textmode` can sometimes force your graphics-mode resolution to a higher value than you specify in `resolution`. On Linux, the `/sys/class/graphics/fb0/modes` file holds available modes, but it may not be the same set of modes that EFI provides.
`resolution` | one or two integer values | Sets the video resolution used by rEFInd; takes either a width and a height or a single UEFI video mode number as options. For instance, `resolution 1024 768` sets the resolution to 1024x768. On UEFI systems, `resolution 1` sets video mode 1, the resolution of which varies from system to system. If you set a resolution that doesn't work on a UEFI-based system, rEFInd displays a message along with a list of valid modes. On an system built around EFI 1.x (such as a Mac), setting an incorrect resolution fails silently; you'll get the system's default resolution. You'll also get the system's default resolution if you set both resolution values to `0` or if you pass anything but two numbers. (Note that passing a resolution with an `x`, as in `1024x768`, will be interpreted as one option and so will cause the default resolution to be used.) If you get a higher resolution than you request, try commenting out or changing the `textmode` value, since it can force the system to use a higher graphics resolution than you specify with `resolution`. Also, be aware that it is possible to set a valid resolution for your video card that's invalid for your monitor. If you do this, your monitor will go blank until you've booted an OS that resets the video mode.
`use_graphics_for` | `osx`, `linux`, `elilo`, `grub`, and `windows` | Ordinarily, rEFInd clears the screen and displays basic boot information when launching any OS but Mac OS X. For OS X, the default behavior is to clear the screen to the default background color and display no information. You can specify the simpler Mac-style behavior by specifying the OSes or boot loaders you want to work this way with this option. (OSes that should use text-mode displays should be omitted from this list.) Note that this option doesn't affect what the boot loader does; it may display graphics, text, or nothing at all. Thus, the effect of this option is likely to last for just a fraction of a second. On at least one firmware (used on some Gigabyte boards), setting `use_graphics_for linux` is required to avoid a system hang when launching Linux via its EFI stub loader.
`scan_driver_dirs` | directory path(s) | Scans the specified directory or directories for EFI driver files. If rEFInd discovers `.efi` files in those directories, they're loaded and activated as drivers. This option sets directories to scan in addition to the `drivers` and `drivers_arch` subdirectories of the rEFInd installation directory, which are always scanned, if present.
`scanfor` | `internal`, `external`, `optical`, `hdbios`, `biosexternal`, `cd`, and `manual` | Tells rEFInd what methods to use to locate boot loaders. The `internal`, `external`, and `optical` parameters tell rEFInd to scan for EFI boot loaders on internal, external, and optical (CD, DVD, and Blu-ray) devices, respectively. The `hdbios`, `biosexternal`, and `cd` parameters are similar, but scan for BIOS boot loaders. (Note that the BIOS options scan more thoroughly and actively on Macs than on UEFI-based PCs; for the latter, only options in the firmware's boot list are scanned, as described on the Using rEFInd page.) The `manual` parameter tells rEFInd to scan the configuration file for manual settings. You can specify multiple parameters to have the program scan for multiple boot loader types. When you do so, the order determines the order in which the boot loaders appear in the menu. The default is `internal, external, optical, manual` on most systems, but `internal, hdbios, external, biosexternal, optical, cd, manual` on Macs.
`scan_delay` | numeric (integer) value | Imposes a delay before rEFInd scans for disk devices. Ordinarily this is not necessary, but on some systems, some disks (particularly external drives and optical discs) can take a few seconds to become available. If some of your disks don't appear when rEFInd starts but they do appear when you press the Esc key to re-scan, try uncommenting this option and setting it to a modest value, such as `2`, `5`, or even `10`. The default is `0`.
`also_scan_dirs` | directory path(s) | Adds the specified directory or directories to the directory list that rEFInd scans for EFI boot loaders when `scanfor` includes the `internal`, `external`, or `optical` options. Directories are specified relative to the filesystem's root directory. You may precede a directory path with a volume name and colon, as in `somevol:/extra/path`, to restrict the extra scan to a single volume. A volume number, preceded by `fs`, can be used for volumes that lack names, as in `fs1:/extra/path`. If you don't specify a volume name or number, this option is applied to all the filesystems that rEFInd scans. If a specified directory doesn't exist, rEFInd ignores it (no error results). The default value is `boot`, which is useful for locating Linux kernels when you have an EFI driver for your Linux root (`/`) filesystem.
`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`, to keep the Mac recovery volume from appearing. (It should get its 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.
`dont_scan_dirs` or `don't_scan_dirs` | directory path(s) | Adds the specified directory or directories to a directory "blacklist"—these directories are not scanned for boot loaders. You may optionally precede a directory path with a volume name and a colon to limit the blacklist to that volume; otherwise all volumes are affected. For instance, `EFI/BOOT` prevents scanning the `EFI/BOOT` directory on all volumes, whereas `ESP:EFI/BOOT` blocks scans of `EFI/BOOT` on the volume called `ESP` but not on other volumes. You can use a filesystem number, as in `fs0`, in place of a volume name. This token may be useful to keep duplicate boot loaders out of the menu; or to keep drivers or utilities out of the boot menu, if you've stored them in a subdirectory of `EFI`. This option takes precedence over `also_scan_dirs`; if a directory appears in both lists, it will not be scanned.
`dont_scan_files` or `don't_scan_files` | filename(s) | Adds the specified filename or filenames to a filename "blacklist"—these files are not included as boot loader options even if they're found on the disk. This is useful to exclude support programs (such as `shim.efi` and `MokManager.efi`) and drivers from your OS list. The default value is `shim.efi, shim-fedora.efi, PreLoader.efi, TextMode.efi, ebounce.efi, GraphicsConsole.efi, MokManager.efi, HashTool.efi, HashTool-signed.efi`.
`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.)
`max_tags` | numeric (integer) value | Limits the number of tags that rEFInd will display at one time. If rEFInd discovers more loaders than this value, they're shown in a scrolling list. The default value is `0`, which imposes no limit.
`default_selection` | a substring of a boot loader's title, or a numeric position; optionally followed by two times in `HH:MM` format | Sets the default boot OS based on the loader's title, which appears in the main menu beneath the icons when you select the loader. You can enter any substring of the title as the `default_selection`, so long as it's two or more characters in length. It's best to use a unique substring, since rEFInd stops searching when it finds the first match. Because rEFInd sorts entries within a directory in descending order by file modification time, if you specify a directory (or volume name, for loaders in a partition's root directory) as the `default_selection`, the most recent loader in that directory will be the default. One-character entries are matched against the first character of the title, except for digits, which refer to the numeric order of the boot loader entries. If you specify a comma-delimited list of names in quotation marks, rEFInd will search on these in turn until it finds a match. For instance, `default_selection "alpha,beta"` will launch `alpha` if it's available, and `beta` if `alpha` is not available but `beta` is. You may optionally follow the match string by two times, in 24-hour format, in which case the entry applies only between those two times. For instance, `default_selection Safety 1:30 2:30` boots the entry called `Safety` by default between the hours of 1:30 and 2:30. These times are specified in whatever format the motherboard clock uses (local time or UTC). If the first value is larger than the second, as in `23:00 1:00`, it is interpreted as crossing midnight—11:00 PM to 1:00 AM in this example. The last `default_selection` setting takes precedence over preceding ones if the time value matches. Thus, you can set a main `default_selection` without a time specification and then set one or more others to override the main setting at specific times.
`include` | filename | Includes the specified file into the current configuration file. Essentially, the included file replaces the `include` line, so positioning of this token is important if the included file includes options that contradict those in the main file. The included file must reside in the same directory as the rEFInd binary and the main configuration file. This option is valid only in the main configuration file; included files may not include third-tier configuration files.

Prior to version 0.2.4, rEFInd supported a token called `disable`, whose function partially overlapped with `hideui`. Version 0.2.4 merges many of the features of these two tokens into `hideui` and creates the new `showtools` option, which provides the remaining functionality in a more flexible way.

As an example of rEFInd configuration, consider the following `refind.conf` file:

    # Sample refind.conf file
    timeout 5
    banner custom.bmp
    scan_driver_dirs drivers,EFI/tools/drivers
    scanfor manual,external,optical
    default_selection elilo

This example sets a timeout of 5 seconds; loads a custom graphic file called `custom.bmp` from the directory in which the rEFInd binary resides; scans the `drivers` and `EFI/tools/drivers` 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 `elilo`. 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.

## Creating OS Stanzas

OS stanzas in rEFInd are similar to those in GRUB Legacy, GRUB 2, or ELILO. You can use them to add configuration options to those that are auto-detected. You cannot modify the auto-detected options, though; if you just want to tweak one OS's configuration, you have several options, none of which is ideal:

- You can move or rename the boot loader file for the boot loader you want to tweak.
- You can disable all auto-detection options and add manual configurations for all your boot loaders, even those that work fine when auto-detected.
- You can put up with having duplicate tags in your OS list.

Each OS stanza begins with the keyword `menuentry`, a name for the entry, and an open curly brace (`{`). Subsequent lines constitute the bulk of the stanza, which concludes with a line containing nothing but a close curly brace (`}`). Table 2 summarizes the keywords that you can include in a stanza.

Table 2: OS stanza definitions in `refind.conf`
Token | Possible parameters | Explanation
--- | --- | ---
`menuentry` | name for the entry | Sets the name that's displayed along with the icon for this entry. If the name should contain a space, it must be enclosed in quotes. Following the name, an open curly brace (`{`) ends the `menuentry` line.
`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.
`loader` | filename | Sets the filename for the boot loader. You may use either Unix-style slashes (`/`) or Windows/EFI-style backslashes (`\`) to separate directory elements. In either case, the references are to files on the ESP from which rEFInd launched or to the one identified by a preceding `volume` token. The filename is specified as a path relative to the root of the filesystem, so if the file is in a directory, you must include its complete path, as in `\EFI\myloader\loader.efi`. This option should normally be the first in the body of an OS stanza; if it's not, some other options may be ignored. An exception is if you want to boot a loader from a volume other than the one on which rEFInd resides, in which case `volume` should precede `loader`.
`initrd` | filename | Sets the filename for a Linux kernel's initial RAM disk (initrd). This option is useful only when booting a Linux kernel that includes an EFI stub loader, which enables you to boot a kernel without the benefit of a separate boot loader. When booted in this way, though, you must normally pass an initrd filename to the boot loader. You must specify the complete EFI path to the initrd file with this option, as in `initrd EFI/linux/initrd-3.3.0-rc7.img`. You'll also have to use the `options` line to pass the Linux root filesystem, and perhaps other options (as in `options "root=/dev/sda4 ro"`). The initial RAM disk file must reside on the same volume as the kernel.
`icon` | filename | Sets the filename for an icon for the menu. If you omit this item, a default icon will be used, based on rEFInd's auto-detection algorithms. The filename should be a complete path from the root of the current directory, not relative to the default icons subdirectory or the one set via `icons_dir`.
`ostype` | `MacOS`, `Linux`, `ELILO`, `Windows`, `XOM` | Determines the options that are available on a sub-menu obtained by pressing the Insert key with an OS selected in the main menu. If you omit this option, rEFInd selects options using an auto-detection algorithm. Note that this option is case-sensitive.
`graphics` | `on` or `off` | Enables or disables a graphical boot mode. This option has an effect only on Macintoshes; UEFI PCs seem to be unaffected by it.
`options` | options passed to the boot loader | Pass arbitrary options to your boot loader with this line. Note that if the option string should contain spaces (as it often should) or characters that should not be modified by rEFInd's option parser (such as slashes or commas), it must be enclosed in quotes. If you must include quotes in an option, you can double them up, as in `my_opt=""with quotes""`, which passes `my_opt="with quotes"` as an option.
`disabled` | none | Disable an entry. This is often easier than commenting out an entire entry if you want to temporarily disable it.
`submenuentry` | submenu entry name and tokens | This keyword identifies a submenu entry, as described in more detail shortly.

As an example, consider the following entries:

    menuentry "Ubuntu Linux" {
        loader /EFI/ubuntu/grubx64.efi
        disabled
    }

    menuentry Gentoo {
        icon \EFI\refind\icons\os_gentoo.icns
        volume G_KERNELS
        loader \kernels\bzImage-3.3.0-rc7
        initrd \kernels\initrd-3.3.0-rc7.img
        options "root=/dev/sda3 ro"
    }

    menuentry "Windows via shell script" {
        icon \EFI\refind\icons\os_win.icns
        loader \EFI\tools\shell.efi
        options "fs0:\EFI\tools\launch_windows.nsh"
    }

This example sets up three entries: one for Ubuntu Linux, one for Gentoo Linux, and one to launch a shell script. Note that the first two entries use different directory separators, simply to demonstrate the fact that it's possible. The Ubuntu entry sets no icon, since rEFInd will note that the boot loader is stored in the `ubuntu` directory, and it will automatically find the appropriate Ubuntu icon (`os_ubuntu.icns`). This option is, however, disabled, so no matching icon will appear when you reboot unless you first comment out or delete the `disabled` line.

The Gentoo entry begins with an icon specification to be sure that the icon is loaded from the same volume as rEFInd. (If the icon were stored on the same filesystem as the kernel, you'd place the `icon` line after the `volume` line.) This entry uses the `volume` token to tell rEFInd to load the kernel and initial RAM disk file from the filesystem called `G_KERNELS`. It passes the filename for an initial RAM disk using the `initrd` line and free-form options using the `options` line. Note that the kernel filename does not include a `.efi` extension, which keeps rEFInd from picking up the kernel file in its auto-scans.

The `Windows via shell script` entry may seem puzzling, but its purpose is to launch an OS (Windows in this case) after performing additional pre-boot initialization, which is handled by an EFI shell script. This works because you can pass the name of a shell script to an EFI shell—the script is named on the stanza's `options` line, using EFI file notation. The shell script, in turn, does whatever it needs to do and then launches the OS's boot loader:

    mm 0003003E 8 -pci
    fs0:\EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi

This example writes data to the computer's PCI bus via the EFI shell's `mm` command and then launches Windows. Chances are you won't need to engage in such operations, and I do not recommend you try this exact example unless you know what you're doing! This command was required to activate the video hardware on a computer of a person with whom I corresponded prior to booting Windows, but such needs are rare. Another example of a similar approach can be found in this forum thread. A few pointers on finding addresses for your hardware can be found in this post.

You can combine these OS stanzas with the global `refind.conf` options presented earlier. The result would contain just two entries on the rEFInd boot menu (for Gentoo and Windows, since the Ubuntu entry is disabled), unless rEFInd found other boot options on an external or optical disk.

## Creating Submenu Entries

As described on the Using rEFInd page, rEFInd can present a menu of options for certain loader tags when you press the Insert, F2, or + key. rEFInd does this automatically when it detects Mac OS X or ELILO boot loaders, or when you set the OS type via the `ostype` option. The Mac OS X boot loader, in particular, accepts various options that you can use to boot in various ways.

Sometimes, you might want to create your own custom submenu entries, and rEFInd 0.2.1 and later enable you to do this. To create a custom submenu, you use the `submenuentry` keyword inside a `menuentry` stanza. Normally, you'll set the submenu definitions after you've set the main menu options, since the submenu options take the main menu options as defult, and so the main options must be set first. Like a `menuentry` stanza, a `submenuentry` definition begins with the keyword, the name of the item, and an open curly brace (`{`). It continues until a close curly brace (`}`). A submenu definition can use the keywords described in Table 3. Except as otherwise noted, using an option of a given name completely overrides the setting in the main stanza.

Table 3: Submenu keywords in `refind.conf`
Token | Possible parameters | Explanation
--- | --- | ---
`submenuentry` | name for the entry | Sets the name that's displayed for this entry on the submenu page. If the name should contain a space, it must be enclosed in quotes. Following the name, an open curly brace (`{`) ends the `submenuentry` line.
`loader` | filename | Sets the filename for the boot loader, as described in Table 2. Note that the loader is read from whatever filesystem is specified by the main stanza's `volume` option, provided that option precedes the submenu definition.
`initrd` | filename | Sets the filename for a Linux kernel's initial RAM disk (initrd), as described in Table 2. If you want to eliminate the initrd specification, you should use this keyword alone, with no options. You might do this because your main entry is for a Linux kernel with EFI stub support and this submenu entry launches ELILO, which sets the initrd in its own configuration file.
`graphics` | `on` or `off` | Enables or disables a graphical boot mode, as described in Table 2.
`options` | options passed to the boot loader | Pass arbitrary options to your boot loader with this line, as described in Table 2. As with `initrd`, you can eliminate all options by passing this keyword alone on a line.
`add_options` | options passed to the boot loader | This token works just like `options`, except that instead of replacing the default options, it causes the specified options to be added to those specified in the main stanza listing's `options` line.
`disabled` | none | Disable a submenu entry. This is often easier than commenting out an entire entry if you want to temporarily disable it.

The following menu entry illustrates the use of submenu entries. This is a variant of the second entry presented earlier:

    menuentry Gentoo {
        loader \EFI\linux\bzImage-3.3.0-rc7
        initrd \EFI\linux\initrd-3.3.0-rc7.img
        options "root=/dev/sda3 ro"
        icon \EFI\refind\icons\os_gentoo.icns
        submenuentry "single-user mode" {
            add_options "single"
        }
        submenuentry "3.3.0 final release kernel" {
            loader \EFI\linux\bzImage-3.3.0
            initrd \EFI\linux\initrd-3.3.0.img
        }
        submenuentry "boot via ELILO" {
            loader \EFI\elilo\elilo.efi
    	initrd
    	options
        }
    }

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:

The main menu item appears at the top of the list—`Run bzImage-3.3.0-rc7` 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 `Return to Main Menu` that does just as it says. (Alternatively, you can return to the main menu by pressing the Esc key.)

This example illustrates some of the things you can do with submenu entries:

- You can add kernel options when booting via the EFI stub loader—to launch single-user mode, to add graphical boot options, or what have you.
- You can change kernel options when booting via the EFI stub loader—to remove graphical boot options, to boot to a different root device, and so on.
- You can change your kernel and/or initial RAM disk when booting via the EFI stub loader.
- You can give users a choice of boot loaders. In this example, the main option boots via the kernel stub loader, but the submenu gives users the chance to boot via ELILO instead. In fact, you could even boot two entirely different OSes from manually-defined submenu entries, although that could be confusing.

copyright © 2012–2013 by Roderick W. Smith

This document is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License (FDL), version 1.3.

If you have problems with or comments about this Web page, please e-mail me at rodsmith@rodsbooks.com. Thanks.

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