efibootdude
presents a visual (curses) interface to efibootmgr
which allows editing the bios
boot menu and parameters while running Linux.
- Install
efibootdude
usingpipx install efibootdude
, or however you do so. - Prerequisites: install rhboot/efibootmgr
- For example, on a Debian derived distro, use
sudo apt install efibootmgr
.
- For example, on a Debian derived distro, use
efibootdude
covers only the most commonly used capabilities of efibootmgr
including:
- reordering boot entries,
- removing boot entries,
- setting the boot entry for the next boot only,
- setting boot entries active or inactive, and
- setting the boot menu timeout value (until it boots the default entry).
To be sure, there are many other esoteric uses of efibootmanager
including adding
a new boot entry; for such needs, just use efibootmgr
directly.
After running efibootdude
and making some changes, you'll see a screen comparable to this:
At this point
- The "current" line starts with
>
and is highlighted. - The top line shows actions for the current line; type the underscored letter to effect its action.
- Type
?
for a more complete explanation of the keys, navigation keys, etc.- ALWAYS view the help at least once if unfamiliar with this tool, it navigation, and/or uncertain of keys not shown on top line.
- With this current line, we can:
- Type
u
ord
to move it up or down in the boot order. - Type
t
to relabel the boot entry. - Type
r
to remove the boot entry. - And so forth.
- Type
- The entries with
*
on the left are active boot entries; toggle whether active by typing*
for the corresponding entries. - Press
ESC
key to abandon any changes and reload the boot information. - When ready to write the changes to the BIOS, enter
w
. - When the changes look good, type
b
to reboot, if you wish. - When writing the changes,
efibootdude
drops out of menu mode so you can verify the underlying commands, error codes, and error messages.
- Some operations may not work permanently even though there is no indication from
efibootmgr
(e.g., on my desktop, I cannot re-label boot entries). - Some operations may only work (again) after re-booting (e.g., you might find activating an entry does not work, but it does so after a reboot).
This project was inspired by Elinvention/efiboots. Relative to that project, the aims of efibootdude
are:
- to be easier to install especially when not in your distro's repos.
- to clearly present the partition of the boot entries (as a mount point if mounted and, otherwise, the device pathname).
- to show the underlying commands being run for education, for verification, and for help on investigating issues.