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Alright, so after a few days of figuring out how to dual-boot Windows 8 and Ubuntu 12.04, I made rEFInd my default bootloader.

My problem now lies in my EFI setup:

  1. Ubuntu (ST1...don't feel like typing that out lol)
  2. Windows Boot Manager (ST1...)
  3. Windows Boot Manager (ST1...)
  4. EFI Network 0 for IPv4
  5. EFI Network 0 for IPv6

Here is the thing: 1 and 2 do not work, but I don't want to get rid of them for now. 3 is where my rEFInd is, and I want this to be at the top. Every time I turn on the computer, this is the default boot order. I can change it each time I boot up, but I would prefer not to do so.

I noticed that there was some program eifbootmgr, but I am not exactly sure how to use it. Basically, I want to permanently reorder the list to: 3,4,5,1,2.

If I could get a guide as to how to do so, I would appreciate it :)

UPDATE: Rod, so I took screenshots of what happened, and I had a weird result in the boot menu...

enter image description here

enter image description here

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
12

Type sudo efibootmgr -v to view your current boot entries. After you type your password, you'll see something like this:

BootCurrent: 0003
Timeout: 0 seconds
BootOrder: 0003,0002,0000,0001
Boot0000* rEFInd Boot Manager   HD(1,28,96000,bc34b60c-6611-492f-99b0-d2c37bd77f48)File(\EFI\refind\shim.efi)
Boot0001* fedora    HD(1,28,96000,bc34b60c-6611-492f-99b0-d2c37bd77f48)File(\EFI\fedora\grubx64.efi)
Boot0002* rEFInd (via PreLoader)    HD(1,28,96000,bc34b60c-6611-492f-99b0-d2c37bd77f48)File(\EFI\refind\PreLoader.efi)
Boot0003* ubuntu    HD(1,28,96000,bc34b60c-6611-492f-99b0-d2c37bd77f48)File(EFI\Ubuntu\grubx64.efi)

Your details will be different, of course. You need to identify your entries and figure out the order in which you want them to appear. For instance, suppose you had these entries you wanted to boot rEFInd via shim by default, then rEFInd via PreLoader second, followed by Ubuntu and then finally Fedora if all the others fail. The desired order would then be 0000,0002,0003,0001. You can then specify that order via the -o option to efibootmgr:

sudo efibootmgr -o 0000,0002,0003,0001

The output will include a less verbose repeat of the original output, with the BootOrder line changed appropriately. Double-check that your changes are correct, then reboot to test that it's working. (Unfortunately, some EFIs are buggy, and there have been bugs introduced by mismatches between efibootmgr and the kernel in recent months.) If you have problems, there are ways to fix it with an EFI shell and its bcfg command, but I'll omit the details unless you report back that efibootmgr doesn't work.

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  • Hi Rod, thanks for helping me out! I included some links of screenshots in my update. Something weird happened at boot-up...
    – Steve
    Jul 27, 2013 at 0:57
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    Some of those entries look odd, and your BootOrder should have been launching rEFInd as the first object to begin with. My inclination is to remove all of the boot entries (via repeated sudo efibootmgr -b 0000 -B commands, changing 0000 to each boot number in turn) and then restore rEFInd (via sudo efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sda -p 1 -l '\EFI\refind\refind_x64.efi -L "rEFInd", changing /dev/sda` to the disk and 1 to the partition of the ESP). OTOH, if this doesn't work, it could make matters worse, so be sure to have a working rEFInd CD-R or DVD for recovery before you do this.
    – Rod Smith
    Jul 27, 2013 at 13:43
  • Before I go this route, I have two questions: 1. Could Windows 8 have something to do with messing up the ordering? (If so, is there any way I could fix this?) 2. How would I go about making a rEFInd recovery cd?
    – Steve
    Jul 27, 2013 at 15:09
  • Alright, so I disabled all of the boot entries except the one I want, and everything works fine. Because I have had so much trouble with getting to where I am now, I think I am just going to leave it this way. Thanks for your help though! :)
    – Steve
    Jul 27, 2013 at 16:22
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    I'm glad to hear you got it working! The extra entries aren't really critical unless something bad happens to rEFInd. To protect against that, try creating a USB flash drive or CD-R rEFInd (ready-made binaries are available on the rEFInd downloads page). That way, if the rEFInd on your ESP becomes damaged, you can pop in the external disk and everything should work well enough for you to boot and fix the problem.
    – Rod Smith
    Jul 27, 2013 at 19:41
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Unrealistic you are making this harder than it needs to be go into BIOS boot menu where your options are osmanager, USB, disk, ect. Highlight osmanager press enter it will open a sub menu use f5,f6 to rearrange to your liking use f10 to save your changes and then f10 the save again and exit

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  • Sorry man , but not all BIOSes has this feature. (mine for one)
    – extropy
    Jul 30, 2016 at 17:20
  • And my freaking bios (as on OP screenshot) on HP 15-g005ax Ignores this change!
    – Rules
    Aug 11, 2017 at 23:45

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