efibootdude 0.5.1

A visual wrapper for efibootmgr

EfiBootDude

efibootdude presents a visual (curses) interface to efibootmgr which allows editing the bios boot menu and parameters while running Linux.

• Install efibootdude using pipx install efibootdude, or however you do so.
• Prerequisites: install rhboot/efibootmgr
  • For example, on a Debian derived distro, use sudo apt install efibootmgr.

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.

Usage

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 or d 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.
• 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 writing the changes, efibootdude drops out of menu mode so you can verify the underlying commands, error codes, and error messages.
• After you write changes, type b to reboot, if you wish and the boot menu looks OK.
• BTW, the top-line keys vary per context; e.g.:
  • w is only shown with pending changes, and
  • b is only shown w/o pending changes.

Caveats

• 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).

About this Project

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.