NAME

       refind-mkdefault - Set rEFInd as the default EFI boot option

SYNOPSIS

       refind-mkdefault [ -L|--label <name> ]

DESCRIPTION

       EFI  booting  normally  relies on boot manager entries stored in NVRAM, which describe the
       locations of EFI boot programs and the order in which the firmware will attempt to  launch
       them. In Linux, these entries can be created, deleted, and manipulated with the efibootmgr
       utility.

       Many OSes and Linux packages assume that they should control the boot process, and so both
       create NVRAM boot entries for themselves and set these entries first in the boot order. If
       you intend rEFInd to control the boot process, though, such changes  are  undesirable  and
       require  adjustment  via  efibootmgr.  Such  adjustments  are  annoying to make and can be
       intimidating to non-experts.

       The refind-mkdefault script simplifies matters: Running this script with no  options  sets
       rEFInd  as  the  default  boot program. The details of what the script does depends on the
       current state of the boot order list and existing boot entries:

       *      If a rEFInd entry already exists in the boot order and  is  already  first  in  the
              list, no changes are made.

       *      If  a  rEFInd  entry already exists in the boot order but is not first in the list,
              that entry is moved to the first position in the boot order.

       *      If more than one rEFInd entry exists in the boot order, refind-mkdefault moves  the
              one that comes earliest to the front of the boot order list.

       *      If no rEFInd entry exists in the boot order but a rEFInd boot entry can be found in
              the list of Boot#### entries, it is added to the boot order and placed at the front
              of the list.

       *      If  multiple  rEFInd  boot  entries  exist  but  none is in the boot order, all the
              entries are added to the boot order, but which one is first is uncontrolled.

       A rEFInd entry is defined as one that contains the string refind (case-insensitive).  This
       string  could  exist  in the description or in the filename. The string used to define the
       rEFInd entry can be changed via the --label (-L) option.

       The intent is that refind-mkdefault can be called after booting via  GRUB  or  some  other
       means  to  restore rEFInd as the default boot program.  It can also be placed in a startup
       and/or shutdown script to restore rEFInd to its default position automatically. Because it
       does  not  re-write  the  boot  order  if  rEFInd  is listed as the first boot entry, this
       practice should be low in risk.

OPTIONS

       -L | --label <name>
              Instead of searching for the string  refind  in  efibootmgr  output  as  a  way  to
              identify rEFInd, search for the string name.

RETURN VALUES

       refind-mkdefault returns the following values:

       0      The  script  completed  successfully,  which  can  mean  either  that no change was
              necessary or that the call to efibootmgr returned a success code.

       1      EFI boot order variables are available, and a rEFInd entry was found, but the  call
              to efibootmgr returned a failure code.

       2      EFI  boot  entries  are  not  available. This condition is often an indication of a
              buggy EFI or badly damaged NVRAM contents.

       3      No rEFInd entry could be found in the list of boot options, and so no changes  were
              made to the boot order list.

       4      The  script  could  not  run  because  of  OS  issues  -- the OS was not Linux, the
              efibootmgr utility was not available, or the script was not run as root.

LIMITATIONS

       *      refind-mkdefault  does  not  work  when  booted  in  BIOS  mode  (including  via  a
              Compatibility  Support  Module,  or  CSM, on an EFI-based computer).  Similarly, it
              does not work if efibootmgr is not installed or fails to work for any reason.

       *      The script uses a very simple algorithm to determine what to move to the  start  of
              the  boot  order  list. This algorithm may fail if the system has redundant or non-
              functional rEFInd boot entries or if those entries are not  named  in  an  expected
              fashion.  Cleaning up the boot entries by manual use of efibootmgr may be necessary
              in such cases.

AUTHORS

       Primary author: Roderick W. Smith (rodsmith@rodsbooks.com)

SEE ALSO

       mvrefind (8), mkrlconf (8), refind-install (8), efibootmgr (8)

       http://www.rodsbooks.com/refind/

AVAILABILITY

       The refind-mkdefault command is part of the rEFInd package and is available from  Roderick
       W. Smith.