BOOTCTL(1) | bootctl | BOOTCTL(1) |
NAME¶
bootctl - Control EFI firmware boot settings and manage boot loader
SYNOPSIS¶
bootctl [OPTIONS...] {COMMAND}
DESCRIPTION¶
bootctl can check the EFI firmware and boot loader status, list and manage available boot loaders and boot loader entries, and install, update, or remove the systemd-boot(7) boot loader on the current system.
GENERIC EFI FIRMWARE/BOOT LOADER COMMANDS¶
These commands are available on any EFI system, regardless of the boot loader used.
status
See the example below for details of the output.
Added in version 239.
reboot-to-firmware [BOOL]
Hint: use systemctl reboot --firmware-setup to reboot into firmware setup once. See systemctl(1) for details.
Added in version 251.
BOOT LOADER SPECIFICATION COMMANDS¶
These commands are available for all boot loaders that implement the Boot Loader Specification[1], such as systemd-boot.
list
See the example below for details of the output.
Added in version 239.
unlink ID
Added in version 253.
cleanup
Added in version 253.
BOOT LOADER INTERFACE COMMANDS¶
These commands are available for all boot loaders that implement the Boot Loader Specification[1] and the Boot Loader Interface[2], such as systemd-boot.
set-default ID, set-oneshot ID
bootctl list can be used to list available boot loader entries and their IDs.
In addition, the boot loader entry ID may be specified as one of: @default, @oneshot or @current, which correspond to the current default boot loader entry for all future boots, the current default boot loader entry for the next boot, and the currently booted boot loader entry. These special IDs are resolved to the current values of the EFI variables LoaderEntryDefault, LoaderEntryOneShot and LoaderEntrySelected, see Boot Loader Specification[1] for details. These special IDs are primarily useful as a quick way to persistently make the currently booted boot loader entry the default choice, or to upgrade the default boot loader entry for the next boot to the default boot loader entry for all future boots, but may be used for other operations too.
If set to @saved the chosen entry will be saved as an EFI variable on every boot and automatically selected the next time the boot loader starts.
When an empty string ("") is specified as the ID, then the corresponding EFI variable will be unset.
Hint: use systemctl reboot --boot-loader-entry=ID to reboot into a specific boot entry and systemctl reboot --boot-loader-menu=timeout to reboot into the boot loader menu once. See systemctl(1) for details.
Added in version 240.
set-timeout TIMEOUT, set-timeout-oneshot TIMEOUT
If this is set to menu-disabled or menu-hidden or 0, no menu is shown and the default entry will be booted immediately, while setting this to menu-force disables the timeout while always showing the menu. When an empty string ("") is specified the bootloader will revert to its default menu timeout.
Added in version 250.
SYSTEMD-BOOT COMMANDS¶
These commands manage the systemd-boot EFI boot loader, and do not work in conjunction with other boot loaders.
install
Added in version 239.
update
Added in version 239.
remove
Added in version 239.
is-installed
Added in version 243.
random-seed
See Random Seeds[3] for further information.
Added in version 243.
KERNEL IMAGE COMMANDS¶
kernel-identify kernel
Added in version 253.
kernel-inspect kernel
Added in version 253.
OPTIONS¶
The following options are understood:
--esp-path=
--boot-path=
--root=root
Added in version 252.
--image=image
Added in version 252.
--image-policy=policy
--install-source=
Added in version 252.
-p, --print-esp-path
Added in version 236.
-x, --print-boot-path
Boot Loader Specification Type #1 entries should generally be placed in the directory "$(bootctl -x)/loader/entries/". Existence of that directory may also be used as indication that boot loader entry support is available on the system. Similarly, Boot Loader Specification Type #2 entries should be placed in the directory "$(bootctl -x)/EFI/Linux/".
Note that this option (similarly to the --print-esp-path option mentioned above), is available independently from the boot loader used, i.e. also without systemd-boot being installed.
Added in version 242.
-R, --print-root-device
Added in version 254.
--no-variables
Added in version 220.
--graceful
Added in version 244.
-q, --quiet
Added in version 251.
--make-entry-directory=yes|no
Added in version 251.
--entry-token=
If set to machine-id the entries are named after the machine ID of the running system (e.g. "b0e793a9baf14b5fa13ecbe84ff637ac"). See machine-id(5) for details about the machine ID concept and file.
If set to os-id the entries are named after the OS ID of the running system, i.e. the ID= field of os-release(5) (e.g. "fedora"). Similarly, if set to os-image-id the entries are named after the OS image ID of the running system, i.e. the IMAGE_ID= field of os-release (e.g. "vendorx-cashier-system").
If set to auto (the default), the /etc/kernel/entry-token file will be read if it exists, and the stored value used. Otherwise if the local machine ID is initialized it is used. Otherwise IMAGE_ID= from os-release will be used, if set. Otherwise, ID= from os-release will be used, if set.
Unless set to "machine-id", or when --make-entry-directory=yes is used the selected token string is written to a file /etc/kernel/entry-token, to ensure it will be used for future entries. This file is also read by kernel-install(8), in order to identify under which name to generate boot loader entries for newly installed kernels, or to determine the entry names for removing old ones.
Using the machine ID for naming the entries is generally preferable, however there are cases where using the other identifiers is a good option. Specifically: if the identification data that the machine ID entails shall not be stored on the (unencrypted) $BOOT partition, or if the ID shall be generated on first boot and is not known when the entries are prepared. Note that using the machine ID has the benefit that multiple parallel installations of the same OS can coexist on the same medium, and they can update their boot loader entries independently. When using another identifier (such as the OS ID or the OS image ID), parallel installations of the same OS would try to use the same entry name. To support parallel installations, the installer must use a different entry token when adding a second installation.
Added in version 251.
--all-architectures
Added in version 252.
--efi-boot-option-description=
Using the default entry name "Linux Boot Manager" is generally preferable as only one bootloader installed to a single ESP partition should be used to boot any number of OS installations found on the various disks installed in the system. Specifically distributions should not use this flag to install a branded entry in the boot option list. However in situations with multiple disks, each with their own ESP partition, it can be beneficial to make it easier to identify the bootloader being used in the firmware's boot option menu.
Added in version 252.
--dry-run
In dry run mode, the unlink and cleanup operations only print the files that would get deleted without actually deleting them.
Added in version 253.
--no-pager
--json=MODE
-h, --help
--version
SIGNED .EFI FILES¶
bootctl install and update will look for a systemd-boot file ending with the ".efi.signed" suffix first, and copy that instead of the normal ".efi" file. This allows distributions or end-users to provide signed images for UEFI SecureBoot.
EXIT STATUS¶
On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise. bootctl --print-root-device returns exit status 80 in case the root file system is not backed by single block device, and other non-zero exit statuses on other errors.
ENVIRONMENT¶
If $SYSTEMD_RELAX_ESP_CHECKS=1 is set the validation checks for the ESP are relaxed, and the path specified with --esp-path= may refer to any kind of file system on any kind of partition.
Similarly, $SYSTEMD_RELAX_XBOOTLDR_CHECKS=1 turns off some validation checks for the Extended Boot Loader partition.
EXAMPLES¶
Example 1. Output from status and list
$ bootctl status System:
Firmware: UEFI 2.40 (firmware-version) ← firmware vendor and version
Secure Boot: disabled (setup) ← Secure Boot status
TPM2 Support: yes
Boot into FW: supported ← does the firmware support booting into itself Current Boot Loader: ← details about sd-boot or another boot loader
Product: systemd-boot version implementing the Boot Loader Interface[2]
Features: ✓ Boot counting
✓ Menu timeout control
✓ One-shot menu timeout control
✓ Default entry control
✓ One-shot entry control
✓ Support for XBOOTLDR partition
✓ Support for passing random seed to OS
✓ Load drop-in drivers
✓ Boot loader sets ESP information
✓ Menu can be disabled
ESP: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/01234567-89ab-cdef-dead-beef00000000
File: └─/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi Random Seed: ← random seed used for entropy in early boot
Passed to OS: yes
System Token: set
Exists: yes Available Boot Loaders on ESP:
ESP: /boot/efi (/dev/disk/by-partuuid/01234567-89ab-cdef-dead-beef00000000)
File: └─/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi (systemd-boot 251
File: └─/EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI (systemd-boot 251 Boot Loaders Listed in EFI Variables:
Title: Linux Boot Manager
ID: 0x0001
Status: active, boot-order
Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/...
File: └─/EFI/systemd/systemd-bootx64.efi
Title: Fedora
ID: 0x0000
Status: active, boot-order
Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/...
File: └─/EFI/fedora/shimx64.efi
Title: Linux-Firmware-Updater
ID: 0x0002
Status: active, boot-order
Partition: /dev/disk/by-partuuid/...
File: └─/EFI/fedora/fwupdx64.efi Boot Loader Entries:
$BOOT: /boot/efi (/dev/disk/by-partuuid/01234567-89ab-cdef-dead-beef00000000) Default Boot Loader Entry:
type: Boot Loader Specification Type #1 (.conf)
title: Fedora Linux 36 (Workstation Edition)
id: ...
source: /boot/efi/loader/entries/entry-token-kernel-version.conf
version: kernel-version
machine-id: ...
linux: /entry-token/kernel-version/linux
initrd: /entry-token/kernel-version/initrd
options: root=...
$ bootctl list Boot Loader Entries:
type: Boot Loader Specification Type #1 (.conf)
title: Fedora Linux 36 (Workstation Edition) (default) (selected)
id: ...
source: /boot/efi/loader/entries/entry-token-kernel-version.conf
version: kernel-version
machine-id: ...
linux: /entry-token/kernel-version/linux
initrd: /entry-token/kernel-version/initrd
options: root=...
type: Boot Loader Specification Type #2 (.efi)
title: Fedora Linux 35 (Workstation Edition)
id: ...
source: /boot/efi/EFI/Linux/fedora-kernel-version.efi
version: kernel-version
machine-id: ...
linux: /EFI/Linux/fedora-kernel-version.efi
options: root=...
type: Automatic
title: Reboot Into Firmware Interface
id: auto-reboot-to-firmware-setup
source: /sys/firmware/efi/efivars/LoaderEntries-4a67b082-0a4c-41cf-b6c7-440b29bb8c4f
In the listing, "(default)" specifies the entry that will be used by default, and "(selected)" specifies the entry that was selected the last time (i.e. is currently running).
SEE ALSO¶
systemd-boot(7), Boot Loader Specification[1], Boot Loader Interface[2], systemd-boot-random-seed.service(8)
NOTES¶
- 1.
- Boot Loader Specification
- 2.
- Boot Loader Interface
- 3.
- Random Seeds
- 4.
- Discoverable Partitions Specification
systemd 256.6 |