This is efibootmgr, a Linux user-space application to modify the Intel Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) Boot Manager. This application can create and destroy boot entries, change the boot order, change the next running boot option, and more. Details on the EFI Boot Manager are available from the EFI Specification, v1.02 or above, available from http://developer.intel.com. Note: efibootmgr requires that the kernel module efivars be loaded prior to use. 'modprobe efivars' should do the trick. usage: efibootmgr [options] -a | --active sets bootnum active -A | --inactive sets bootnum inactive -b | --bootnum XXXX modify BootXXXX (hex) -B | --delete-bootnum delete bootnum (hex) -c | --create create new variable bootnum and add to bootorder -d | --disk disk (defaults to /dev/sda) containing loader -e | --edd [1|3|-1] force EDD 1.0 or 3.0 creation variables, or guess -E | --device num EDD 1.0 device number (defaults to 0x80) -g | --gpt force disk w/ invalid PMBR to be treated as GPT -H | --acpi_hid XXXX set the ACPI HID (used with -i) -i | --iface name create a netboot entry for the named interface -l | --loader name (defaults to \elilo.efi) -L | --label label Boot manager display label (defaults to "Linux") -n | --bootnext XXXX set BootNext to XXXX (hex) -N | --delete-bootnext delete BootNext -o | --bootorder XXXX,YYYY,ZZZZ,... explicitly set BootOrder (hex) -O | --delete-bootorder delete BootOrder -p | --part part (defaults to 1) containing loader -q | --quiet be quiet --test filename don't write to NVRAM, write to filename -t | --timeout seconds Boot manager timeout -T | --delete-timeout delete Timeout value -u | --unicode | --UCS-2 pass extra args as UCS-2 (default is ASCII) -U | --acpi_uid XXXX set the ACPI UID (used with -i) -v | --verbose print additional information -V | --version return version and exit -w | --write-signature write unique sig to MBR if needed -@ | --append-binary-args append extra variable args from file (use - to read from stdin). Typical usage: 1) Root can use it to display the current Boot Manager settings. [root@localhost ~]# efibootmgr BootCurrent: 0004 BootNext: 0003 BootOrder: 0004,0000,0001,0002,0003 Timeout: 30 seconds Boot0000* Diskette Drive(device:0) Boot0001* CD-ROM Drive(device:FF) Boot0002* Hard Drive(Device:80)/HD(Part1,Sig00112233) Boot0003* PXE Boot: MAC(00D0B7C15D91) Boot0004* Linux This shows: BootCurrent - the boot entry used to start the currently running system. BootOrder - the boot order as would appear in the boot manager. The boot manager tries to boot the first active entry on this list. If unsuccessful, it tries the next entry, and so on. BootNext - the boot entry which is scheduled to be run on next boot. This superceeds BootOrder for one boot only, and is deleted by the boot manager after first use. This allows you to change the next boot behavior without changing BootOrder. Timeout - the time in seconds between when the boot manager appears on the screen until when it automatically chooses the startup value from BootNext or BootOrder. Five boot entries (0000 - 0004), the active/inactive flag (* means active), and the name displayed on the screen. 2) An OS installer would call 'efibootmgr -c'. This assumes that /boot/efi is your EFI System Partition, and is mounted at /dev/sda1. This creates a new boot option, called "Linux", and puts it at the top of the boot order list. Options may be passed to modify the default behavior. The default OS Loader is elilo.efi. 3) A system administrator wants to change the boot order. She would call 'efibootmgr -o 3,4' to specify PXE boot first, then Linux boot. 4) A system administrator wants to change the boot order for the next boot only. She would call 'efibootmgr -n 4' to specify that the Linux entry be taken on next boot. 5) A system administrator wants to delete the Linux boot option from the menu. 'efibootmgr -b 4 -B' deletes entry 4 and removes it from BootOrder. 6) A system administrator wants to create a boot option to network boot (PXE). Unfortunately, this requires knowing a little more information about your system than can be easily found by efibootmgr, so you've got to pass additional information - the ACPI HID and UID values. These can generally be found by using the EFI Boot Manager (in the EFI environment) to create a network boot entry, then using efibootmgr to print it verbosely. Here's one example: Boot003* Acpi(PNP0A03,0)/PCI(5|0)/Mac(00D0B7F9F510) \ ACPI(a0341d0,0)PCI(0,5)MAC(00d0b7f9f510,0) In this case, the ACPI HID is "0A0341d0" and the UID is "0". For the zx2000 gigE, the HID is "222F" and the UID is "500". For the rx2000 gigE, the HID is "0002" and the UID is "100". You create the boot entry with: 'efibootmgr -c -i eth0 -H 222F -U 500 -L netboot' Many other uses may be found. Please direct any bugs, features, patches, etc. to Matt Domsch .