1BOOTCTL(1) bootctl BOOTCTL(1)
2
6 bootctl - Control EFI firmware boot settings and manage boot loader
7
9 bootctl [OPTIONS...] {COMMAND}
10
12 bootctl can check the EFI firmware and boot loader status, list and
13 manage available boot loaders and boot loader entries, and install,
14 update, or remove the systemd-boot(7) boot loader on the current
15 system.
16
18 These commands are available on any EFI system, regardless of the boot
19 loader used.
20 status
22 Shows brief information about the system firmware, the boot loader
23 that was used to boot the system, the boot loaders currently
24 available in the ESP, the boot loaders listed in the firmware's
25 list of boot loaders and the current default boot loader entry. If
26 no command is specified, this is the implied default.
27 reboot-to-firmware [BOOL]
29 Query or set the "Reboot-Into-Firmware-Setup" flag of the EFI
30 firmware. Takes a boolean argument which controls whether to show
31 the firmware setup on next system reboot. If the argument is
32 omitted shows the current status of the flag, or whether the flag
33 is supported. This controls the same flag as systemctl reboot
34 --firmware-setup, but is more low-level and allows setting the flag
35 independently from actually requesting a reboot.
36 systemd-efi-options [STRING]
38 When called without the optional argument, prints the current value
39 of the "SystemdOptions" EFI variable. When called with an argument,
40 sets the variable to that value. See systemd(1) for the meaning of
41 that variable.
42
44 These commands are available for all boot loaders that implement the
45 Boot Loader Specification[1] and/or the Boot Loader Interface[2], such
46 as systemd-boot.
47 list
49 Shows all available boot loader entries implementing the Boot
50 Loader Specification[1], as well as any other entries discovered or
51 automatically generated by a boot loader implementing the Boot
52 Loader Interface[2].
53 set-default ID, set-oneshot ID
55 Sets the default boot loader entry. Takes a single boot loader
56 entry ID string or a glob pattern as argument. The set-oneshot
57 command will set the default entry only for the next boot, the
58 set-default will set it persistently for all future boots.
59 Optionally, the boot loader entry ID may be specified as one of:
60 @default, @oneshot or @current, which correspond to the current
61 default boot loader entry for all future boots, the current default
62 boot loader entry for the next boot, and the currently booted boot
63 loader entry. These special IDs are resolved to the current values
64 of the EFI variables LoaderEntryDefault, LoaderEntryOneShot and
65 LoaderEntrySelected, see Boot Loader Specification[1] for details.
66 These special IDs are primarily useful as a quick way to
67 persistently make the currently booted boot loader entry the
68 default choice, or to upgrade the default boot loader entry for the
69 next boot to the default boot loader entry for all future boots,
70 but may be used for other operations too.
71 If set to @saved the chosen entry will be saved as an EFI variable
73 on every boot and automatically selected the next time the boot
74 loader starts.
75 When an empty string ("") is specified as an ID, then the
77 corresponding EFI variable will be unset.
78 set-timeout TIMEOUT, set-timeout-oneshot TIMEOUT
80 Sets the boot loader menu timeout in seconds. The
81 set-timeout-oneshot command will set the timeout only for the next
82 boot. See systemd.time(7) for details about the syntax of time
83 spans.
84 If this is set to menu-hidden or 0 no menu is shown and the default
86 entry will be booted immediately, while setting this to menu-force
87 disables the timeout while always showing the menu. When an empty
88 string ("") is specified the bootloader will revert to its default
89 menu timeout.
90
92 These commands manage the systemd-boot EFI boot loader, and do not work
93 in conjunction with other boot loaders.
94 install
96 Installs systemd-boot into the EFI system partition. A copy of
97 systemd-boot will be stored as the EFI default/fallback loader at
98 ESP/EFI/BOOT/BOOT*.EFI. The boot loader is then added to the top of
99 the firmware's boot loader list.
100 update
102 Updates all installed versions of systemd-boot(7), if the available
103 version is newer than the version installed in the EFI system
104 partition. This also includes the EFI default/fallback loader at
105 ESP/EFI/BOOT/BOOT*.EFI. The boot loader is then added to end of the
106 firmware's boot loader list if missing.
107 remove
109 Removes all installed versions of systemd-boot from the EFI system
110 partition and the firmware's boot loader list.
111 is-installed
113 Checks whether systemd-boot is installed in the ESP. Note that a
114 single ESP might host multiple boot loaders; this hence checks
115 whether systemd-boot is one (of possibly many) installed boot
116 loaders — and neither whether it is the default nor whether it is
117 registered in any EFI variables.
118 random-seed
120 Generates a random seed and stores it in the EFI System Partition,
121 for use by the systemd-boot boot loader. Also, generates a random
122 'system token' and stores it persistently as an EFI variable, if
123 one has not been set before. If the boot loader finds the random
124 seed in the ESP and the system token in the EFI variable it will
125 derive a random seed to pass to the OS and a new seed to store in
126 the ESP from the combination of both. The random seed passed to the
127 OS is credited to the kernel's entropy pool by the system manager
128 during early boot, and permits userspace to boot up with an entropy
129 pool fully initialized very early on. Also see systemd-boot-system-
130 token.service(8).
131 See Random Seeds[3] for further information.
133
135 The following options are understood:
136 --esp-path=
138 Path to the EFI System Partition (ESP). If not specified, /efi/,
139 /boot/, and /boot/efi/ are checked in turn. It is recommended to
140 mount the ESP to /efi/, if possible.
141 --boot-path=
143 Path to the Extended Boot Loader partition, as defined in the Boot
144 Loader Specification[1]. If not specified, /boot/ is checked. It is
145 recommended to mount the Extended Boot Loader partition to /boot/,
146 if possible.
147 -p, --print-esp-path
149 This option modifies the behaviour of status. Only prints the path
150 to the EFI System Partition (ESP) to standard output and exits.
151 -x, --print-boot-path
153 This option modifies the behaviour of status. Only prints the path
154 to the Extended Boot Loader partition if it exists, and the path to
155 the ESP otherwise to standard output and exit. This command is
156 useful to determine where to place boot loader entries, as they are
157 preferably placed in the Extended Boot Loader partition if it
158 exists and in the ESP otherwise.
159 Boot Loader Specification Type #1 entries should generally be
161 placed in the directory "$(bootctl -x)/loader/entries/". Existence
162 of that directory may also be used as indication that boot loader
163 entry support is available on the system. Similarly, Boot Loader
164 Specification Type #2 entries should be placed in the directory
165 "$(bootctl -x)/EFI/Linux/".
166 Note that this option (similar to the --print-booth-path option
168 mentioned above), is available independently from the boot loader
169 used, i.e. also without systemd-boot being installed.
170 --no-variables
172 Do not touch the firmware's boot loader list stored in EFI
173 variables.
174 --graceful
176 Ignore failure when the EFI System Partition cannot be found, when
177 EFI variables cannot be written, or a different or newer boot
178 loader is already installed. Currently only applies to random seed
179 and update operations.
180 --make-machine-id-directory=yes|no
182 Control creation and deletion of the top-level machine ID directory
183 on the file system containing boot loader entries (i.e. beneath the
184 file system returned by the --print-boot-path option, see above)
185 during install and remove, respectively. Defaults to "no". See
186 machine-id(5) for details about the machine ID concept and file.
187 Overriding this may be desirable to hide the machine ID from the
189 (unencrypted) ESP, configure a kernel-install(8) script, or,
190 conversely, commit a transient machine ID.
191 The top-level machine ID directory is useful to allow smooth
193 multi-boot installations: each installed OS instance will have a
194 different machine ID and thus a separate directory to place its
195 boot-time resources in. If this feature is turned off with this
196 option, care needs to be taken that multiple OS instances do not
197 place conflicting files on the shared ESP and Extended Boot Loader
198 Partitions, or that multiple OS instances are not possible.
199 --no-pager
201 Do not pipe output into a pager.
202 -h, --help
204 Print a short help text and exit.
205 --version
207 Print a short version string and exit.
208
210 bootctl install and update will look for a systemd-boot file ending
211 with the ".efi.signed" suffix first, and copy that instead of the
212 normal ".efi" file. This allows distributions or end-users to provide
213 signed images for UEFI SecureBoot.
214
216 On success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.
217
219 If $SYSTEMD_RELAX_ESP_CHECKS=1 is set the validation checks for the ESP
220 are relaxed, and the path specified with --esp-path= may refer to any
221 kind of file system on any kind of partition.
222 Similarly, $SYSTEMD_RELAX_XBOOTLDR_CHECKS=1 turns off some validation
224 checks for the Extended Boot Loader partition.
225
227 systemd-boot(7), Boot Loader Specification[1], Boot Loader
228 Interface[2], systemd-boot-system-token.service(8)
229
231 1. Boot Loader Specification
232 https://systemd.io/BOOT_LOADER_SPECIFICATION
233 2. Boot Loader Interface
235 https://systemd.io/BOOT_LOADER_INTERFACE
236 3. Random Seeds
238 https://systemd.io/RANDOM_SEEDS
239systemd 250 BOOTCTL(1)