bootctlsystemdbootctl1bootctlControl EFI firmware boot settings and manage boot loaderbootctlOPTIONSCOMMANDDescriptionbootctl 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-boot7 boot
loader on the current system.Generic EFI Firmware/Boot Loader CommandsThese commands are available on any EFI system, regardless of the boot loader used.Shows brief information about the system firmware, the boot loader that was used to
boot the system, the boot loaders currently available in the ESP, the boot loaders listed in the
firmware's list of boot loaders and the current default boot loader entry. If no command is
specified, this is the implied default.See the example below for details of the output.BOOLQuery or set the "Reboot-Into-Firmware-Setup" flag of the EFI firmware. Takes a
boolean argument which controls whether to show the firmware setup on next system reboot. If the
argument is omitted shows the current status of the flag, or whether the flag is supported. This
controls the same flag as systemctl reboot --firmware-setup, but is more low-level
and allows setting the flag independently from actually requesting a reboot.Hint: use systemctl reboot --firmware-setup to reboot into firmware setup
once. See
systemctl1
for details.STRINGWhen called without the optional argument, prints the current value of the
SystemdOptions EFI variable. When called with an argument, sets the variable to
that value. See
systemd1 for the
meaning of that variable.Boot Loader Specification CommandsThese commands are available for all boot loaders that
implement the Boot
Loader Specification, such as
systemd-boot.Shows all available boot loader entries implementing the Boot Loader Specification, as well as any
other entries discovered or automatically generated by a boot loader implementing the Boot Loader Interface.
JSON output may be requested with .See the example below for details of the output.IDRemoves a boot loader entry including the files it refers to. Takes a single boot
loader entry ID string or a glob pattern as argument. Referenced files such as kernel or initrd are
only removed if no other entry refers to them.Removes files from the ESP and XBOOTLDR partitions that belong to the entry token but
are not referenced in any boot loader entries.Boot Loader Interface CommandsThese commands are available for all boot loaders that implement the Boot Loader Specification and the Boot Loader Interface, such as
systemd-boot.IDIDSets the default boot loader entry. Takes a single boot loader entry ID string or a glob
pattern as argument. The command will set the default entry only for the next boot,
the will set it persistently for all future boots.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: ,
or , 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 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 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
systemctl1
for details.TIMEOUTTIMEOUTSets the boot loader menu timeout in seconds. The
command will set the timeout only for the next boot. See
systemd.time7
for details about the syntax of time spans.If this is set to or no menu is shown and
the default entry will be booted immediately, while setting this to
disables the timeout while always showing the menu. When an empty string ("") is specified the
bootloader will revert to its default menu timeout.systemd-boot CommandsThese commands manage the systemd-boot EFI boot loader, and do not work in
conjunction with other boot loaders.Installs systemd-boot into the EFI system partition. A copy of
systemd-boot will be stored as the EFI default/fallback loader at
ESP/EFI/BOOT/BOOT*.EFI. The boot loader is then added
to the top of the firmware's boot loader list.Updates all installed versions of
systemd-boot7, if the
available version is newer than the version installed in the EFI system partition. This also includes the EFI
default/fallback loader at ESP/EFI/BOOT/BOOT*.EFI. The boot
loader is then added to end of the firmware's boot loader list if missing.Removes all installed versions of systemd-boot from the EFI system partition
and the firmware's boot loader list.Checks whether systemd-boot is installed in the ESP. Note that a
single ESP might host multiple boot loaders; this hence checks whether
systemd-boot is one (of possibly many) installed boot loaders — and neither
whether it is the default nor whether it is registered in any EFI variables.Generates a random seed and stores it in the EFI System Partition, for use by the
systemd-boot boot loader. Also, generates a random 'system token' and stores it
persistently as an EFI variable, if one has not been set before. If the boot loader finds the random
seed in the ESP and the system token in the EFI variable it will derive a random seed to pass to the
OS and a new seed to store in the ESP from the combination of both. The random seed passed to the OS
is credited to the kernel's entropy pool by the system manager during early boot, and permits
userspace to boot up with an entropy pool fully initialized very early on. Also see
systemd-boot-random-seed.service8.See Random Seeds for further
information.Kernel Image CommandskernelTakes a kernel image as argument. Checks what kind of kernel the image is. Returns
one of uki, pe or unknown.kernelTakes a kernel image as argument. Prints details about the kernel.OptionsThe following options are understood:Path to the EFI System Partition (ESP). If not specified, /efi/,
/boot/, and /boot/efi/ are checked in turn. It is
recommended to mount the ESP to /efi/, if possible.Path to the Extended Boot Loader partition, as defined in the Boot Loader Specification. If not
specified, /boot/ is checked. It is recommended to mount the Extended Boot
Loader partition to /boot/, if possible.Takes a directory path as an argument. All
paths will be prefixed with the given alternate
root path, including config search
paths. Takes a path to a disk image file or block device node. If specified, all operations
are applied to file system in the indicated disk image. This option is similar to
, but operates on file systems stored in disk images or block devices. The
disk image should either contain just a file system or a set of file systems within a GPT partition
table, following the Discoverable Partitions
Specification. For further information on supported disk images, see
systemd-nspawn1's
switch of the same name.When installing binaries with or
, selects where to source them from. Takes one of auto
(the default), image or host. With auto
binaries will be picked from the specified directory or image, and if not found they will be picked
from the host. With image or host no fallback search will be
performed if the binaries are not found in the selected source.This option modifies the behaviour of status. Only prints the path
to the EFI System Partition (ESP) to standard output and exits.This option modifies the behaviour of status. Only prints the path
to the Extended Boot Loader partition if it exists, and the path to the ESP otherwise to standard
output and exit. This command is useful to determine where to place boot loader entries, as they are
preferably placed in the Extended Boot Loader partition if it exists and in the ESP otherwise.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 option mentioned
above), is available independently from the boot loader used, i.e. also without
systemd-boot being installed.Do not touch the firmware's boot loader list stored in EFI variables.Ignore failure when the EFI System Partition cannot be found, when EFI variables
cannot be written, or a different or newer boot loader is already installed. Currently only applies
to is-installed, update, and random-seed
verbs.Suppress printing of the results of various commands and also the hints about ESP
being unavailable.Controls creation and deletion of the Boot Loader Specification Type #1 entry
directory on the file system containing resources such as kernel and initrd images during
and , respectively. The directory is named after the
entry token, as specified with parameter described below, and is
placed immediately below the $BOOT root directory (i.e. beneath the file system
returned by the option, see above). Defaults to
no.Controls how to name and identify boot loader entries for this OS
installation. Accepted during , and takes one of auto,
machine-id, os-id, os-image-id or an
arbitrary string prefixed by literal: as argument.If set to the entries are named after the machine ID of the running
system (e.g. b0e793a9baf14b5fa13ecbe84ff637ac). See
machine-id5 for
details about the machine ID concept and file.If set to the entries are named after the OS ID of the running system,
i.e. the ID= field of
os-release5 (e.g.
fedora). Similarly, if set to 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 (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
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-install8,
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.Install binaries for all supported EFI architectures (this implies ).Description of the entry added to the firmware's boot option list. Defaults to Linux
Boot Manager.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.Dry run for and .In dry run mode, the unlink and cleanup operations only print the files that would get deleted
without actually deleting them.Signed .efi filesbootctl and 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 statusOn success, 0 is returned, a non-zero failure code otherwise.EnvironmentIf $SYSTEMD_RELAX_ESP_CHECKS=1 is set the validation checks for the ESP are
relaxed, and the path specified with may refer to any kind of file system on
any kind of partition.Similarly, $SYSTEMD_RELAX_XBOOTLDR_CHECKS=1 turns off some validation checks for
the Extended Boot Loader partition.ExamplesOutput from status and list$ 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
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
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 Alsosystemd-boot7,
Boot Loader Specification,
Boot Loader Interface,
systemd-boot-random-seed.service8