rEFInd Boot Manager: A Solution for Mac Users

If you're a Mac user, you may have encountered issues with boot managers that make it difficult to navigate your computer's startup process. I've heard of others who have experienced similar problems, and one of the worst I've personally encountered is on Gigabyte's Hybrid EFI, which provides no boot options beyond choosing the boot device (hard disk vs. SSD). Unfortunately, many boot managers are often so poor as to be useless.

In theory, EFI implementations should provide boot managers, but in practice, these boot managers can be a challenge to use. In fact, since version 3.3.0, the Linux kernel can function as an EFI boot loader for itself, giving rEFInd characteristics similar to a boot loader for Linux.

If you're using Linux, you may find it difficult to choose between several EFI boot loaders available. However, all EFI-capable operating systems include boot loaders, so this limitation isn't a problem. Many popular boot managers, such as GRUB, are also boot loaders, which can blur the distinction in many users' minds.

rEFInd is not a boot loader, but rather a boot manager that presents a menu of options to the user when the computer first starts up. This page describes rEFInd, my fork of the rEFIt boot manager for computers based on the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and Unified EFI (UEFI).

If you're experiencing issues with rEFInd, there are a few things you can try. First, you can use the new feature in rEFInd 0.13.0 to boot via an EFI firmware boot option. This may help resolve any problems you're encountering.

Second, a bug in rEFInd 0.12.0's memory management could cause it to hang on some EFIs, including some that Apple rolled out as part of the macOS 11 upgrade. With recent versions of macOS, rEFInd normally presents both options, but users might reasonably hide the poorly-named Preboot option, which is the only one that works.

Finally, note that macOS 11 requires booting via the boot loader Preboot partition, not the main macOS installation partition. If you're having trouble booting macOS 11 ('Big Sur'), you may want to try using rEFInd to resolve any issues you're encountering.

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The rEFInd Boot Manager

rEFInd is a boot manager that presents a menu of options to the user when the computer first starts up. It's available for download from the official website.

I hope this information has been helpful in resolving any issues you may be having with your Mac's startup process.

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