The Need
The 1.1 version of ReFind for Mac is provided as a free download on our website. This Mac download was checked by our built-in antivirus and was rated as safe. This Mac application is a product of Mysterious Trousers, LLC. The program lies within System Tools, more precisely File Managers. Using rEFInd you can select the appropriate OS and it should boot cleanly on your hardware. In the event that rEFInd gets clobbered (you'll know, because a power-cycle takes you to the built-in macOS boot manager) you should still be able to boot into Windows, but you'll probably lose the ability to boot into Linux.
I was recently using multiple machines for work (Lab machines, friend’s laptop, etc) and I needed Linux. I own a 128GB MacBook Air I could’nt install Linux on it as storage was tiny. I did have a USB 3.0 flash drive which had speeds comparable to some(not-so-fast) harddrives. It struck me that if I install Linux on my flash drive it would make my life a hell lot easier. It was later that I realised it wasn’t so straight forward mainly because of EFI boot and Mac ‘quirks’. I did a lot of googling but could’nt find anything that worked. After reading multiple sources I deduced what was the problem. Since I got it figured out I decided to write this post so that other people can benefit from it.
The problem
- Modern Macs boot using EFI and their bootloader expects boot partition to be HFS+ or APFS(High Sierra) not EXT4.
- Ubuntu installer is buggy and always installs bootloader in EFI partition of internal HDD despite being instructed to install it on EFI partition of flash drive.
- This makes the flash drive only bootable on the mac it was made on
The Solution
Step 1: Preparing live USB for installation
- Download https://unetbootin.github.io/
- Download your favourite Ubuntu flavor, Im using Ubuntu Mate
- Burn the iso to a USB drive(not on your installation flash drive) using UNetbootin
Step 2: Boot using live installation drive
- Plug both drives and press
option+power button
- Choose
EFI boot
option - Choose
Try Ubuntu without Installing
Step 3: Install Linux on target flash drive
![Refind Boot Manager Mac Download Refind Boot Manager Mac Download](/uploads/1/2/6/3/126381965/716128919.jpg)
- Once into the live session, open terminal and run
ubuquity —no-bootloader
, this will start installation wizard in a mode that wont install a bootloader (Dont worry we will take care of it later)
- Keep going next untill an option comes as shown in below image. Choose
Something else
- On your target drive, create a 200MB
EFI System Partition
as the first partition (Primary) - Create a reasonable sized
ext4
partition, withmount point = '
(Primary)
- Click on
Install
- Reboot into Mac after installation finishes
Step 4: Setting up Boot manager
We will be using a super awesome 3rd party boot manager rEFInd. It can detect any operating systems installed in EFI mode and boot them.
- Download rEFInd zip and extract it
- Open Terminal and navigate to rEFInd directory
- Run
diskutil list
and find the name of your flash drive’s EFI partition. (In my case /dev/disk2s1) - Run
./refind-install --usedefault /dev/diskXXX
(replace XXX with appropriate name)
Now your flash drive is ready to boot on any Mac or EFI compatible PC. Moreover, if you ever mess up your bootloader and are unable to boot rEFInd can help you boot into your OS (if it exists :p)
Testing on Mac and PC
MacBook Air (Early 2015)
Refind Windows Download
- Press
option+power
and selectEFI Boot
- Select your apropriate Linux to boot
Asus X550LD (PC)
Refind On Usb
- Boot from flash drive in
UEFI Mode
- Select your apropriate Linux to boot
Refind Sourceforge
Refind Mac
rEFInd Boot Manager rEFInd Download
rEFInd a forked boot manager. As REFIT, refind installed EFI boot loaders can detect and automatically delivers pretty GUI boot options menu. refind boot that goes with the search process allows better control over many boot loader arms with a better system to refind beyond reassemble and provides the ability for users to define their own boot entry.
About rEFInd Features
Refind Boot Manager Mac Download Mac
- EFI 1.x and 2.x support for UEFI computers.
- Support for Mac and PC platforms.
- Graphics and text mode boot selector.
- Automatic detection of available EFI boot loader.
- Direct Linux 3.3.0 and later support EFI stub installer to start the kernel.
- Maintenance-free updates to the Linux kernel – the boot-time automatic detection means any meaning. The
- configuration file changes are needed after an updated kernel.
- Set the list of boot-time options.
- Manually editing the boot-time options.
- (Available from third parties) to launch programs such as EFI EFI shell.
- OS X, and then start the Windows recovery tools.
- (On some UEFI) firmware setup program into the restart.
- Try before installation with a CD-R or USB flash drive image.
- Safe Boot support (requires a separate filler or preload program).
- Ext2 / 3FS, ext4fs, ReiserFS, Btrfs, HFS +, and includes EFI drivers for ISO 9660.
Download:Click Here To Download
Although rEFInd useful programs, such bad boot control on the detection process, and several important limitations, such as the ability to view a handful of the boot entry its main screen, there, because before rEFInd project fork decision.
Although rEFInd useful programs, such bad boot control on the detection process, and several important limitations, such as the ability to view a handful of the boot entry its main screen, there, because before rEFInd project fork decision.