Index · Directives systemd 250

Name

loader.conf — Configuration file for systemd-boot

Synopsis

ESP/loader/loader.conf, ESP/loader/entries/*.conf

Description

systemd-boot(7) will read ESP/loader/loader.conf and any files with the ".conf" extension under ESP/loader/entries/ on the EFI system partition (ESP).

Each configuration file must consist of an option name, followed by whitespace, and the option value. "#" may be used to start a comment line. Empty and comment lines are ignored.

Boolean arguments may be written as "yes"/"y"/"true"/"t"/"on"/"1" or "no"/"n"/"false"/"f"/"off"/"0".

Options

The following configuration options in loader.conf are understood:

default

A glob pattern to select the default entry. The default entry may be changed in the boot menu itself, in which case the name of the selected entry will be stored as an EFI variable, overriding this option.

If set to "@saved" the chosen entry will be saved as an EFI variable on every boot and automatically selected the next time the boot loader starts.

Table 1. Automatically detected entries will use the following names:

NameDescription
auto-efi-defaultEFI Default Loader
auto-efi-shellEFI Shell
auto-osxmacOS
auto-reboot-to-firmware-setupReboot Into Firmware Interface
auto-windowsWindows Boot Manager

timeout

How long the boot menu should be shown before the default entry is booted, in seconds. This may be changed in the boot menu itself and will be stored as an EFI variable in that case, overriding this option.

If set to "menu-hidden" or "0" (the default) no menu is shown and the default entry will be booted immediately. The menu can be shown by pressing and holding a key before systemd-boot is launched. Setting this to "menu-force" disables the timeout while always showing the menu.

console-mode

This option configures the resolution of the console. Takes a number or one of the special values listed below. The following values may be used:

0

Standard UEFI 80x25 mode

1

80x50 mode, not supported by all devices

2

the first non-standard mode provided by the device firmware, if any

auto

Pick a suitable mode automatically using heuristics

max

Pick the highest-numbered available mode

keep

Keep the mode selected by firmware (the default)

editor

Takes a boolean argument. Enable (the default) or disable the editor. The editor should be disabled if the machine can be accessed by unauthorized persons.

auto-entries

Takes a boolean argument. Enable (the default) or disable entries for other boot entries found on the boot partition. In particular, this may be useful when loader entries are created to show replacement descriptions for those entries.

auto-firmware

A boolean controlling the presence of the "Reboot into firmware" entry (enabled by default). If this is disabled, the firmware interface may still be reached by using the f key.

random-seed-mode

Takes one of "off", "with-system-token" and "always". If "off" no random seed data is read off the ESP, nor passed to the OS. If "with-system-token" (the default) systemd-boot will read a random seed from the ESP (from the file /loader/random-seed) only if the LoaderSystemToken EFI variable is set, and then derive the random seed to pass to the OS from the combination. If "always" the boot loader will do so even if LoaderSystemToken is not set. This mode is useful in environments where protection against OS image reuse is not a concern, and the random seed shall be used even with no further setup in place. Use bootctl random-seed to initialize both the random seed file in the ESP and the system token EFI variable.

See Random Seeds for further information.

Example

# /boot/efi/loader/loader.conf
timeout 0
default 01234567890abcdef1234567890abdf0-*
editor no
    

The menu will not be shown by default (the menu can still be shown by pressing and holding a key during boot). One of the entries with files with a name starting with "01234567890abcdef1234567890abdf0-" will be selected by default. If more than one entry matches, the one with the highest priority will be selected (generally the one with the highest version number). The editor will be disabled, so it is not possible to alter the kernel command line.

See Also

systemd-boot(7), bootctl(1)