jlobue10/rEFInd_GUI

A graphical setup and customization utility to use alongside rEFInd.

Supported distros: Fedora / Nobara / Bazzite (RPM), CachyOS / Arch (pacman), and Debian / Ubuntu (deb).

curl -L https://github.com/jlobue10/rEFInd_GUI/raw/main/install-rEFInd-GUI.sh | bash

The installer prefers the prebuilt package from the latest release and falls back to building locally.

To remove rEFInd itself (boot entry, ESP files, background randomizer service), run:

sudo ~/.local/rEFInd_GUI/uninstall_rEFInd.sh

It deletes the rEFInd boot entries that target your distro's ESP (a rEFInd installed from the Windows side of a dual-boot machine is detected and left alone — use the Windows app's uninstaller for that one), re-activates the Windows boot entry the installer deactivated, and removes EFI/refind, EFI/Xbox360, and /boot/refind_linux.conf. Flags:

• --keep-esp-files — undo only the boot entries; keep rEFInd's files on the ESP
• --remove-app — also remove the rEFInd_GUI app itself: the distro package (rEFInd_GUI / refind-gui, via dnf, pacman, apt, or rpm-ostree on Bazzite — the rpm-ostree change needs a reboot to finish), ~/.local/rEFInd_GUI, /etc/rEFInd, the sudoers rule, and the desktop entries

rEFInd_GUI also builds and runs on Windows (Qt 6), so you can configure and install rEFInd from the Windows side of a dual-boot machine — handy on a fresh handheld before Linux is even installed.

Download rEFInd_GUI-<version>-setup.exe from the Releases page and run it. The installer requests Administrator access so executable code and privileged PowerShell helpers can be protected under Program Files; mutable configuration stays in %LOCALAPPDATA%\rEFInd_GUI. It creates Start Menu and optional Desktop shortcuts.

In an MSYS2 UCRT64 shell:

pacman -S --needed mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-gcc mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-cmake mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-ninja mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-qt6-base mingw-w64-ucrt-x86_64-qt6-tools
cmake -G Ninja -S GUI/src -B build-win
cmake --build build-win
bash windows/assemble-deploy.sh build-win/rEFInd_GUI.exe deploy   # gathers the exe + all runtime DLLs + data into deploy/

To produce the installer, compile windows/rEFInd_GUI.iss with Inno Setup (ISCC.exe windows\rEFInd_GUI.iss) — the output lands in windows/Output/. Pushing a v* tag builds the installer automatically via GitHub Actions and attaches it to the release. A portable elevated build is intentionally not published because its executable and helpers could be modified by an unprivileged user.

Release builds are Authenticode-signed (executable, installer, and PowerShell scripts) through SignPath Foundation's free OSS code-signing program; see windows/SIGNING.md for the one-time setup. Until that's configured, CI still produces working but unsigned artifacts, and Windows will show an "unknown publisher" prompt.

Windows notes:

• The app requests Administrator rights at launch — everything it does (mounting the EFI System Partition, writing firmware boot variables) needs them.
• Install rEFInd (v2.3.0+) downloads rEFInd from SourceForge and creates a dedicated rEFInd firmware boot entry — the exact equivalent of efibootmgr -c on Linux — first in the boot order. Windows Boot Manager is left untouched (rEFInd chainloads it); versions before 2.3.0 repointed {bootmgr} instead, which made the entry carry Windows' optional-data blob (the "long hex after refind_x64.efi" in efibootmgr -v) — installing 2.3.0+ over an old version restores {bootmgr} automatically. Previous boot settings are saved to %LOCALAPPDATA%\rEFInd_GUI\bootmgr-backup.txt. The installer also fetches the Xbox 360 controller driver into EFI\refind\drivers_x64 — and, on the ROG Xbox Ally / Ally X and Steam Decks, the touchscreen driver too.
• Uninstalling "rEFInd GUI" from Settings > Apps asks whether to also remove rEFInd itself; choosing Yes deletes the rEFInd boot entry, removes EFI\refind and EFI\Xbox360 from the ESP, restores direct Windows boot, unregisters the background randomizer task, and scrubs %LOCALAPPDATA%\rEFInd_GUI. A rEFInd installed from the Linux side (on another ESP) is detected and left alone. The same cleanup can be run standalone as Administrator: powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "%ProgramFiles%\rEFInd_GUI\windows\uninstall_rEFInd.ps1" (add -KeepEspFiles to keep rEFInd's files).
• The background randomizer runs as a Scheduled Task at logon instead of a systemd service.
• The SteamOS firmware_bootnum option is Linux-only (Windows has no efibootmgr equivalent).

The GUI scans every reachable EFI System Partition at startup (and via the Rescan OSes button) to detect what is actually installed: Windows, SteamOS, and any Linux distro with a vendor directory under EFI/ (shim, GRUB, or systemd-boot). The Boot Option boxes are populated with the detected OSes, and the generated refind.conf uses the real loader paths and volumes found on disk — multi-ESP machines (e.g. Windows and Linux each with their own ESP) are fully covered. Since 2.2.0 the Windows build also mounts and scans letterless Linux ESPs, so a distro like CachyOS booting via systemd-boot is detected from the Windows side and named after its boot entries rather than a generic "systemd-boot". Install Config and the background randomizer write to the ESP that the firmware's rEFInd boot entry actually points at, so a stale rEFInd copy on another ESP can't swallow your config.

Systems that boot Unified Kernel Images (UKIs) from EFI/Linux — systemd kernel-install with layout=uki, Fedora's UKI images, or any ukify/mkinitcpio UKI there — are detected too. Each distro's UKIs appear as one Boot Option. Its menu entry boots the newest kernel, and the older kernels sit in that entry's submenu (open it with F2, Insert or Tab in the boot menu) as rollback options. The boot menu stays fully manual (scanfor manual): the order, icons and default are still the ones you pick in the GUI.

UKI file names change with every kernel update, so the rpm, deb and Arch packages install a kernel-install hook (/usr/lib/kernel/install.d/99-zz-rEFInd_GUI-uki.install). After every kernel install or removal it re-points the UKI entries in the installed refind.conf at the kernels that are there now, and it changes nothing else in the file. On Fedora systems with uki-direct it also keeps rEFInd first in the firmware boot order, because each kernel update would otherwise make the firmware boot the new kernel directly. Without the hook (for example a hand-built copy), the GUI warns you, and after a kernel update you need to run Create Config and Install Config again.

Notes:

• On Fedora, remove a kernel through its kernel-core package (sudo dnf remove kernel-core-<version>). Removing only the kernel-<version> meta package doesn't run kernel-install, so nothing changes in the boot menu.
• Fedora's kernel removal leaves the removed kernel's UKI file on the ESP. rEFInd_GUI leaves that kernel out of the menu and names the leftover file, but never deletes it. Remove the file yourself to free ESP space.
• UKIs on a separate XBOOTLDR /boot partition are not scanned yet. Under Secure Boot, rEFInd must be able to verify the UKI (signed with keys your firmware or shim trusts).

Everything the GUI installs to the ESP is first staged as plain files in its data folder (~/.local/rEFInd_GUI on Linux, %LOCALAPPDATA%\rEFInd_GUI on Windows). Editing those files by hand is supported — the install buttons copy whatever is there:

• GUI/refind.conf — generated by Create Config. You can tweak or extend it (extra stanzas, rEFInd options the GUI doesn't expose) before pressing Install Config, which installs it exactly as edited — along with GUI/active_theme.conf when a theme is selected. Pressing Create Config again regenerates the file, so keep a copy of manual edits you want to re-apply.
• GUI/background.png and GUI/os_icon1.png … os_icon4.png — the staged copies of the selected background and icons. Replacing these files directly (PNG only) works just as well as browsing from the GUI; Install Config installs whatever is staged.
• backgrounds/ — the pool the background randomizer draws from on each boot; add or remove PNGs as you like.
• themes/<name>/ — the tree Install Themes copies to the ESP (every folder containing a theme.conf counts). You can edit a bundled theme — swap its icons, tweak its theme.conf — or drop in a new one, then press Install Themes again to install it as-is.

The GUI can dress the rEFInd boot menu in a complete community theme — background, icon set, selection highlights, and fonts — instead of (or on top of) the plain generated config:

• Choosing a theme: pick one from the Theme box (next to the Preview button). None keeps the plain generated config, Random picks one of the bundled themes each time Create Config is pressed. When a theme is active, the generated refind.conf ends with a stable include line (include themes/active_theme.conf), and active_theme.conf — a copy of the chosen theme's theme.conf — is staged next to it. Switching themes only ever replaces that one file; the include line never changes. Theme settings intentionally supersede the generated settings above them (that is how rEFInd themes are designed to work).
• Install Themes copies the theme files themselves (themes/ in the GUI data folder) to EFI/refind/themes/ on the EFI System Partition. Run it once (and again after adding your own themes); Install Config then activates whichever theme was selected at Create Config time. If the selected theme's files are not on the ESP yet, Install Config says so — until they are, rEFInd falls back to its own default banner (the rEFInd logo, stretched over the screen) instead of the theme.
• Rand Theme On/Off toggles a per-boot theme randomizer (systemd service on Linux, Scheduled Task at logon on Windows) that swaps themes/active_theme.conf on the ESP for a random installed theme — the theme counterpart of the background randomizer. It only has a visible effect while the installed refind.conf carries the theme include line (i.e. it was created with a theme selected).
• Adding your own themes: drop any rEFInd theme into themes/<name>/ in the GUI data folder (~/.local/rEFInd_GUI on Linux, %LOCALAPPDATA%\rEFInd_GUI on Windows) so that themes/<name>/theme.conf exists, then press Install Themes. It will appear in the Theme box on the next launch. The folder name does not have to match the paths inside the theme's theme.conf: a theme unpacked as ursamajor-rEFInd-master whose theme.conf says themes/ursamajor-rEFInd/... works as it is — the paths are pointed at the folder you actually have when the theme is activated (your theme.conf itself is not modified). Remember that a theme's own background replaces the one chosen in the Background box; select None to use your own background. Good starting points: the rEFInd Themes Collection gallery (GitHub: martinmilani/rEFInd-theme-collection) and the official rEFInd theming documentation.

All theming credit goes to the original theme authors — this project only redistributes their work to make it installable from the GUI, and adds no artwork of its own:

Each theme's upstream LICENSE and README files are kept inside its folder under themes/. Note on rEFInd-glassy: its upstream LICENSE file covers the bundled Nimbus font (AGPL-3.0); the theme artwork itself carries no explicit license. The Starwars-rEFInd and wave themes publish no license at all. These three are redistributed here with full attribution, in the same spirit in which they were published for use as rEFInd themes — if you are the author of one of them and would like it removed from this repository, open an issue and it will be removed promptly.

Auto partitioning when installing Bazzite is supported with these manual boot stanzas. If you've used the cloud recovery on ASUS ROG ALLY or the system image to install Windows on Legion Go (or kept it at default), the 'SYSTEM' or 'SYSTEM_DRV' label on Windows' EFI partition is now detected automatically (on any distro, not just Bazzite) and used for the volume line in the generated refind.conf file when Create Config is pressed.

If you need to uninstall rEFInd_GUI on Bazzite (for instance in order to re-run installation with a newer version), run sudo rpm-ostree uninstall rEFInd_GUI and reboot — or use uninstall_rEFInd.sh --remove-app (see Uninstalling), which handles the rpm-ostree case too.

The generated refind.conf picks a sensible resolution line per device:

• Legion Go: 2560 1600, Legion Go 2: 1920 1200 — some of these panels are portrait-native, and forcing landscape solves a rotation issue.
• ROG Xbox Ally / Ally X: 1920 1080 (the numbered video mode 3 picks the wrong mode on these).
• Any other device (since 2.2.0): the built-in panel's native resolution, read from EDID/DRM — the internal display is preferred over external outputs, so a docked handheld still gets its own screen. Only when no panel can be detected does the config fall back to rEFInd's numbered mode 3.

Every rEFInd install path now drops the SkorionOS UsbXbox360Dxe UEFI driver into rEFInd's drivers_x64 folder on the ESP, so Xbox 360 / handheld gamepads (ASUS ROG Ally/Ally X, Legion Go, Legion Go 2, GPD, OneXPlayer, MSI Claw, 8BitDo, and 40+ others) can drive the rEFInd boot menu with mouse-emulation and key mappings. rEFInd auto-loads every driver it finds in drivers_x64, so nothing else is required.

The latest release of the driver is fetched at install time from https://github.com/jlobue10/UsbXbox360Dxe/releases/latest (temporarily a fork of the SkorionOS driver that adds Legion Go 2 controller support — upstream PR #6 — plus an ASUS Ally lockup fix and a right-stick fix so both sticks move the cursor, confirmed working on a Legion Go 2 in issue #23; the source will switch back to SkorionOS once all of those are merged and released upstream), so you always get the newest build. Only the .efi is installed — on first boot the driver auto-creates its own config at \EFI\Xbox360\config.ini on the ESP, which you can edit to remap buttons/sticks. If the download fails (no network), the rEFInd install still completes; the driver is simply skipped.

On the ROG Xbox Ally, Xbox Ally X (since 2.3.6), Steam Deck OLED (since 2.4.2), Steam Deck LCD (since 2.6.0), ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo (since 3.2.0) and GPD WIN 5 (since 3.4.4), every rEFInd install path also drops the TouchI2cDxe UEFI driver (formerly AllyTouchI2cDxe) into drivers_x64, making the built-in touchscreen work in the rEFInd boot menu — tap to move the selection and launch entries. The touchscreen on these devices is HID-over-I2C (a Novatek panel on the Ally and the GPD WIN 5, a FocalTech panel on both Steam Decks, an ELAN panel on the Zenbook, all on the SoC's I2C bus), which a USB driver structurally cannot see; TouchI2cDxe speaks HID-over-I2C directly and feeds rEFInd's native touch support (EFI_ABSOLUTE_POINTER_PROTOCOL). Confirmed working on an Xbox Ally X, both Steam Deck models (LCD and OLED), the Zenbook Pro 14 Duo and the GPD WIN 5. On the Steam Decks the driver also rotates the panel's portrait touch matrix onto rEFInd's landscape screen mode.

Other devices are unaffected — the driver is only installed when an Xbox Ally / Ally X (DMI board RC73XA/RC73YA), Steam Deck (DMI product Galileo for OLED, Jupiter for LCD) ASUS Zenbook Pro 14 Duo (DMI board UX8402VV; ELAN9008 panel on Intel Serial IO I2C, supported since driver v1.3.0, confirmed on hardware with v1.3.1) or GPD WIN 5 (DMI product G1618-05; Novatek NVTK0603 panel, supported since driver v1.4.0) is detected. Like the controller driver, it's fetched from releases/latest at install time, and a failed download only skips it. Installs that previously received AllyTouchI2cDxe.efi get it replaced by TouchI2cDxe.efi on the next rEFInd install.

User mileage may vary on this topic, but for handheld devices such as the ASUS ROG ALLY/ ALLY X and others, finding a way to dual boot your Linux distro of choice alongside Windows and using rEFInd is a nice quality of life improvement.

What I've done on my own personal ASUS ROG ALLY X in the past (I've since switched to CachyOS) is to install Nobara and rEFInd and then install sbctl . sbctl makes secure boot installation and management nearly trivial. For Fedora based distros such as Nobara, run these steps to get sbctl installed.

sudo dnf copr enable chenxiaolong/sbctl fedora-41-x86_64
sudo dnf install sbctl

Afterwards, go into BIOS and enter the secure boot setup mode (will delete existing keys). Reboot into your Linux distro and run these commands.

sudo sbctl create-keys
sudo sbctl enroll-keys --microsoft

Now sign any efi file (this includes refind_x64.efi and bootmgfw.efi for Windows) that is involved with your system's boot process (recommend creating backup copies beforehand) with this command. I've saved this sudo sbctl sign -s as an alias --> securesign.

sudo sbctl sign -s object-to-be-signed

Replace the "object-to-be-signed" portion with the full path efi file(s) or Linux kernel to be signed. Remember to sign new kernels before trying to boot into them with secure boot enabled.

If you use the bundled Xbox 360 controller driver (see Controller support in the boot menu) with secure boot enabled, sign it too — the firmware verifies drivers rEFInd loads:

sudo sbctl sign -s /boot/efi/EFI/refind/drivers_x64/UsbXbox360Dxe.efi

The same goes for the touchscreen driver (see Touchscreen support in the boot menu) if it was installed:

sudo sbctl sign -s /boot/efi/EFI/refind/drivers_x64/TouchI2cDxe.efi

Re-enable secure boot in BIOS, and enjoy the benefits of being able to play anti-cheat games in Windows and a fully functioning Linux distro, side-by-side without toggling the secure boot setting in BIOS.

On CachyOS (which manages Secure Boot with sbctl out of the box — see the CachyOS Secure Boot setup guide) the rEFInd install scripts detect enabled Secure Boot and run sbctl-batch-sign automatically after installing, so the freshly written EFI binaries are signed without any manual steps.

The install script clones this repository into ~/rEFInd_GUI and refuses to delete an existing checkout there that has uncommitted changes, so it never destroys in-progress work. If you don't need anything in that directory, remove it and re-run the installer:

rm -rf ~/rEFInd_GUI
curl -L https://github.com/jlobue10/rEFInd_GUI/raw/main/install-rEFInd-GUI.sh | bash

If you do have work in there, move the directory aside (or commit/stash your changes) first. The related "exists and is not a clean rEFInd_GUI clone" error is resolved the same way — move or remove ~/rEFInd_GUI, then re-run.

The app requests the desktop's native file dialog, and KDE only supplies that (with previews and view options) when the Qt platform-integration plugin matching the GUI's Qt version is installed — otherwise Qt silently falls back to a bare built-in dialog that has neither. Since v2.3.4 the Linux packages build against Qt6, whose KDE integration ships by default on Plasma 6 distros (CachyOS, Fedora/Nobara, Bazzite), so this works out of the box — if you still see the bare dialog, update to v2.3.4 or newer.

On an older Qt5 build (check ldd /etc/rEFInd/rEFInd_GUI for libQt5Widgets), install the Qt5 KDE integration (plasma5-integration, where the distro still ships it) — or just update. GNOME gives the same result via its platform theme (qgnomeplatform + xdg-desktop-portal-gtk).

This is basically a variation of my SteamDeck_rEFInd repo with various improvements including generic username support, support for multiple Linux distros and installing the config file, icons and background PNGs without needing to type the password for sudo privileges.

The GUI follows the system language and currently ships translations for 20 languages alongside English — German, Dutch, Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Hindi, Bengali, Sicilian, Arabic, Persian (Farsi), and Urdu (right-to-left layout included for Arabic, Persian, and Urdu) (untranslated strings fall back to English). Translation contributions are welcome — see the contributor guide in I18N_AUDIT.md: add a rEFInd_GUI_<lang>.ts file under GUI/src/, list it in CMakeLists.txt, and translate it with Qt Linguist.

This project is only intended to simplify the installation and configuration of the rEFInd boot manager — including some Secure Boot setup support (CachyOS with sbctl signing). All credit for the rEFInd boot manager itself goes to Roderick W. Smith (rodsbooks.com/refind); rEFInd performs all of the complicated bootloader tasks.