Category:Boot loaders
In order to boot Arch Linux, you must install a Linux-capable boot loader to the Master Boot Record or the GUID Partition Table. The boot loader is the first piece of software started by the BIOS or UEFI. It is responsible for loading the kernel with the wanted kernel parameters, and initial RAM disk before initiating the boot process. See below for boot loaders available.
Feature comparison
Note:
- Boot loaders only need to support the file system on which kernel and initramfs reside (the file system on which
/bootis located). - As GPT is part of the UEFI specification, all UEFI boot loaders support GPT disks. GPT on BIOS systems is possible, using either "hybrid booting", or the new GPT-only protocol. This protocol may however cause issues with certain BIOS implementations; see rodsbooks for details.
- Encryption mentioned in file system support is filesystem-level encryption, it has no bearing on block-level encryption.
| Name | Firmware | Multi-boot | File systems | Notes | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BIOS | UEFI | Btrfs | ext4 | ReiserFS v3 | VFAT | XFS | |||
| GRUB | Yes | Yes | Yes | without zstd compression | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | On BIOS/GPT configuration requires a BIOS boot partition. |
| systemd-boot | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | ESP only | No | Cannot launch binaries from partitions other than ESP. |
| Syslinux | Yes | Partial | Partial | without: multi-device volumes, compression, encryption | without encryption | No | Yes | v4 on MBR only | No support for certain file system features [2] |
| EFISTUB | – | Yes | – | – | – | – | ESP only | – | Kernel turned into EFI executable to be loaded directly from UEFI firmware or another bootloader. |
| rEFInd | No | Yes | Yes | without: encryption, zstd compression | without encryption | without tail-packing feature | Yes | No | Supports auto-detecting kernels and parameters without explicit configuration. |
| Clover | emulates UEFI | Yes | Yes | No | without encryption | No | Yes | No | Fork of rEFIt modified to run macOS on non-Apple hardware. |
| LILO | without GPT | No | Yes | No | without encryption | Yes | Yes | MBR only [3] | Discontinued due to limitations (e.g. with Btrfs, GPT, RAID). |
| GRUB Legacy | without GPT | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | v4 only | Discontinued in favor of GRUB. |
See also
Pages in category "Boot loaders"
The following 10 pages are in this category, out of 10 total.