Managing UEFI Boot Entries

Managing UEFI Boot Entries with efibootmgr (Cheatsheet & Guide)

If you’ve ever dual-booted multiple operating systems, you’ve probably noticed leftover UEFI boot entries even after uninstalling an OS. These entries clutter your boot menu, and sometimes even cause confusion when selecting the right system to boot.

On Linux (including Kali), the tool you’ll want to use for this is efibootmgr. Below is a reference guide and cheatsheet that you can keep handy.

🔹 What is efibootmgr?

efibootmgr is a Linux utility to manage UEFI firmware boot entries. It lets you:

  • View existing boot entries

  • Remove old ones

  • Change boot order

  • Create new entries

  • Temporarily set the next boot device

In short, it’s your go-to tool for cleaning up and organizing UEFI boot entries without needing to enter your BIOS/UEFI setup screen.

🔹 Common Use Cases

  • Remove leftover entries after uninstalling an OS

  • Reorder boot devices (e.g., boot Linux before Windows)

  • Add a missing boot entry manually

  • Temporarily boot from another OS without changing permanent settings

🔹 Cheatsheet

Action
Command
Example

List all boot entries

sudo efibootmgr

Shows boot order + entries

Verbose list (with file paths)

sudo efibootmgr -v

Useful for debugging

Delete an entry

sudo efibootmgr -b <ID> -B

sudo efibootmgr -b 0003 -B

Disable (deactivate) an entry

sudo efibootmgr -b <ID> -A

sudo efibootmgr -b 0002 -A

Enable an entry

sudo efibootmgr -b <ID> -a

sudo efibootmgr -b 0002 -a

Change boot order

sudo efibootmgr -o <ID1,ID2,...>

sudo efibootmgr -o 0000,0001,0002

Set next boot (one-time)

sudo efibootmgr -n <ID>

sudo efibootmgr -n 0001

Set timeout (seconds)

sudo efibootmgr -t <sec>

sudo efibootmgr -t 10

Create new boot entry

sudo efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sdX -p <part#> -L "<Label>" -l '\EFI\<dir>\<file>.efi'

sudo efibootmgr -c -d /dev/sda -p 1 -L "MyLinux" -l '\EFI\mylinux\grubx64.efi'

🔹 Safe Cleanup of Leftover EFI Folders

Removing the boot entry is not always enough. To fully clean up, you can delete the leftover EFI files:

  1. Check EFI partition

    lsblk -f
mount | grep efi

  2. Mount if not already mounted

    sudo mkdir -p /boot/efi
sudo mount /dev/sda1 /boot/efi   # Replace /dev/sda1 with your EFI partition

  3. List EFI directories

    ls /boot/efi/EFI

    Example output:

    Boot  Microsoft  kali  ubuntu

  4. Remove the unwanted folder

    sudo rm -r /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu

⚠️ Do not delete Boot, Microsoft, or the entry for your current OS!

🔹 Tips

  • Always double-check entries with sudo efibootmgr -v before deleting.

  • EFI paths use backslashes (\), not forward slashes.

  • Boot IDs (like 0000, 0001) are hexadecimal numbers.

✅ Final Thoughts

With efibootmgr, you never need to fear a cluttered boot menu again. Whether you want to delete, reorder, or create new entries, it puts you in full control of your UEFI boot process — straight from Linux.

Keep this cheatsheet handy for future reference, or share it with anyone dealing with messy dual-boot setups.

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