The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of available bootloaders.
General information
editName | Developer / Publisher | Current version | Initial release date | Latest release date | License | Cost | Website / documentation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acronis OS Selector | Acronis International GmbH | ? | ? | ? | Proprietary | $49.95 (personal use) $79.99 (commercial, per seat) $299.99 (server) |
Official website |
AiR-BOOT | Martin Kiewitz Ben Rietbroek |
? | ? | ? | GPL-3.0-or-later | No cost | Official website |
AKernelLoader | ? | ? | ? | ? | GPL-2.0-or-later | No cost | Official website |
Barebox | Sascha Hauer the barebox community |
? | ? | ? | GPL-2.0-only | No cost | Official website |
BOOTBOOT | bzt | ? | 2017 | 14 December 2023 | MIT | No cost | Source repository |
BootIt Bare Metal (formerly BootIt Next Generation) | TeraByte Unlimited | ? | ? | ? | Proprietary | $39.95 | Official website |
BootKey | ? | ? | ? | ? | Proprietary | ? | ? |
BootManager | ? | ? | ? | ? | MIT | No cost | ? |
BootX (Apple) | Apple Inc. | ? | ? | ? | Proprietary | bundled with macOS | ? |
BootX (Linux) | Benjamin Herrenschmidt | ? | ? | ? | Proprietary | No cost | ? |
Clover (fork of rEFIt) | https://github.com/CloverHackyColor/CloverBootloader/graphs/contributors Multi Contributors] | 5157 | October 3, 2013 | 29 June 2024 | GPLv2/BSD-2-Clause | No cost | Official website |
Darwin Boot Loader | Apple Inc. | ? | ? | ? | APSL-2.0 | No cost | Official Website (Archived) |
Das U-Boot | DENX Software Engineering | 2023.01 | 9 January 2023 | GPL-2.0-or-later | No cost | Official website | |
Easyboot | bzt | ? | 2023 | 20 February 2024 | GPL-3.0-or-later | No cost | Source repository |
FreeBSD loader | FreeBSD | BSD license | No cost | ||||
GAG | Raster Software | 4.10 | ? | 10 August 2008 | GPL-2.0-or-later | No cost | Official website |
GRUB Legacy | GNU Project | 8 May 2005 | GPL-2.0-or-later | No cost | |||
GNU GRUB | GNU Project | 2.12[1] | 1995 | 20 December 2023 | GPL-3.0-or-later | No cost | Official website |
Grub2Win | GPLv3 | ||||||
GRUB4DOS | 31 March 2009 | GPL-2.0-only[a] | Official website | ||||
Gujin | 9 January 2013 | GPL-2.0-only | Official website | ||||
systemd-boot / Gummiboot | LGPL-2.1-or-later | ||||||
iBoot | Apple Inc. | Proprietary | |||||
LILO | BSD-3-Clause | ||||||
Limine | mintsuki | 7.5.2 | April 6, 2020 | 29 June 2024 | BSD-2-Clause | No cost | Official website |
loadlin | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||||
MasterBooter | GPL-2.0-only | No cost | Source repository | ||||
NTLDR | Microsoft | July 27, 1993 (Windows NT 3.1) | Proprietary | bundled with Windows | |||
OpenCore | Acidanthera | May 4, 2019 | BSD-3-Clause | No cost | Source repository | ||
OSL2000 Boot Manager | 12 February 2017 | Proprietary | |||||
PLoP Boot Manager | 15 April 2013 | Proprietary | No cost | Official website | |||
quibble | maharmstone | 20210111 | February 13, 2020 | 29 March 2023 | GPL-3.0-or-later | No cost | Official website |
RedBoot | GPL-2.0-or-later (eCos license) | ||||||
rEFInd (fork of rEFIt) | Roderick W. Smith | 0.14.4.2 | March 14, 2012 | 6 April 2024 | GPL-3.0-or-later/BSD-3-Clause | No cost | Official website |
rEFIt | Christoph Pfisterer | 0.14 | March 2, 2006 | 7 March 2010 | GPL-2.0-or-later/BSD-3-Clause | No cost | Official website |
Simpleboot | bzt | ? | 2023 | 10 October 2023 | MIT | No cost | Documentation |
Smart Boot Manager | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||||
SPFdisk | GPL-2.0-or-later | ||||||
SYSLINUX | 6 October 2014 | GPL-2.0-or-later | |||||
TianoCore EDK II | BSD-2-Clause | ||||||
Windows Boot Manager | Microsoft | January 30, 2007 (Windows Vista) | Proprietary | bundled with Windows | |||
XOSL | 20 August 2002 | GPL-2.0-only | |||||
FreeLoader (ReactOS Boot Loader) | GPL-2.0-or-later | No cost | Documentation | ||||
wolfBoot | wolfSSL | v2.0.2 | December 4, 2018 | 16 April 2024 | GPL-2.0-or-later and Commercial Licensing | No cost | Official website |
Name | Developer / Publisher | Current version | Initial release date | Latest release date | License | Cost | Website / documentation |
Technical information
editNote: The column MBR (Master Boot Record) refers to whether or not the boot loader can be stored in the first sector of a mass storage device. The column VBR (Volume Boot Record) refers to the ability of the boot loader to be stored in the first sector of any partition on a mass storage device.
Storage medium support
editName | Can reside in | Can boot from | ||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
ESP (UEFI) | MBR | VBR | Floppy | Hard disk | Second Hard disk | Logical partitions | CD-ROM | Floppy | USB | Zip | LAN | |
Acronis OS Selector | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
AiR-BOOT | ? | Yes | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AKernelLoader | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
Barebox | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
BOOTBOOT | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | No | No |
BootIt Bare Metal | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
BootKey | ? | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
BootManager | ? | Yes | No | No | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | No |
BootX (Apple) | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
BootX (Linux) | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Clover | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | Yes | ? | No |
Darwin Boot Loader | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
Das U-Boot | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
Easyboot | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No |
FreeBSD loader | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes |
GAG | ? | Yes (SafeBoot) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
GRUB Legacy | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
GNU GRUB | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Grub2Win | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
GRUB4DOS | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Gujin | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
systemd-boot / Gummiboot | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? |
iBoot | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | No | ? | ? | ? | ? |
LILO | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Limine | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
loadlin | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
MasterBooter | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
NTLDR | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
OpenCore | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | Yes | ? | No |
OSL2000 Boot Manager | ? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
PLoP Boot Manager | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
quibble | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RedBoot | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
rEFInd | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes |
rEFIt (not maintained) | Yes | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | Yes | ? | No |
Simpleboot | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No |
Smart Boot Manager | ? | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
SPFdisk | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
SYSLINUX | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Tianocore EDK II | ? | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | No | Yes |
Windows Boot Manager | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
XOSL | ? | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | ? | No |
FreeLoader (ReactOS Boot Loader) | ? | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
Name | Can reside in | Can boot from | ||||||||||
ESP (UEFI) | MBR | VBR | Floppy | Hard disk | Second Hard disk | Logical partitions | CD-ROM | Floppy | USB | Zip | LAN |
Operating system support
editName | Can boot | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
MS-DOS | Windows 9x/Me | Windows NT series before Vista | Windows Vista/7/8/10 | Linux | ReactOS | MenuetOS | *BSD | Mac OS X | |
Acronis OS Selector | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
AiR-BOOT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AKernelLoader | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Barebox | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BOOTBOOT | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootIt Bare Metal | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootKey | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootManager | Yes | Yes | Calls NTLDR | Calls Windows Boot Manager | Calls GRUB or LILO | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootX (Apple) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
BootX (Linux) | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Clover | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Darwin Boot Loader | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Das U-Boot | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes (FreeBSD) | ? |
Easyboot | Yes (FreeDOS) | No | Calls NTLDR | Calls Windows Boot Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes (KolibriOS as well) | Yes (FreeBSD, OpenBSD) | No |
FreeBSD loader | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes (FreeBSD, TrueOS) | ? |
FreeLoader (ReactOS Boot Loader) | Yes | Yes | Partial[3] | Calls Windows Boot Manager | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
GAG | Yes | Yes | Calls NTLDR | Calls Windows Boot Manager | Calls GRUB or LILO | Calls bootloader | Calls bootloader | Calls bootloader | No |
GRUB Legacy and GRUB4DOS | Yes | Yes | Calls NTLDR | Calls Windows Boot Manager | Yes | Calls FreeLoader | Yes | Calls bootloader for some kernels | Yes |
GNU GRUB | Yes | Yes | Calls NTLDR | Calls Windows Boot Manager | Yes | Calls FreeLoader | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Grub2Win | Yes | Yes | Calls NTLDR | Calls Windows Boot Manager | Yes | ? | ? | Yes (FreeBSD) | Calls Clover |
Gujin | Yes | Yes | Calls NTLDR | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
systemd-boot / Gummiboot | No | No | Windows Server 2013 64bits with UEFI only | Calls Windows Boot Manager[4] | Yes | ? | ? | UEFI only | Yes[4] |
iBoot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
LILO | ? | Yes | Calls NTLDR | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Calls biosboot (FreeBSD, PC-BSD, ...) | ? |
loadlin | with MEMDISK | No | No | No | Yes | No | No | ? | ? |
Limine | Calls bootloader | Calls bootloader | Calls bootloader | Calls bootloader | Yes | Calls bootloader | Calls bootloader | Calls bootloader | Calls bootloader |
MasterBooter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
NTLDR | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Calls GRUB4DOS | ? | ? | ? | Calls Darwin bootloader[5] |
OpenCore | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
OSL2000 Boot Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Calls GRUB or LILO | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PLoP Boot Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Calls GRUB or LILO | ? | ? | ? | ? |
quibble | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? |
RedBoot | Yes | Yes | Calls NTLDR | Calls Windows Boot Manager | Yes | Calls FreeLoader | Yes | Yes | Yes |
rEFInd (fork of rEFIt) | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
rEFIt (not maintained) | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
Simpleboot | No | No | No | No | Yes | No | ? | Partial | ? |
Smart Boot Manager | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? |
SPFdisk | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SYSLINUX | Yes | Yes | Calls NTLDR | Calls Windows Boot Manager | Yes | ? | Yes | via mboot.c32 module [1] | ? |
Tianocore EDK II | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | ? | Yes (FreeBSD,OpenBSD) | Yes |
Windows Boot Manager | ? | Yes | Calls NTLDR | Yes | Calls GRUB or LILO | ? | ? | ? | ? |
XOSL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Name | Can boot | ||||||||
MS-DOS | Windows 9x/Me | Windows NT series before Vista | Windows Vista/7/8/10 | Linux | ReactOS | MenuetOS | *BSD | Mac OS X |
File-system support
editNon-journaled
editName | FAT | Minix | ext2 | btrfs | HFS | APFS | AFFS | F2FS | ZFS | NILFS | YAFFS | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
FAT12 | FAT16 | FAT32 | exFAT | YAFFS1 | YAFFS2 | ||||||||||
Acronis OS Selector | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AiR-BOOT | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AKernelLoader | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Barebox | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
BOOTBOOT | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootIt Bare Metal | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootKey | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
bootload | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootManager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootX (Apple) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootX (Linux) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Clover | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Darwin Boot Loader | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Das U-Boot | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Easyboot | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
extipl | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
FreeLoader (ReactOS) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
GAG | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
GNU GRUB 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
GRUB Legacy | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
Grub2Win | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
GRUB4DOS | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
Gujin | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
systemd-boot / Gummiboot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
iBoot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
LILO | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Limine | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
loader (FreeBSD) | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
loadlin | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
LOLO | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
MasterBooter | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Multiple Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
NTLDR | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
OpenCore | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
OSL2000 Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PLoP Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
quibble | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RedBoot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
rEFInd | Yes[a] | ? | ? | Yes[b] | Yes[b] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ||
rEFIt | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Simpleboot | No | No | Yes | No | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Smart Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SPFdisk | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Syslinux | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | ? |
Tianocore EDK II | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Windows Boot Manager | ? | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | No | No | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
XOSL | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
yaboot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Journaled
editName | NTFS | ext3 | ext4 | ReiserFS | Reiser4 | JFS | XFS | UFS | UDF | HFS+ | BeFS | AFS | SFS | UBIFS | JFFS2 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acronis OS Selector | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AiR-BOOT | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AKernelLoader | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Barebox | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
BOOTBOOT | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootIt Bare Metal | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootKey | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
bootload | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootManager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootX (Apple) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootX (Linux) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Clover | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Darwin Boot Loader | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Das U-Boot | ? | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | Yes |
extipl | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
FreeLoader (ReactOS) | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
GAG | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
GNU GRUB 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? |
GRUB Legacy | No | Yes | patch[a] | Yes[b] | No | Yes[b] | Yes[b] | Yes[b] | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Grub2Win | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
GRUB4DOS | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes[b] | No | Yes[b] | Yes[b] | Yes[b] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Gujin | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
systemd-boot / Gummiboot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
iBoot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
LILO | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Limine | No | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
loader (FreeBSD) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
loadlin | Yes[c] | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
LOLO | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
MasterBooter | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Multiple Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
NTLDR | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | No |
OpenCore | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
OSL2000 Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PLoP Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
quibble | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RedBoot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes |
rEFInd | Partial[d] | Yes[d] | Yes[d] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes[d] | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
rEFIt | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Simpleboot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Smart Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SPFdisk | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Syslinux | Yes | Yes | Partial[e] | No | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No |
Tianocore EDK II | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Windows Boot Manager | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | No | ? | No | No | No | No | No | No |
XOSL | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
yaboot | ? | Yes | Yes | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
- ^ Debian patch
- ^ a b c d e f g h GNU GRUB 0.97 manual
- ^ Requires a TSR, such as NTFSDOS
- ^ a b c d rEFInd Features
- ^ https://wiki.syslinux.org/wiki/index.php?title=Filesystem#ext
Read-only
editName | cpio | tar | ISO 9660 | romfs | SquashFS | cramfs |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Acronis OS Selector | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AiR-BOOT | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
AKernelLoader | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Barebox | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes[a] | Yes |
BOOTBOOT | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No |
BootIt Bare Metal | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootKey | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
bootload | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootManager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootX (Apple) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
BootX (Linux) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Clover | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Darwin Boot Loader | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Das U-Boot | ? | ? | ? | ? | Yes[b] | Yes |
extipl | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
FreeLoader (ReactOS) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
GAG | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
GNU GRUB 2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
GRUB Legacy | ? | ? | Yes[c] | ? | ? | ? |
Grub2Win | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
GRUB4DOS | ? | ? | Yes[c] | ? | ? | ? |
Gujin | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
systemd-boot / Gummiboot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
iBoot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
LILO | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Limine | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
loader (FreeBSD) | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
loadlin | No | No | Yes[d] | ? | ? | ? |
LOLO | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
MasterBooter | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Multiple Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
NTLDR | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
OpenCore | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
OSL2000 Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
PLoP Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
RedBoot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
rEFInd | ? | ? | Yes[e] | ? | ? | ? |
rEFIt | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Simpleboot | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Smart Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
SPFdisk | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Syslinux | ? | ? | Yes | ? | ? | ? |
Tianocore EDK II | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
Windows Boot Manager | No | No | Yes | No | No | No |
XOSL | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
yaboot | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? |
- ^ https://git.lumina-sensum.com/LuminaSensum/barebox/blob/master/Documentation/filesystems/squashfs.rst
- ^ https://github.com/u-boot/u-boot/commit/c51006130370b48b7eb5a93ada745385aa27f6bf
- ^ a b http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/grub.git/tree/stage2/fsys_iso9660.c?h=grub-legacy
- ^ Requires DOS support / TSR, such as MSCDEX
- ^ rEFInd Features
Other features
editName | Advanced command | Scriptable | Supported architecture | Supported executable | Supported protocol | Supported decompression | Others |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
GRUB Legacy | Yes | No | x86 (PC) | Multiboot 1, Linux zImage, Linux bzImage and others | TFTP | gzip | |
GRUB 2 | Yes | Yes | x86 (PC, EFI, UEFI, coreboot, OLPC), IA-64, ARM (U-Boot, UEFI), PowerPC (OpenFirmware), MIPS, SPARC (OpenFirmware) | Multiboot and others[6] | TFTP, HTTP[7] | gzip, xz[8] | |
LILO | No | No | x86 (PC) | Linux zImage, Linux bzImage | ? | bzip2, gzip | |
loader (FreeBSD) | Yes | Yes | x86 (PC, EFI, UEFI, coreboot, OLPC), ARM (U-Boot, UEFI), MIPS, PowerPC (OpenFirmware), SPARC v9 (OpenFirmware) | FreeBSD ELF kernel image, Multiboot (incomplete, for Xen image only)[9] | TFTP, NFS | gzip, bzip2 | |
loadlin | No | No | x86 (PC) | Linux zImage, Linux bzImage | ? | gzip | |
LOLO (Logic PD) | Yes | Yes | ARM7, ARM9, ARM11, Cortex-A8, StrongARM, SH, ColdFire | ELF, binary, BIN (WinCE), SREC | TFTP | ? | Supported devices: MCF54xx, MCF5329, MCF5373, LLH7A400, LLH7A404, LLH79520, LLH79524, LSH7727, LSH7750, LSH7760, PXA270, PXA320, IMX31, IMX27, OMAP35xx, OMAP37xx |
SYSLINUX | via cmd.c32 module | via lua.c32 module | x86 (PC) | Linux zImage, Linux bzImage,[10] Multiboot,[11] MBR image[12] | TFTP | gzip, bzip2, lzo, zip, lzma, ? | |
AKernelLoader | No | No | x86 (PC) | ELF, Binary | ? | ? | |
BOOTBOOT | Yes | No | x86-64 (PC, UEFI, El Torito CDROM, BSS Expansion ROM, UEFI Option ROM), ARM AArch64 (Raspberry Pi 3 and up) | ELF64 / PE32+ | serial | gzip | comes with a multiplatform, dependency-free bootable hybrid image creator (FOSS) |
Easyboot | Yes | No | x86-64 (BIOS, UEFI), ARM AArch64 (Raspberry Pi 3 and up) | ELF32, ELF64, PE32+/COFF, a.out, Multiboot2, MZ, Linux zImage, Linux bzImage, FreeBSD BTX, OpenBSD ELF kernel image | ? | gzip | comes with a multiplatform, dependency-free bootable hybrid image creator (FOSS), Multiboot2 extensions (clean 64-bit, higher-half, embedded-tags-free, EDID and SMP support) |
Yaboot | No | No | PowerPC (Open Firmware) | Linux ELF image | TFTP | No | |
RedBoot | Yes | yes (boot only) | ARM, ColdFire, H8300, x86, Freescale/Motorola 68000, MIPS, PowerPC, SH, SPARC, SPARCLite | ELF | TFTP, serial (X-modem) | gzip | |
Das U-Boot | Yes | Yes | PowerPC, ARM, AVR32, Blackfin, ColdFire, IXP, Leon2, m68k, MicroBlaze, MIPS, NIOS, NIOS2, PXA, x86, RISC-V, StrongARM, SH2, SH3, SH4, ... | EFI, ELF, U-Boot image format, Linux zImage, raw | TFTP, NFS, serial (S-Record, Y-Modem, Kermit binary protocol) | bzip2, gzip, lzma | |
Barebox | Yes | Yes | ARM, Blackfin, NIOS2, MIPS, x86, PowerPC | ELF, U-Boot image format | TFTP, NFS, serial (S-Record, Y-Modem, Kermit binary protocol) | bzip2, gzip, lz4, xz, lzo | |
Linux kexec | Depending on user space | Depending on user space | x86, ARM, ARM64, PowerPC, PowerPC 64, IA-64, IBM Z, RISC-V[13] | Linux bzImage, Multiboot, other ELF image | Depending on configuration and user space | — | The kexec system call can start another kernel, replacing the current running Linux, thus turning a Linux-based operating system into a fancy bootloader. |
NTLDR | No | No | x86 (PC) | Windows NT kernel image (PE), MBR image | ? | ? | default bootloader on Windows NT |
Simpleboot | Yes | No | x86-64 (PC, UEFI) | Linux zImage, Linux bzImage, ELF32 / ELF64 / COFF / PE32+ with Multiboot2 | ? | any | comes with a multiplatform, dependency-free image creator (FOSS), supports 64-bit higher-half kernels with Multiboot2 |
TianoCore EDK II | Yes | Yes | ARM, RISC-V, x86 | EFI | HTTPS | ? | UEFI reference implementation |
Windows Boot Manager | No | No | x86 (PC), ARM (only on Windows Mobile remake) | Portable Executable | ? | ? | Successor of NTLDR; used on Vista and up. |
FreeLoader (ReactOS) | No | No | x86 (PC), ARM, PowerPC | ? | ? | ? | clone of NTLDR |
extipl | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | IBM IPL upper compatible |
Multiple Boot Manager | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | ? | |
bootload (Technologic Systems) | ? | ? | ARM | ? | ? | ? | Proprietary |
Limine | Yes | No | x86 (PC, UEFI), ARM | Multiboot 1 and 2, Stivale 1 and 2, Linux zImage and bzImage | TFTP | gzip | |
wolfBoot | No | No | ARM, RISC-V, PowerPC, x86 | Binary, ELF32/ELF64, Multiboot2 | No | No | Open-source, OS-agnostic (run along-side RTOS, Linux or bare-metal), ARM TrustZone-M support, Hardware Security Module support (including TPM 2.0), Integrity and authenticity verification of firmware images. Roll-back to previous image, Encryption, Self-update |
Name | Advanced command | Scriptable | Supported architecture | Supported executable | Supported protocol | Supported decompression | Others |
Notes
edit- ^ Daniel Kiper (20 December 2023). "GRUB 2.12 released". Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ^ "stage2/dosstart.S". GitHub. 2014-10-12. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
Since we have copied the Linux kernel code and the Linux kernel follows GPL2, so only GPL2 is adoptable and it rules here.
- ^ http://www.reactos.org/newsletter-37 - Freeloader can load Windows Server 2003 directly, as long as it is on a FAT32 partition
- ^ a b Rod Smith, "Managing EFI Boot Loaders for Linux: Using gummiboot", 5 November 2012.
- ^ "Chain0 - OSx86".
- ^ "GNU GRUB Manual 2.06: Supported kernels". GNU. Free Software Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
- ^ "GNU GRUB Manual 2.06: Device syntax". GNU. Free Software Foundation, Inc. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
If you enabled the network support, the special drives (protocol[,server]) are also available. Supported protocols are 'http' and 'tftp'.
- ^ "GNU GRUB Manual 2.02: Features".
- ^ WHR. "An experiment to make a Multiboot-compliant kFreeBSD i386 image". SourceForge. Rivoreo. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
Since 10.3-RELEASE, the BTX loader included in distribution supports Multiboot, but only for Xen (the Xen image is a Multiboot-compliant kernel). ... Because this multiboot support in BTX loader is designed for Xen only, it requires the first Multiboot module be original kFreeBSD image. Trying to load a Multiboot kernel without loading any Multiboot modules would resulted in BTX loader complaining 'No FreeBSD kernel provided, aborting'.
- ^ "Can SYSLINUX Handle Large Kernels?". Syslinux Wiki. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
- ^ "Mboot.c32 - Syslinux Wiki". www.syslinux.org. Retrieved 2018-10-12.
- ^ "Comboot/chain.c32". Syslinux Wiki. Retrieved 2021-06-24.
- ^ "Documentation for Kdump - The kexec-based Crash Dumping Solution" (text/plain). The Linux Kernel Archives. Retrieved 2021-06-24.