Comparison of bootloaders

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Template:Short description

The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of available bootloaders.

General information

Name Developer / Publisher Current version Initial release date Latest release date License Cost Website / documentation
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Acronis OS Selector Acronis International GmbH ? ? ? Proprietary $49.95 (personal use)
$79.99 (commercial, per seat)
$299.99 (server) 		Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | AiR-BOOT Martin Kiewitz
Ben Rietbroek 		? ? ? Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | AKernelLoader ? ? ? ? Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Barebox Sascha Hauer
the barebox community 		? ? ? Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | BOOTBOOT bzt ? Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Template:Rh class="table-rh" | BootIt Bare Metal (formerly BootIt Next Generation) TeraByte Unlimited ? ? ? Proprietary $39.95 Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | BootKey ? ? ? ? Proprietary ? ?
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | BootManager ? ? ? ? Template:Open source No cost ?
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | BootX (Apple) Apple Inc. ? ? ? Proprietary bundled with macOS ?
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | BootX (Linux) Benjamin Herrenschmidt ? ? ? Proprietary No cost ?
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Clover (fork of rEFIt) https://github.com/CloverHackyColor/CloverBootloader/graphs/contributors Multi Contributors] 5157 Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Open source/BSD-2-Clause No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Darwin Boot Loader Apple Inc. ? ? ? Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Das U-Boot DENX Software Engineering Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Easyboot bzt ? Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | FreeBSD loader FreeBSD Template:Open source No cost
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | GAG Raster Software Template:Wikidata ? Template:Wikidata Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | GRUB Legacy GNU Project Template:Dts Template:Open source No cost
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | GNU GRUB Template:Wikidata Template:Wikidata 1995 Template:Wikidata Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Grub2Win Drummerdp 2.4.2.4 2010 April 2, 2025 Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | GRUB4DOS Template:Dts Template:Open sourceTemplate:Efn Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Gujin Template:Dts Template:Open source Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | systemd-boot / Gummiboot Template:Open source
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | iBoot Apple Inc. iBoot-11881.62.2~1 June 29, 2007 December 9, 2024 Proprietary
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | LILO Template:Open source
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Limine mintsuki Template:Wikidata Template:Dts Template:Wikidata Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | loadlin Template:Open source
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | MasterBooter Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | NTLDR Microsoft Template:Dts (Windows NT 3.1) Proprietary bundled with Windows
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | OpenCore Acidanthera Template:Dts Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Ozmosis The Hermit Crabs Lab 167X-MASS (unofficial 167X-XMAX) Template:Dts 25 December 2015 CCPL 3.0 License No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | OSL2000 Boot Manager Template:Dts Proprietary
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | PLoP Boot Manager Template:Dts Proprietary No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | quibble maharmstone 20210111 Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | RedBoot mod Template:Open source (eCos license)
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | rEFInd (fork of rEFIt) Roderick W. Smith 0.14.4.2 Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Open source/BSD-3-Clause No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | rEFIt Christoph Pfisterer 0.14 Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Open source/BSD-3-Clause No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Simpleboot bzt ? Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Smart Boot Manager Template:Open source
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | SPFdisk Template:Open source
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | SYSLINUX Template:Dts Template:Open source
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | TianoCore EDK II Template:Open source
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | Windows Boot Manager Microsoft Template:Dts (Windows Vista) Proprietary bundled with Windows
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | XOSL Template:Dts Template:Open source
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | FreeLoader (ReactOS Boot Loader) Template:Open source No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Template:Rh class="table-rh" | wolfBoot wolfSSL v2.4.0 Template:Dts Template:Dts Template:Open source and Commercial Licensing No cost Script error: No such module "Official website".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Name Developer / Publisher Current version Initial release date Latest release date License Cost Website / documentation

Template:Notelist

Technical information

Note: 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

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
Template:Rh | Acronis OS Selector ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Template:Rh | AiR-BOOT ? Yes No ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | AKernelLoader ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes Yes ? ?
Template:Rh | Barebox Yes Yes No ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Template:Rh | BOOTBOOT Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes No No
Template:Rh | BootIt Bare Metal ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Template:Rh | BootKey ? No No Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No No
Template:Rh | BootManager ? Yes No No Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? No
Template:Rh | BootX (Apple) Yes No No No Yes No No Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | BootX (Linux) No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Clover Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No ? Yes ? No
Template:Rh | Darwin Boot Loader Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ?
Template:Rh | Das U-Boot Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Template:Rh | Easyboot Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No
Template:Rh | FreeBSD loader Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? Yes
Template:Rh | GAG ? Yes (SafeBoot) No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Template:Rh | GRUB Legacy No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | GNU GRUB Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Grub2Win Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Template:Rh | GRUB4DOS ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Gujin ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Template:Rh | systemd-boot / Gummiboot Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ?
Template:Rh | iBoot Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? No ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | LILO Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Template:Rh | Limine Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | loadlin ? No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | MasterBooter ? Yes ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? ?
Template:Rh | NTLDR ? No Yes Yes Yes ? No No Yes Yes ? ?
Template:Rh | OpenCore Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes ? No ? Yes ? No
Template:Rh | OSL2000 Boot Manager ? Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No
Template:Rh | PLoP Boot Manager ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | quibble Yes ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | RedBoot ? No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | rEFInd Yes No No No Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes ? Yes
Template:Rh | rEFIt (not maintained) Yes No No No Yes Yes ? No ? Yes ? No
Template:Rh | Simpleboot Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No No Yes No No
Template:Rh | Smart Boot Manager ? Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ?
Template:Rh | SPFdisk ? Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ? ? ?
Template:Rh | SYSLINUX No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Tianocore EDK II ? No No No Yes Yes ? Yes ? Yes No Yes
Template:Rh | Windows Boot Manager Yes No Yes No Yes Yes ? Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
Template:Rh | XOSL ? No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? No ? No
Template:Rh | 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

Template:Sort-under

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
Template:Rh | Acronis OS Selector Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
Template:Rh | AiR-BOOT Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | AKernelLoader ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | Barebox ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | BOOTBOOT No Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | BootIt Bare Metal Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | BootKey Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | BootManager Yes Yes Calls NTLDR Calls Windows Boot Manager Calls GRUB or LILO ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | BootX (Apple) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes
Template:Rh | BootX (Linux) ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | Clover ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Darwin Boot Loader ? ? ? Yes ? ? ? Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Das U-Boot ? ? ? ? Yes ? ? Yes (FreeBSD) ?
Template:Rh | Easyboot Yes (FreeDOS) No Calls NTLDR Calls Windows Boot Manager Yes Yes Yes (KolibriOS as well) Yes (FreeBSD, OpenBSD) No
Template:Rh | FreeBSD loader ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes (FreeBSD, TrueOS) ?
Template:Rh | FreeLoader (ReactOS Boot Loader) Yes Yes Partial[1] Calls Windows Boot Manager Yes Yes ? ? ?
Template:Rh | GAG Yes Yes Calls NTLDR Calls Windows Boot Manager Calls GRUB or LILO Calls bootloader Calls bootloader Calls bootloader No
Template:Rh | GRUB Legacy and GRUB4DOS Yes Yes Calls NTLDR Calls Windows Boot Manager Yes Calls FreeLoader Yes Calls bootloader for some kernels Yes
Template:Rh | GNU GRUB Yes Yes Calls NTLDR Calls Windows Boot Manager Yes Calls FreeLoader Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Grub2Win Yes Yes Calls NTLDR Calls Windows Boot Manager Yes ? ? Yes (FreeBSD) Calls Clover
Template:Rh | Gujin Yes Yes Calls NTLDR Yes Yes ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | systemd-boot / Gummiboot No No Windows Server 2013 64bits with UEFI only Calls Windows Boot Manager[2] Yes ? ? UEFI only Yes[2]
Template:Rh | iBoot ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Yes
Template:Rh | LILO ? Yes Calls NTLDR Yes Yes ? ? Calls biosboot (FreeBSD, PC-BSD, ...) ?
Template:Rh | loadlin with MEMDISK No No No Yes No No ? ?
Template:Rh | Limine Calls bootloader Calls bootloader Calls bootloader Calls bootloader Yes Calls bootloader Calls bootloader Calls bootloader Calls bootloader
Template:Rh | MasterBooter Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes ?
Template:Rh | NTLDR Yes Yes Yes No Calls GRUB4DOS ? ? ? Calls Darwin bootloader[3]
Template:Rh | OpenCore ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
Template:Rh | OSL2000 Boot Manager Yes Yes Yes Yes Calls GRUB or LILO ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | PLoP Boot Manager Yes Yes Yes Yes Calls GRUB or LILO ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | quibble ? ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ?
Template:Rh | RedBoot Yes Yes Calls NTLDR Calls Windows Boot Manager Yes Calls FreeLoader Yes Yes Yes
Template:Rh | rEFInd (fork of rEFIt) ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
Template:Rh | rEFIt (not maintained) ? ? Yes Yes Yes ? ? Yes Yes
Template:Rh | Simpleboot No No No No Yes No ? Partial ?
Template:Rh | Smart Boot Manager Yes Yes Yes ? Yes ? ? Yes ?
Template:Rh | SPFdisk Yes Yes ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | SYSLINUX Yes Yes Calls NTLDR Calls Windows Boot Manager Yes ? Yes via mboot.c32 module [1] ?
Template:Rh | Tianocore EDK II No No No Yes Yes No ? Yes (FreeBSD,OpenBSD) Yes
Template:Rh | Windows Boot Manager ? Yes Calls NTLDR Yes Calls GRUB or LILO ? ? ? ?
Template:Rh | 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

Non-journaled

Name 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[4][5] Yes Yes Yes No No No 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 YesTemplate:Efn ? ? YesTemplate:Efn YesTemplate:Efn ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Template:Notelist

Journaled

Name 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 patchTemplate:Efn YesTemplate:Efn No YesTemplate:Efn YesTemplate:Efn YesTemplate:Efn No No No No No No No
Grub2Win ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
GRUB4DOS Yes Yes Yes YesTemplate:Efn No YesTemplate:Efn YesTemplate:Efn YesTemplate:Efn ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Gujin ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
systemd-boot / Gummiboot ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
iBoot ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
LILO ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Limine No No No No No No No No No No No No No No No
loader (FreeBSD) ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
loadlin YesTemplate:Efn 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 PartialTemplate:Efn YesTemplate:Efn YesTemplate:Efn ? ? ? ? ? ? YesTemplate:Efn ? ? ? ? ?
rEFIt ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Simpleboot ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Smart Boot Manager ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
SPFdisk ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
Syslinux Yes Yes PartialTemplate:Efn 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 ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Template:Notelist

Read-only

Name cpio tar ISO 9660 romfs SquashFS cramfs
Acronis OS Selector ? ? ? ? ? ?
AiR-BOOT ? ? ? ? ? ?
AKernelLoader ? ? ? ? ? ?
Barebox ? ? ? ? YesTemplate:Efn 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 ? ? ? ? YesTemplate:Efn Yes
extipl ? ? ? ? ? ?
FreeLoader (ReactOS) ? ? ? ? ? ?
GAG ? ? ? ? ? ?
GNU GRUB 2 Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes ?
GRUB Legacy ? ? YesTemplate:Efn ? ? ?
Grub2Win ? ? ? ? ? ?
GRUB4DOS ? ? YesTemplate:Efn ? ? ?
Gujin ? ? ? ? ? ?
systemd-boot / Gummiboot ? ? ? ? ? ?
iBoot ? ? ? ? ? ?
LILO ? ? ? ? ? ?
Limine No No Yes No No No
loader (FreeBSD) ? ? ? ? ? ?
loadlin No No YesTemplate:Efn ? ? ?
LOLO ? ? ? ? ? ?
MasterBooter ? ? ? ? ? ?
Multiple Boot Manager ? ? ? ? ? ?
NTLDR ? ? ? ? ? ?
OpenCore ? ? ? ? ? ?
OSL2000 Boot Manager ? ? ? ? ? ?
PLoP Boot Manager ? ? ? ? ? ?
RedBoot ? ? ? ? ? ?
rEFInd ? ? YesTemplate:Efn ? ? ?
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 ? ? ? ? ? ?

Template:Notelist

Other features

Name 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, RISC-V, LoongArch[14][15] Multiboot 1 and 2, Limine boot protocol, Linux zImage and bzImage[16] TFTP gzip
wolfBoot No No ARM, RISC-V, PowerPC, x86 Binary, ELF32/ELF64, Multiboot2 No No Open-source, OS-agnostic (run alongside 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

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  1. ↑ http://www.reactos.org/newsletter-37 - Freeloader can load Windows Server 2003 directly, as long as it is on a FAT32 partition
  2. ↑ a b Rod Smith, "Managing EFI Boot Loaders for Linux: Using gummiboot", 5 November 2012.
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  7. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  13. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  14. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  16. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Template:Firmware and booting

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