Part of CachyOS Wiki Notes. From the official CachyOS wiki (last updated 2025-12-21).

CachyOS Boot Managers

Available: systemd-boot, rEFInd, GRUB, Limine.

Warning: some MSI motherboards have UEFI firmware that is not fully spec-compliant, which causes compatibility issues with some boot managers (including GRUB and rEFInd). If affected, use systemd-boot or Limine.

Comparison highlights

• Firmware support — systemd-boot: UEFI only. rEFInd: UEFI only. GRUB: UEFI and BIOS. Limine: UEFI and BIOS.
• /boot filesystem — systemd-boot: whatever the firmware supports (usually FAT12/16/32), more with EFI drivers. rEFInd: firmware support plus ext2/3/4, Btrfs, ISO-9660, HFS+, NTFS. GRUB: broad (ext*, Btrfs, XFS, …). Limine: FAT12/16/32 and ISO9660.
• Windows dual boot — systemd-boot auto-detects Windows Boot Manager on the same ESP; rEFInd auto-detects EFI loaders and kernels; GRUB via os-prober or manual config; Limine via limine-scan.
• Btrfs snapshot integration — systemd-boot/rEFInd only via custom setups (not provided by CachyOS); GRUB via grub-btrfs-support; Limine via limine-snapper-sync (enabled by default on CachyOS with Btrfs).
• Full disk encryption — systemd-boot/rEFInd/Limine: possible, root encrypted, /boot must stay unencrypted. GRUB: fully supported including encrypted /boot via cryptodisk (LUKS1/PBKDF2 only; LUKS2 is limited/needs workarounds).
• Theming — systemd-boot: minimal, none. rEFInd: graphical, themeable. GRUB: classic, themeable. Limine: themeable menu with skins.
• TPM PCR measured boot — built in for systemd-boot and GRUB; rEFInd and Limine can via systemd-ukify.

systemd-boot

• Pro: very simple config, entries in separate files, works on some problematic MSI boards, config auto-generated on CachyOS, TPM PCRs measured during boot.
• Con: no BIOS/MBR; barebones, no theming; non-firmware boot FS needs separate ESP + XBOOTLDR partitions and EFI drivers; cannot find boot images outside its own ESP/XBOOTLDR; no native Btrfs snapshot rollback (kernel images live on the boot partition) — snapshot booting only through custom setups CachyOS does not provide.

rEFInd

• Fork of rEFIt.
• Pro: auto-detects all OSes and kernels, little to no manual config, graphical macOS-style boot selector, great theming, optional touchscreen, reads images from EFI filesystems plus EXT4 and BTRFS (more via EFI drivers from the efifs package).
• Con: no BIOS support; incompatible with some MSI boards; TPM PCRs not measured (fails the PCR0 reconstruction test) — fixable via UKI with systemd-stub (systemd-ukify) or by chainloading a bootloader that measures PCR.

GRUB

• Oldest, largest feature set, most widely used.
• Pro: supports nearly all Linux filesystems; abundant docs and community; supports encrypted /boot; Btrfs snapshot booting via grub-btrfs-support; supports BIOS and UEFI; themeable; TPM PCRs measured.
• Con: large and complex with many FS drivers; noticeably slower than systemd-boot/rEFInd/Limine; incompatible with some MSI boards.

Limine

• Modern, portable multiprotocol bootloader; reference implementation for the Limine boot protocol; supports Linux and chainloading.
• Pro: multiple boot protocols (Multiboot2, Linux boot protocol); boots on UEFI and BIOS; GRUB-like theming; Btrfs snapshots through limine-snapper-sync, enabled by default on CachyOS with Btrfs.
• Con: /boot must be FAT12/16/32 or ISO9660; does not auto-add a UEFI NVRAM entry — use efibootmgr manually or limine-entry-tool (preinstalled); no UFS; TPM PCRs not measured (same UKI/chainload workarounds as rEFInd).

TL;DR

• GRUB — encrypted /boot, BIOS, mature Btrfs snapshots.
• Limine — modern, out-of-box Btrfs snapshots, BIOS/UEFI, Windows dual boot via limine-scan.
• rEFInd — polished graphical UI plus automatic multi-boot on UEFI.
• systemd-boot — simplest setup, no snapshots needed; most reliable fallback for MSI UEFI quirks.

Related: Boot Manager Configuration, CachyOS Filesystems, Btrfs Snapshots.