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Add to SafariWhen comparing Windows Boot Manager vs rEFInd, the Slant community recommends rEFInd for most people. In the question“What are the best boot loaders/managers?” rEFInd is ranked 1st while Windows Boot Manager is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose rEFInd is:
REFInd is really good with automatically with finding your operating systems, leaving all that manual configuration as totally optional.
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Default Windows bootloader
Since Windows Vista this has been the default bootloader for any Windows OS. This means that it should work perfectly fine with any Windows installation without the need for further configuration.
Pro Windows safe mode
Can boot up in safe mode.
Pro Includes WinRE
Pro Automatic kernel discovery
REFInd is really good with automatically with finding your operating systems, leaving all that manual configuration as totally optional.
Pro Beautiful theme support
REFInd allows easy theming with fonts, icons and backgrounds to give you a customized and beautiful graphical bootloader.
Pro EFI only
Focuses on one type of system.
Pro Text based configs
It can be configured with text files.
Pro Easy to install, easy command
Pro Hard
Cons
Con Only recognizes Windows filesystem
Windows Boot Manager can only recognize Windows-specific file systems.
Con Unreliable
Con No themes
Con Still using Windows 8 theme (Metro)
Even in Windows 11, that should be redesigned glassmorphically (Fluent).
Con EFI only
REFInd supports only EFI or UEFI systems which, while common on the latest systems, is a relatively new technology. BIOS-based systems are not supported.
Con Buggy mouse support
