Re: Boot Order

[Dan Norton <dnorton@mindspring.com>]

On Mon, 26 Feb 2018 10:40:20 -0500
lsorense@csclub.uwaterloo.ca (Lennart Sorensen) wrote:

> On Fri, Feb 23, 2018 at 10:18:00PM -0500, Dan Norton wrote:
> > Installing either stretch or buster via netinst results in changes
> > to the bios menu. Under "UEFI Boot Sources" the term "Hard Drive" is
> > replaced with "debian" and this entry is put first in the boot
> > order.
> > 
> > The PC is:
> > Hewlett-Packard HP Pro 3400 Series MT/2ABF, BIOS 7.16 03/23/2012
> > 
> > Please tell me the justification for putting "debian" in the menu
> > and having it boot first, ahead of CD/DVD/USB. Thanks.  
> 
> With UEFI, adding an entry to the boot meny is what you do when you
> install an OS you want to be able to boot.  UEFI does not rely on the
> boot sector anymore the way legacy BIOS did.
> 
> Adding it first makes sense since why install it if you don't want to
> use it?  Advanced users can always rearrange the order if they want
> something else.  No way an installer could guess where in an existing
> list to insert itself.  First is the only sane default option.
> 

Why insert itself anywhere in the first place? The machine booted
before the installation. To start installing, the installation medium
is placed in a CD drive or USB port and the machine is rebooted. During
installation, other OSs are detected by the installer. The installer
forms the grub menu with the latest install first and the other OSs
following. Installer finishes by reminding the admin to remove the
installation medium and it reboots the machine. The latest install
boots unless the admin intervenes. Where in this process is a
requirement to tinker with the UEFI menu?