[Solved] Unable to change UEFI Bootmanager timeout

buwie · 2026-05-12 09:08:30

Trying to disable or remove the EFI Boot manager timeout since booting the uki image is working as wanted, but

$ sudo efibootmgr -T
Could not delete Timeout: Invalid argument
$ sudo efibootmgr --delete-timeout
Could not delete Timeout: Invalid argument
$ sudo efibootmgr --timeout 0
Could not set Timeout: Permission denied

Am i missing something, is it possible at all?

Last edited by buwie (2026-05-14 09:27:31)

jl2 · 2026-05-13 17:41:53

What is the current timeout and can you set it to, lets say, 1 second?

Is this a laptop/PC? What motherboard?

buwie · 2026-05-13 19:24:57

I've got this issue on 2 systems, an ASUS Zenbook running Arch and an Intel NUC running Debian.
Since these are completly different systems i dont think the motherboard is important here, though i can get that info.
Both a single OS so a timeout is not necessary. Both systems came with a 1 sec timeout.
I realise i might be nit-picking, but especially the NUC is my homeserver and, among other services, handles dns and dhcp, so when i update and reboot it i want it up as fast as possible again.
Since efibootmgr has the option to completely delete the timeout, i'd like to use it, but the option seems not functional.
Also, it seems there's no difference in the efibootmgr for Arch or Debian, both exactly the same errors.

Edit;
As a test i tried

$ sudo efibootmgr --timeout 2
Could not set Timeout: Permission denied

Then i found:
https://github.com/rhboot/efivar/issues/95

If the system firmware isn't letting you do that, there's nothing we can do about it.

Last edited by buwie (2026-05-15 21:18:13)

Arch Linux

#1 2026-05-12 09:08:30

[Solved] Unable to change UEFI Bootmanager timeout

#2 2026-05-13 17:41:53

Re: [Solved] Unable to change UEFI Bootmanager timeout

#3 2026-05-13 19:24:57

Re: [Solved] Unable to change UEFI Bootmanager timeout

Board footer