SUMMARY It would be very useful and cool, if it would be possible to boot to uefi/bios settings. In Windows this is possible, so I assume this should be possible from a runing linux/KDE tool. Would be much easier then hitting the right button in the reboot moment.
You can do so by going to System Settings > Startup and Shutdown > Desktop Session > Enter UEFI setup on next restart.
Is this a feature after 5.21? It is not shown on my system. Anyway, would it be more convenient and discoverable to offer this option (may be less prominent then others) on the logoutscreen, may be even allow to boot to a selected kernel / grub entry?
It was added in 5.20 IIRC. I see it in System Settings > Startup and Shutdown > Desktop Session, FWIW. If you don't see it, maybe it's not supported on your system for some reason. We considered adding it the logout screen but concluded that was too nerdy a faeture to shove in the user's face. The average user never needs to use this.
From [1] it looks like KDE checks whether your PC can reboot to firmware setup. If it is not supported, the option will not be visible. [1] https://github.com/KDE/plasma-desktop/commit/0f5c7ede9da23ae60dbd24908bba65d911db26d8#diff-04eb7d2f225b319937d4b146d41b20f1f4d898b5b33a5b8488ef2618f8aaae9aR136
I have a Thinkpad T570 which can do this from Windows 10 and I always thought that Thinkpads are pretty good at Linux support. The option apears on a Surface Go. May be the detection is not good enough and cover all cases. @nate: "We considered adding it the logout screen but concluded that was too nerdy a faeture to shove in the user's face. The average user never needs to use this." You are right, this is not an everyday option. But may be it can be presented in an other way than the other option. For example at the login screen there is the option to switch between a wayland and an X11 session in the corner. May be this UEFI boot (and options to boot to specific kernels/grub entries) could be placed on the logout screen in a similar way?
By the way, is /sys/firmware/efi present on your PC?
(In reply to 2wxsy58236r3 from comment #6) > By the way, is /sys/firmware/efi present on your PC? No and it appears that reason may be that I (unintentionally) installed KDE NEON in legacy boot mode. I will try to fix this. But the original request still would be great, if it would be made available on the logout screen.
Yes, in legacy boot mode, you have a BIOS, not UEFI. This feature only supports UEFI, by using a UEFI-specific functionality. So everything makes sense now. :) I'm not sure there is a way to make it work cleanly with a BIOS, and given that BIOS support is legacy and all new hardware uses UEFI by default, I'm not sure how much it would be worth it to try.
(In reply to Nate Graham from comment #8) > Yes, in legacy boot mode, you have a BIOS, not UEFI. This feature only > supports UEFI, by using a UEFI-specific functionality. So everything makes > sense now. :) > > I'm not sure there is a way to make it work cleanly with a BIOS, and given > that BIOS support is legacy and all new hardware uses UEFI by default, I'm > not sure how much it would be worth it to try. It is a shame that this request is closed so fast. Originally this was not reported against the KCM-component and it was NOT about the option not appearing their. This was a side topic. My request was about having this on the logout screen. I understand Nates reasoning that this should not appear so prominent because it is rarely used. But you KDE guys continuously redesign things and find clever solutions. So it could be on the logout screen, but less prominent. Why: Amount of clicks: Opening systemsettings to get there is annoying. As someone who know a little more about computers I get frequently asked for support and if I am not present directing people through their system to fix problem. So telling to shutdown and then pick Boot to UEFI or boot to another kernel would be much, much easier to understand. I guess I am not the only Linux/KDE friend who has installed the system for others and supports them from time to time.
Can you file a new bug report to track the request of adding this functionality into the logout screen? Thanks! See also Bug 348860.