Entering bootloader menu is too inconsistent

[KapiX]

I can't enter bootloader menu consistently. I've just tried 20 times and got it only once. There is too little time, no clear indication when to hit the button, and I've heard both versions: that it's Shift or Space. I usually spam both and still can't get there. Really frustrating experience when your system doesn't boot and you want to experiment with different settings.

[waddlesplash]

Holding Shift works only for the BIOS bootloader. For EFI, you must spam the spacebar. I've never failed to get to the EFI bootloader menu by doing that...

[KapiX]

OK, that works (mostly). User Guide says nothing about EFI loader needing Space and it doesn't explain why there is a difference.

[mmu_man]

Well, historically we used space like BeOS… I think we added shift because it was simpler to test since it's a modifier, but I suppose there's no way to check modifiers with UEFI…

[waddlesplash]

It seems there sort-of is with UEFI, but not EFI, via the ​SimpleTextInEx protocol. However, I don't think that will help us determine the state of already-pressed keys, only detect key-presses that include Shift. So indeed, it appears EFI offers no way to do this.

[humdinger]

I wasn't aware of that, always thought using SHIFT and SPACE was interchangeable. So I only described doing it with SHIFT, as ou don't have to hammer it like Space, but just keep holding it...

If it's impossible to use SHIFT with EFI, I'll add that to the guide.

[pulkomandy]

Shift was introduced because you can hold it from your early bios screen and it will not fill the keyboard buffer and lead to a "keyboard error" screen from the BIOS.

When using bootman, selecting the right entry in the menu and pressing shift+enter works just fine. This probably works also with GRUB or even your BIOS "select boot device" menu.

Doing it this way I never run into problems. You don't need to spam the key, just hold it.