Boot-Repair vs Visor Boot Manager
Boot-Repair
help.ubuntu.comVisor Boot Manager
github.comSide by side
| Figure | Boot-Repair | Visor Boot Manager |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Boot Manager Software | 7.7 (#12) | 7.3 (#21) |
| Installation | The project page describes running Boot-Repair from a Boot-Repair-Disk or installing it in an Ubuntu, derivative, Debian, or derivative live environment. | Visor can be built with gnu-efi, GCC, binutils, make, and git, or installed from the Arch User Repository. |
| Purpose | Boot-Repair fixes common boot problems, such as GRUB issues or problems booting Ubuntu or Windows after installing another operating system. | Visor is a minimal, fast graphical UEFI boot manager written in C. |
Plans
In their own words
Boot-Repair
Boot-Repair is free Linux software for restoring access to operating systems after boot failures. It addresses common GRUB problems and situations where Ubuntu or Windows no longer starts after another operating system is installed. Its Recommended Repair can reinstall GRUB and recover access to previously installed systems. Advanced options provide partition-table and boot-sector backups, GRUB setting changes, restoration of a Windows-compatible MBR, and filesystem repair. Boot-Repair can produce a Boot-Info diagnosis for sharing with helpers by email or on a forum. You choose whether to upload that report to Pastebin or keep it local; uploaded reports are described as expiring after some days. Boot-Repair-Disk starts the tool automatically and also includes OS-Uninstaller and Boot-Info. It can also run from Ubuntu, Debian, and derivative live environments. The project describes automatic backups and says the software is distributed without warranty.
Visor Boot Manager
Visor Boot Manager is a graphical UEFI boot manager for Linux and Windows EFI programs. It can start Linux EFI-stub kernels and Unified Kernel Images, or chainload other EFI executables, including Windows. With no configuration, it detects Windows, kernels, UKIs, and BLS or OSTree deployments, and can derive a root command line automatically. Its menu supports themes, icons, animations, wallpaper accent colors, mouse and touch input, and live USB hotplug. For alternate boot states, it supports Btrfs, Snapper, Timeshift, and plain snapshots, along with OSTree deployment browsing and automatic rollback. Visor also supports encrypted boot artifacts and a single-password LUKS handoff. Secure Boot verification works through shim, and the installer supports sbctl signing. The bootloader is one approximately 340 KB EFI binary, without external dependencies or a scripting language. It builds for x86_64 and AArch64 and can be built from source or installed from the Arch User Repository. It uses the BSD 2-Clause license and is free at free. Visor requires UEFI hardware and does not support legacy BIOS.