Page 1 of 2
EFI support
Posted: 11. Nov 2009, 11:07
by nike
Feel free to discuss EFI support in 3.1 beta here.
Re: EFI support
Posted: 11. Nov 2009, 13:42
by Technologov
Docs: **please update**
EFI (Extended Firmware Interface) ---> EFI (Extensible Firmware Interface)
=============
Which guest OSes are supposed to run on this ? (Win 2008 Server ?)
This feature is funny, because it is the first feature, that is available on virtualized hardware before physical PCs. (no one of my PCs support EFI !)
In the past virtualized hardware always lagged behind physical one.
Main use cases:
-Virtualization of Mac OS X Server (in the far future)
-support of bootable >2TB Had Disks.
Re: EFI support
Posted: 11. Nov 2009, 14:25
by nike
Firmware in 32-bit only at the moment, so only 32-bit boot applications supported.
Guest known to work (to some extent):
- Fedora 11 netinst and LiveCD ISO ( can be problems if
http://osdir.com/ml/fedora-extras-commi ... 03900.html not applied), X using EFI frambuffer in progress
- EFI shell
Known not to work:
- Windows (stock ISO come with UDF filesystem, which we currently don't have drivers for)
- OS X Server (many reasons)
Feel free to test your favorite distribution/OS if it comes with EFI loader and let us know results.
Re: EFI support
Posted: 11. Nov 2009, 14:45
by Technologov
What are the main use cases in your opinion for EFI ? (in general, not just VirtualBox) except >2TB bootable HDDs ?
Re: EFI support
Posted: 11. Nov 2009, 17:13
by nike
See at least following:
- EFI applications/drivers development
- implementing EFI support in guests
- booting guests needing EFI, you_know_who
Re: EFI support
Posted: 11. Nov 2009, 18:05
by Technologov
Re: EFI support
Posted: 11. Nov 2009, 18:23
by umoeller
Thanks for spotting the wrong acronym in the docs. Will be fixed.
Re: EFI support
Posted: 11. Nov 2009, 18:29
by Technologov
Not only in the docs, but in the GUI too. (System->Motherboard->Enable EFI -- mouse roll-over, EFI description help)
Re: EFI support
Posted: 11. Nov 2009, 20:53
by Hachiman
Some notes about installing from LiveCD Fedora 11 and 12 (x86) in EFI:
1. 3.1 beta 1 has 8-bit color depth driver for EFI mode (
here with 32-bpp driver).
2. starting the FC11/12 live CD can confuse a bit. After nice picture with Fedora logo the black screen is appear
. Press Host-F2 to enter the console enter root
with empty password.
3. X-server needs some tuning for starting.
Code: Select all
# X -configure
# vi xorg.conf.new
# mv xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf
# liveinst
what need to be edited in xorg.conf is Display subsection of the Screen section at the end of config file.
Code: Select all
SubSection "Display"
Viewport 0 0
Depth 24
Modes "1024x768"
EndSubSection
and check that driver in the Device section is fbdev
Code: Select all
Section "Device"
### Available Driver options are:-
### Values: <i>: integer, <f>: float, <bool>: "True"/"False",
### <string>: "String", <freq>: "<f> Hz/kHz/MHz"
### [arg]: arg optional
#Option "ShadowFB" # [<bool>]
#Option "Rotate" # <str>
#Option "fbdev" # <str>
#Option "debug" # [<bool>]
Identifier "Card0"
Driver "fbdev"
VendorName "InnoTek Systemberatung GmbH"
BoardName "VirtualBox Graphics Adapter"
BusID "PCI:0:2:0"
EndSection
Re: EFI support
Posted: 12. Nov 2009, 10:41
by lewellyn
I'm unable to use the EFI support on a Solaris host. /opt/VirtualBox/amd64/vboxefi.fv seems to have not been installed. Was this omitted from the .pkg by accident? There
is a version of it at /opt/VirtualBox/vboxefi.fv so I'm curious if this only works on 32-bit hosts so far.
Edit: DOH! I'm an idiot. Just read nike's post #3 to this thread... Which leads to the next question: How do I start VBox in 32-bit mode?  |
Re: EFI support
Posted: 12. Nov 2009, 11:12
by Hachiman
lewellyn wrote:I'm unable to use the EFI support on a Solaris host. /opt/VirtualBox/amd64/vboxefi.fv seems to have not been installed. Was this omitted from the .pkg by accident? There is a version of it at /opt/VirtualBox/vboxefi.fv so I'm curious if this only works on 32-bit hosts so far.
It's missed by mistake it isn't depend on host bitness. Please download missed binary from
http://virtualbox.org/download/testcase/vboxefi.fv and put it to /opt/VirtualBox/amd64. Sorry for inconvenience.
Re: EFI support
Posted: 12. Nov 2009, 12:22
by lewellyn
Awesome. Love the VirtualBox logo used for EFI.
Now, to figure out why I can't get any guests to install... (I suspect user error, based upon the time here...
)
Re: EFI support
Posted: 12. Nov 2009, 12:47
by Hachiman
(I suspect user error, based upon the time here...
)
rigth.
What the guest you're trying to install, btw?
Re: EFI support
Posted: 16. Nov 2009, 05:56
by Hachiman
Have received question about rEFIt. yes, it could be started at VM, but with "modifications". The problem with rEFIt is a lack of support big amount of filesystems in our firmware, e.g. iso family is ISO9660 and limited Rock Ridge. So "modification" is burning new image using refit-0.13-bin.tar.gz from
http://refit.sf.net with mkisofs
Code: Select all
# mkisofs -R -o refit.iso refit-0.13-bin
When the burned refit.iso is loaded. It's important for rEFIt where it was launched (it won't find its config if will be launched from root or different folder)
Code: Select all
Shell> fs0:
fs0:\> cd efi\refit\
fs0:\efi\refit\> refit.efi
It might be useful to read EFI shell manual
Efi Shell getting Started Guide or
Command Reference: EFI Shell Commands also.
Re: EFI support
Posted: 25. Nov 2009, 20:14
by nike
BTW, beta 3 will have 64-bit firmware too (FW bitness detected based on guest type, or can be set manually with VBoxManage).