FreeBSD host, EFI guests, 6.1.18: no boot manager in response to F12 or Escape

[grahamperrin]

https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/20262

Any suggestions?

TIA

[fth0]

Simply type "exit" in the EFI shell.

PS: F12 only works in the VirtualBox legacy BIOS.

[grahamperrin]

Thanks, I'm 99% certain that F12 worked with EFI in 5.2.44.

The need to type 'exit' (with no on-screen hint to do so) would have been very memorable.

This feels regressive.

[fth0]

I'm 99% certain that F12 worked with EFI in 5.2.44.

I believe you. The VirtualBox EFI used to accept the Any key. The current implementation seems to only accept the ESC key.

[grahamperrin]

… ESC key.

Unfortunately not; https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/20262#comment:4

[fth0]

Well, I successfully verified it myself just before posting it, albeit on a macOS host. I cannot say why it doesn't work for you.

[grahamperrin]

Thanks,

… why it doesn't work for you.

Maybe specific to FreeBSD hosts.

I'd like to test both F12 and Escape with 6.1.18 on a non-Mac supported host before deciding whether to raise a bug in the FreeBSD area.

Aiming to install on Linux, however I'm presented with a bewildering array of options.

[fth0]

I just successfully tried the following on a Lenovo T590 with a Linux Mint 20 host OS and VirtualBox 6.1.18:

In the VirtualBox Manager, I created a new VM for a Windows 10 guest (shouldn't really matter) with the default settings, and manually changed System > Motherboard > Enable EFI. Then I clicked the Start button, and nearly simultaneously hammered on the ESC key (about twice a second should be more than fast enough ), and it worked as expected. Other keys incl. F12 did not work.

[grahamperrin]

Thanks. This smells increasingly like a bug in the port to FreeBSD.