Booting multiple EFI partitions
FreeBSD TWC
FreeBSD at twc.com
Tue Sep 11 20:41:47 UTC 2018
I have a new HP Slimline Desktop 290-p0014 which features an Intel i7-8700.
I can install two instances of FreeBSD 11.2 Release, here's the boot process documented in eufi man page:
3. /boot1.efi/ searches partitions of type freebsd-ufs and
freebsd-zfs for /loader.efi/. The search begins with partitions
on the device from which/boot1.efi/ was loaded, and continues
with other available partitions. If both freebsd-ufs and
freebsd-zfs partitions exist on the same device the
freebsd-zfs partition is preferred./boot1.efi/ then loads and
executes/loader.efi/.
4. /loader.efi/ loads and boots the kernel, as described in
loader(8) <https://www.freebsd.org/cgi/man.cgi?query=loader&sektion=8&apropos=0&manpath=FreeBSD+11.2-RELEASE+and+Ports>.
The result is that a second freebsd partition can never be booted. I have always liked to install a second instance of freebsd to use as a recovery drive, rather than waiting for a slow CD-ROM boot.
When I installed two instances of FreeBSD, bsdinstall added two lines in the BIOS boot menu (I pressed F9).
But both lines are identical:
UEFI OS (TOSHIBA HDWE160)
One I gave the hostname Chameleon and the other was Recovery. I also labeled each partition that way.
Is anyone working on enhancing boot1.efi to support booting from other partitions?
I want the functionality of boot0 where FreeBSD displayed all the available partitions and allowed me to select any one.
I can do that now on my machine, but I have to use legacy BIOS boot to an MBR, rather than UEFI boot to a GPT partition.
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