Ticket #19910 (new defect)
VirtualBox 6.1.14 fails to boot FreeBSD 12.1 install ISO in EFI mode
Reported by: | Thomas Dreibholz | Owned by: | |
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Component: | EFI | Version: | VirtualBox 6.1.14 |
Keywords: | Cc: | ||
Guest type: | BSD | Host type: | Linux |
Description
VirtualBox 6.1.14 fails to boot FreeBSD 12.1 install ISO in EFI mode. I am trying VirtualBox 6.1.14 from virtualbox.org. However, with 6.1.10 provided by Ubuntu 20.04, I was able to boot the ISO in EFI mode.
Attachments
Change History
Changed 7 months ago by Thomas Dreibholz
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VirtualBox_Minimal-FreeBSD-12.png
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Changed 7 months ago by Thomas Dreibholz
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Minimal-FreeBSD-12.1.config
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Output of "vboxmanage showvminfo -machinereadable" for the VM
comment:1 Changed 6 months ago by kiokoman
same problem here, same configuration, NEW machine created with virtual box 6.1.14 does not boot, with an iso from FreeBSD I'm stuck at efi shell. OLD machines created with a previous version are still working
comment:2 Changed 6 months ago by Thomas Dreibholz
This FreeBSD EFI boot issue may be the same as for the latest Ubuntu beta: https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/19967 .
comment:3 Changed 6 months ago by Thomas Dreibholz
Trying to boot the same FreeBSD-12.1 ISO with an older VirtualBox 6.1.10-dfsg (as provided by the Ubuntu 20.04 repositories) succeeds. It seems that there has been an EFI booting bug introduced with a VirtualBox version after 6.1.10.
comment:4 Changed 6 months ago by Thomas Dreibholz
The issue still exists in the latest VirtualBox 6.1.16.
comment:5 Changed 5 months ago by Thomas Dreibholz
The issue is still reproducible, using VirtualBox 6.1.16 (from the VirtualBox repository) under Ubuntu 20.04 with the FreeBSD 12.2 ISO ( https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/12.2/FreeBSD-12.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso).
Changed 5 months ago by Thomas Dreibholz
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Minimal-FreeBSD-12.2.vbox
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FreeBSD 12.2 VM configuration
comment:6 Changed 5 months ago by Andrew 1717
I can confirm Thomas's observations. Comparing the log from booting the same FreeBSD 12.1 VM under 6.1.12 vs. 6.1.16, I see an extra EFI module is loaded:
EFI: VBoxDbg> loadimage64 'R:/tinderbox/efi2-6.1/out/win.amd64/release/obj/VBoxEfiFirmware/amd64/RELEASE_VS2010/X64/VBoxPkg/VBoxFsDxe/VBoxIso9660/DEBUG/VBoxIso9600.efi' 0xbee7a000 LB 0x5680
As Thomas also noticed, the issue probably came with the fix of https://www.virtualbox.org/ticket/19682.
comment:7 Changed 4 months ago by martinw
This is not specific to the FreeBSD ISO - it affects any ISO that uses an El Torito boot record to boot in EFI mode and that doesn't include a fallback bootloader in /EFI/BOOT in the iso9660 filesystem. I am seeing the same issue when testing the Mageia ISOs.
I have fixed this on my system with the following patch (largely based on the code in Firmware/MdeModulePkg/Universal/Disk/PartitionDxe/ElTorito.c). This causes the firmware to only load the iso9660 filesystem if it doesn't find an El Torito EFI boot record.
Changed 4 months ago by martinw
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vbox-el-torito-boot-fix.patch
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Patch that fixes this bug for me
comment:8 Changed 3 months ago by Thomas Dreibholz
The EFI boot issue is still occurring in the latest VirtualBox 6.1.18.
Changed 3 months ago by Thomas Dreibholz
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Minimal-FreeBSD-12.2.2.vbox
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VBOX file from VirtualBox 6.1.18
Changed 3 months ago by Thomas Dreibholz
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VBox.3.log
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VBox log file for VirtualBox 6.1.18
comment:9 Changed 2 months ago by grahamperrin
Maybe a factor, for some of who are attempting to boot from a FreeBSD 12.2 ISO – and please note, this bug is not limited to virtual machines:
If a patched (or fixed) VirtualBox host can not boot a 12.2 ISO, then please try one from the 12.1 area:
Thank you
comment:10 Changed 8 weeks ago by Thomas Dreibholz
VirtualBox 6.1.18 also cannot boot a FreeBSD 12.1 in EFI mode. However, the old VirtualBox 6.1.10 from the Ubuntu 20.04 repository was able to boot this ISO some time ago. So, I assume this is a bug of VirtualBox.
Changed 8 weeks ago by Thomas Dreibholz
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VBox.4.log
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Log file of VirtualBox 6.1.18 failing to boot FreeBSD 12.1 ISO
Changed 8 weeks ago by Thomas Dreibholz
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NorNet-FreeBSD-12.1.vbox
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VBox file of VirtualBox 6.1.18 failing to boot FreeBSD 12.1 ISO
comment:11 Changed 8 weeks ago by Thomas Dreibholz
And, for testing, I also tried the current 13.0-BETA2 ISO. It fails to boot with EFI as well.
That is, I tried the following ISOs:
- https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/ISO-IMAGES/13.0/FreeBSD-13.0-BETA2-amd64-disc1.iso
- https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/ISO-IMAGES/12.1/FreeBSD-12.1-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso
- https://download.freebsd.org/ftp/releases/amd64/amd64/ISO-IMAGES/12.2/FreeBSD-12.2-RELEASE-amd64-disc1.iso
All fail to boot with EFI.
comment:12 Changed 4 weeks ago by grahamperrin
Cc: grahamperrin
comment:13 Changed 4 weeks ago by grahamperrin
As a workaround, try:
- at the UEFI shell prompt
- exit
- ignore the boot manager
- boot maintenance manager
- boot from file
- browse the file system of the ISO until you find (for example) bootx64.efi
- select the required file then key Return or Enter.
comment:14 Changed 6 days ago by Thomas Dreibholz
The work-around successfully boots a FreeBSD-13.0-RC3 ISO as well.
But the actual issue remains: VirtualBox 6.1.18 cannot directly boot a FreeBSD ISO in EFI mode. It worked fine with VirtualBox 6.1.10. Since the bug is there since around 7 months now, is Oracle going to provide a fix at any time soon?
Screenshot of boot issue