Rebooting to a UEFI application from a UEFI supported system
Systems and methods for rebooting a UEFI based system, for example from Microsoft Windows, to any UEFI application, include modifying boot configuration data by inserting a boot entry into the UEFI firmware boot manager to cause execution of a non-Windows UEFI application.
1. A method for causing a computer system to boot an application, the method comprising:
copying the application to a boot system partition;
saving boot configuration data for the computer system to a backup file;
loading the boot configuration data into a temporary location;
creating a registry object for the application;
storing the registry object into the temporary location;
creating a modified backup file by modifying the backup file to set a device partition for the registry object in the backup file;
storing the modified backup file to the boot configuration data; and
setting a next boot device value in a firmware boot manager to indicate the registry object.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein copying the application to the boot system partition includes mounting an EFI system partition, and copying an EFI application file to a directory on the EFI system partition.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein saving the boot configuration data to the backup file includes the executing a bcdedit utility to export the boot configuration data to a file on a file system.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein loading the boot configuration data into the temporary location includes executing a registry editing utility.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the temporary location is a temporary registry location.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein loading the boot configuration data into the temporary location includes loading the boot configuration data from the backup file.
7. An apparatus comprising:
one or more processors; and
a machine-readable medium coupled to the one or more processors, the machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed, cause the one or more processors to:
copy an application to a boot system partition,
save boot configuration data to a backup file;
load the boot configuration data into a temporary location,
create a registry object for the application,
store the registry object into the temporary location,
create a modified backup file by modifying the backup file to set a device partition for the registry object in the backup file,
store the modified backup file to the boot configuration data, and
set a next boot device value in a firmware boot manager to indicate the registry object.
8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the instructions to copy the application to the boot system partition include instructions to mount an EFI system partition, and copy an EFI application file to a directory on the EFI system partition.
9. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the instructions to save the boot configuration data to the backup file include instructions to execute a bcdedit utility to export the boot configuration data to a file on a file system.
10. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the instructions to load the boot configuration data into the temporary location include instructions to execute a registry editing utility.
11. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the temporary location is a temporary registry location.
12. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the instructions to load the boot configuration data into the temporary location include instructions to load the boot configuration data from the backup file.
13. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed, cause one or more processors to:
copy an application to a boot system partition;
save boot configuration data to a backup file;
load the boot configuration data into a temporary location;
create a registry object for the application;
store the registry object into the temporary location;
create a modified backup file by modifying the backup file to set a device partition for the registry object in the backup file;
store the modified backup file to the boot configuration data; and
set a next boot device value in a firmware boot manager to indicate the registry object.
14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions to copy the application to the boot system partition include instructions to mount an EFI system partition, and copy an EFI application file to a directory on the EFI system partition.
15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions to load the boot configuration data into the temporary location include instructions to load the boot configuration data from the backup file.
16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions to save the boot configuration data to the backup file include instructions to execute a bcdedit utility to export the boot configuration data to a file on a file system.
17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the instructions to load the boot configuration data into the temporary location include instructions to execute a registry editing utility.
18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13 , wherein the temporary location is a temporary registry location.