[edk2-devel] OVMF vs ArmVirt: what to do when unable to boot (print a message or drop into UiApp)

[edk2-devel] OVMF vs ArmVirt: what to do when unable to boot (print a message or drop into UiApp)

[Rebecca Cran]

I've been testing some UI changes in OVMF and was surprised when instead 
of launching into the UiApp I got a message:


BdsDxe: No bootable option or device was found

BdsDxe: Press any key to enter the Boot Manager Menu


It looks like this behavior has existed since 2018, but since I often 
run ARM VMs I instead get the behavior added to

ArmVirtPkg in 2020 which is to drop into the UiApp. 
(https://patchew.org/EDK2/20200528091741.14610-1-ard.biesheuvel@arm.com/20200528091741.14610-3-ard.biesheuvel@arm.com/).


I was wondering if someone (Ard or Ray?) could explain why there's the 
difference: is it just people's preferences?

I'm currently working on improving the user experience of EDK2, so 
thinking about which might be better.


-- 

Rebecca



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Re: [edk2-devel] OVMF vs ArmVirt: what to do when unable to boot (print a message or drop into UiApp)

[Gerd Hoffmann via groups.io]

On Sat, Jun 14, 2025 at 08:44:35PM -0600, Rebecca Cran wrote:
> I've been testing some UI changes in OVMF and was surprised when instead of
> launching into the UiApp I got a message:
> 
> BdsDxe: No bootable option or device was found
> BdsDxe: Press any key to enter the Boot Manager Menu

ovmf prints the boot attempts to the console, via
OvmfPkg/Library/PlatformBmPrintScLib/, for better diagnoses of boot
failures.  This 'wait for keypress' allows to read those messages before
the screen gets overwritten by whatever is launched next.

recent update (new in 2025-05) is to launch the boot menu app instead of
efi shell or firmware setup app, so when something goes wrong the user
gets a menu with choices instead of being dropped somewhere
automatically.  This also allows the host (i.e. qemu) to allow or deny
access to efi shell / firmware setup.

take care,
  Gerd



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