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Bios and Uefi 2

1) BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System and is firmware stored on an EPROM chip that initializes hardware and loads the operating system bootloader. 2) UEFI is the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface that replaces BIOS. It stores initialization files on an EFI System Partition instead of firmware. 3) UEFI addresses limitations of BIOS like larger storage capacity support and faster boot times while providing security features like Secure Boot.

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arun
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296 views5 pages

Bios and Uefi 2

1) BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System and is firmware stored on an EPROM chip that initializes hardware and loads the operating system bootloader. 2) UEFI is the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface that replaces BIOS. It stores initialization files on an EFI System Partition instead of firmware. 3) UEFI addresses limitations of BIOS like larger storage capacity support and faster boot times while providing security features like Secure Boot.

Uploaded by

arun
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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UEFI vs BIOS: What's the Difference?

So you might have heard the acronyms BIOS and UEFI thrown
around, especially when trying to switch Operating Systems or
messing around with overclocking.
And you might know what these acronyms stand for (Unified Extensible
Firmware Interface and Basic Input/Output System, respectively). But have you
ever wondered how they're used in a computer system?

Let's demystify these terms and their meanings now.

Boot Procedure
So, how does a computer boot? Let's go step by step:

1. You press the power button on your laptop/desktop.


2. The CPU starts up, but needs some instructions to work on (remember, the CPU
always needs to do something). Since the main memory is empty at this stage,
CPU defers to load instructions from the firmware chip on the motherboard and
begins executing instructions.
3. The firmware code does a Power On Self Test (POST), initializes the remaining
hardware, detects the connected peripherals (mouse, keyboard, pendrive etc.)
and checks if all connected devices are healthy. You might remember it as a
'beep' that desktops used to make after POST is successful.
4. Finally, the firmware code cycles through all storage devices and looks for a
boot-loader (usually located in first sector of a disk). If the boot-loader is found,
then the firmware hands over control of the computer to it.
5. So now that the boot-loader is loaded, its job is to load the rest of the operating
system. GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) is one such boot-loader that is capable of
loading unix-like operating systems and is also able to chain-load Windows
OS(boot manager or bootstrap loader). Boot-loader is only available in the first sector
of a disk, which is 512 bytes. Given the complexity of modern operating
systems, some of these boot-loaders tend to do multi-stage loading, where the
main boot-loader loads the second-stage-boot-loader in an environment which is
not restricted to 512 bytes.
6. The boot-loader then loads the kernel into memory. Unix-like operating systems
then run the init process (the master process, from which other processes are
forked/executed) and finally initialize the run-levels.
7. In Windows, wininit.exe is loaded along with some other processes
like services.exe for service control, lsass.exe for local security and
authority (similar to run-levels) and lsm.exe for local session management.
8. After all this, and after some other drivers are initialized, the Graphical User
Inferface (GUI) is loaded and you are presented with the login screen.
This was a very high-level overview of the boot process. If you're interested in
Operating Systems, I would recommend that you read more on osdev.net.
Now let's get back to our original topic.
The kernel is a computer program at the core of a computer's operating system and generally has
complete control over everything in the system. It is the portion of the operating system code that is
always resident in memory and facilitates interactions between hardware and software components

During normal system startup, a computer's basic input/output system, or BIOS, completes a hardware
bootstrap or initialization. It then runs a bootloader which loads the kernel from a storage device -- such
as a hard drive -- into a protected memory space. Once the kernel is loaded into computer memory, the
BIOS transfers control to the kernel. It then loads other OS components to complete the system startup
and make control available to users through a desktop or other user interface.
BIOS:

BIOS stands for Basic Input/Output System, the firmware we talked about in the
above boot procedure.

It is stored on an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory),


allowing the manufacturer to push out updates easily.

It provides many helper functions that allow reading boot sectors of attached
storage and printing things on screen. You can access BIOS during the initial
phases of the boot procedure by pressing del, F2 or F10.
UEFI:

ASUS UEFI 
UEFI stands for Unified Extensible Firmware Interface. It does the same job as
a BIOS, but with one basic difference: it stores all data about initialization and
startup in an .efi file, instead of storing it on the firmware.

This .efi file is stored on a special partition called EFI System Partition (ESP)
on the hard disk. This ESP partition also contains the bootloader.

UEFI was designed to overcome many limitations of the old BIOS, including:

1. UEFI supports drive sizes upto 9 zettabytes, whereas BIOS only supports 2.2
terabytes.
2. UEFI provides faster boot time.
3. UEFI has discrete driver support, while BIOS has drive support stored in its
ROM, so updating BIOS firmware is a bit difficult.
4. UEFI offers security like "Secure Boot", which prevents the computer from
booting from unauthorized/unsigned applications. This helps in preventing
rootkits (Malware), but also hampers (a basket or box) dual-booting, as it treats other
OS as unsigned applications. Currently, only Windows and Ubuntu are signed
OS.
5. UEFI runs in 32bit or 64bit mode, whereas BIOS runs in 16bit mode. So UEFI
is able to provide a GUI (navigation with mouse) as opposed to BIOS which
allows navigation only using the keyboard.
You might not need UEFI
Though all modern computers come equipped with UEFI by default, some
reasons why you might choose BIOS over UEFI are:

1. If you're beginner and don't care about messing with any type of firmware,
BIOS is for you.
2. If you have < 2 TB per hard disk or partition, you can go with BIOS.
3. BIOS allows running multiple operating systems without changing any settings
This can be a security issue from a modern standpoint, but hey, no hassles for
the user.
4. BIOS provides system information to the operating system. So if your OS runs
in 16 bit mode, it does not require writing code for interacting with hardware. It
can directly use methods provided by BIOS. Else if the OS switches over to
32bit or 64bit mode, then it needs to provide its own subroutines for interacting
with hardware.
5. If you are someone who prefers a keyboard and text based UI over navigation
with a mouse and GUI, then BIOS is for you.
UEFI takes these limitations into account and provides a Legacy mode. In it you
can run everything as if you had a BIOS firmware. But keep in mind that Intel
has announced that it won't support traditional BIOS from 2020.

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