Getting Started

This guide explains how to build and run the UEFI Playground locally using QEMU and OVMF.

Requirements

The project is developed and tested on Ubuntu/Debian based Linux systems.

Required tools:

• GCC
• GNU-EFI
• GNU binutils
• QEMU
• OVMF firmware

Install dependencies:

sudo apt install ovmf qemu-system-x86 gnu-efi

Clone the Repository

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/koenigr/uefi-playground.git
cd uefi-playground

Build and Run

Build all EFI applications and start QEMU:

make run

This will:

1. Compile the UEFI applications
2. Create EFI binaries
3. Start QEMU with OVMF firmware
4. Boot into the UEFI environment

QEMU and OVMF

The project uses OVMF to provide a virtual UEFI firmware environment.

The boot process looks like this:

QEMU
 |
 +--> OVMF Firmware
          |
          +--> UEFI Applications
          |
          +--> Boot Loader

This allows development and debugging without modifying physical hardware.

UEFI Shell

When the UEFI shell is available, common commands are:

Switch to the EFI filesystem:

fs0:

List files:

ls

Exit the shell:

exit

Running Applications

The generated EFI binaries are located in:

build/
├── apps/
│   ├── hello.efi
│   ├── memory_map.efi
│   ├── filesystem.efi
│   └── graphics.efi
└── boot/

Applications can be launched from the UEFI shell.

Example:

fs0:
hello.efi

Development Environment

The project intentionally uses a minimal toolchain:

• C for implementation
• GNU-EFI for UEFI interfaces
• GCC and binutils for compilation
• QEMU and OVMF for testing

The goal is to understand the firmware environment directly rather than hiding it behind higher-level frameworks.