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Is Ubuntu instances boot with EFI or BIOS?

Posted on January 30, 2021

Hello, i have created Ubuntu 20.04 instance and during GRUB update i see GRUB was installed for UEFI. Its puzzles me since there is no /sys/firmware/efi in system and Ubuntu already have record of incorrect GRUB updates breaking system. So, is Ubuntu 20.04 instances is UEFI based or BIOS?

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KFSys

February 1, 2021

Accepted Answer

Hi @nayklost,

You are correct, I just created a droplet and I can see that there is no folder /sys/firmware/efi. Ussually, as you’ve stated as well, the most common way to see if you’ve used UEFI to boot is if you have the folder /sys/firmware/efi.

Another way to see if you are using UEFI is to try and run the command:

efibootmgr

If it returns :

EFI variables are not supported on this system.

Then for sure, it’s not UEFI but BIOS.

Regards, KFSys

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