Inconsistent UEFI support across different machine platforms

[RobinHood2023]

I learned from asking on the IRC channel that Haiku supports UEFI; in fact, it requires UEFI when booting it on a physical computer. It seems to me, however, that when I try to use Haiku on virtual machines, I get some inconsistent results across different platforms.

I have not personally tested Haiku's UEFI mode on QEMU, but a moderator did confirm it works on that platform. I tested the same on VMware, and found that I can get a Haiku logo, but the system hangs there. Finally, I tested it on VirtualBox 7, but it doesn't work at all -- VirtualBox gives me a dialog box asking me to mount a different ISO.

[bipolar]

Just some clarification:

in fact, it requires UEFI when booting it on a physical computer.

You were told it requires UEFI for non-x86 platforms (risc-v, and arm 64 specifically).

On x86 (both 32 and 64 bits) it can boot from BIOS/MBR/"Legacy".

BTW, the "[m]" at the end of the nicknames on IRC doesn't means moderator, it means the users are on "Matrix" network that its bridged to IRC.

[pulkomandy]

There are several users using Haiku in virtualbox and vmware without problems booting it.

Have you followed the instructions in this page? ​https://www.haiku-os.org/guides/virtualizing/virtualbox

If not, how is your setup different from it? That would help understanding what isn't working in your case.

[X512]

@pulkomandy

It is not a problem of running Haiku in general in VirtualBox or VMWare, but explicitly running in UEFI mode.

[RobinHood2023]

@X512 is correct; I followed the steps as laid out in the guide. The guide did not mention anything about UEFI compatibility.