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Over time, the PE format has grown with the Windows platform. Notable extensions include the .NET PE format for managed code, PE32+ for 64-bit address space support, and a specialized version for Windows CE. To determine whether a PE file is intended for 32-bit or 64-bit architectures, one can examine the Machine field in the IMAGE_FILE_HEADER. [6]
UEFI requires the firmware and operating system loader (or kernel) to be size-matched; that is, a 64-bit UEFI firmware implementation can load only a 64-bit operating system (OS) boot loader or kernel (unless the CSM-based legacy boot is used) and the same applies to 32-bit.
coreboot, formerly known as LinuxBIOS, [5] is a software project aimed at replacing proprietary firmware (BIOS or UEFI) found in most computers with a lightweight firmware designed to perform only the minimum number of tasks necessary to load and run a modern 32-bit or 64-bit operating system.
GRUB 2, elilo and systemd-boot serve as conventional, full-fledged standalone UEFI boot managers (a.k.a. bootloader managers) for Linux. Once loaded by a UEFI firmware, they can access and boot kernel images from all devices, partitions and file systems they support, without being limited to the EFI system partition.
TianoCore EDK II (formerly Tiano) is the reference implementation of UEFI by Intel. EDK is the abbreviation for EFI Development Kit and is developed by the TianoCore community. [ 1 ] TianoCore EDK II is the de facto standard generic UEFI services implementation.
fwupd is an open-source daemon for managing the installation of firmware updates on Linux-based systems, developed by GNOME maintainer Richard Hughes. [1] It is designed primarily for servicing the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) firmware on supported devices via EFI System Resource Table (ESRT) and UEFI Capsule, which is supported in Linux kernel 4.2 and later.
In UEFI systems, the Linux kernel can be executed directly by UEFI firmware via the EFI boot stub, [8] but usually uses GRUB 2 or systemd-boot as a bootloader. [9] [10] If UEFI Secure Boot is supported, a "shim" or "Preloader" is often booted by the UEFI before the bootloader or EFI-stub-bearing kernel. [11]
On system with BIOS firmware, the BIOS invokes MBR boot code from a hard disk drive at startup. The MBR boot code and the VBR boot code are OS-specific. In Microsoft Windows, the MBR boot code tries to find an active partition (the MBR is only 512 bytes), then executes the VBR boot code of an active partition.