# UEFI

Added in version 17.0.0: (Queens)

Nova supports configuring a UEFI bootloader for guests. This brings about important advantages over legacy BIOS bootloaders and allows for features such as Secure Boot.

## Enabling UEFI

Currently the configuration of UEFI guest bootloaders is only supported when using the libvirt compute driver with a `libvirt.virt_type` of `kvm` or `qemu`. When using the libvirt compute driver with AArch64-based guests, UEFI is automatically enabled as AArch64 does not support BIOS.

Todo

Update this once compute drivers start reporting a trait indicating UEFI bootloader support.

## Configuring a flavor or image

Configuring a UEFI bootloader varies depending on the compute driver in use.

Libvirt

UEFI support is enabled by default on AArch64-based guests. For other guest architectures, you can request UEFI support with libvirt by setting the `hw_firmware_type` image property to `uefi`. For example:

    $ openstack image set --property hw_firmware_type=uefi $IMAGE

## References

- Open Virtual Machine Firmware (OVMF) Status Report

- Anatomy of a boot, a QEMU perspective

this page last updated: 2026-04-21 19:00:00

Except where otherwise noted, this document is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. See all OpenStack Legal Documents.

found an error? report a bug