UEFI Development Guide
Welcome to the comprehensive UEFI firmware development guide. This tutorial takes you from beginner to professional, covering everything from environment setup to advanced SMM drivers and platform porting.
What You’ll Learn
- Getting Started: Set up your development environment and build your first UEFI application
- Core Concepts: Understand UEFI’s driver model, protocols, handles, and memory services
- Essential Services: Master console I/O, graphics, file systems, networking, and variables
- Advanced Topics: PEI/DXE internals, SMM, Secure Boot, TPM, ACPI, capsule updates, RAS
- Practical Projects: Build real applications - shell commands, boot menus, network tools
Quick Start
How This Guide is Organized
| Section | Description | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Part 1: Getting Started | Environment setup, first build, QEMU testing | Beginner |
| Part 2: Core Concepts | Driver model, protocols, memory, services | Beginner-Intermediate |
| Part 3: Essential Services | Console, graphics, files, network, variables | Intermediate |
| Part 4: Advanced Topics | PEI, DXE, SMM, security, ACPI, RAS, ARM | Advanced |
| Part 5: Practical Projects | Shell commands, boot menu, network app | Advanced |
| Appendices | Build system, debugging, references, glossary | Reference |
Prerequisites
- Basic C programming knowledge
- Linux/Windows command line familiarity
- Embedded systems concepts (helpful but not required)
Sample Code
All examples in this guide are tested and available in the examples/ directory. Each example includes:
- Complete, buildable code
- INF file for EDK2 integration
- Verification steps for QEMU
Contributing
Found an error? Want to add content? See our Contributing Guide.
This guide is community-maintained and not officially affiliated with the UEFI Forum. For official documentation, visit uefi.org.