REBOOTING TO A UEFI APPLICATION FROM A UEFI SUPPORTED SYSTEM

• US 20160210163A1
• Filed: 01/15/2016
• Published: 07/21/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/15/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avast Software SRO (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Avast Software SRO (Gen Digital Inc.)
• Inventors: McSorely, Aaron
• Granted Patent: US 9,792,130 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4401 Bootstrapping security arrangements therefor G06F21/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/4406 Loading of operating system
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 9/44505 Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files

Abstract

Systems and methods for rebooting a UEFI based system, for example from Microsoft Windows, to any UEFI application, include modifying boot configuration data by inserting a boot entry into the UEFI firmware boot manager to cause execution of a non-Windows UEFI application.

Claims

1. A method for causing a computer system to boot an application, the method comprising:

copying the application to a boot system partition;

saving boot configuration data for the computer system to a backup file;

loading the boot configuration data into a temporary location;

creating a registry object for the application;

storing the registry object into the temporary location;

creating a modified backup file by modifying the backup file to set a device partition for the registry object in the backup file;

storing the modified backup file to the boot configuration data; and

setting a next boot device value in a firmware boot manager to indicate the registry object.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein copying the application to the boot system partition includes mounting an EFI system partition, and copying an EFI application file to a directory on the EFI system partition.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein saving the boot configuration data to the backup file includes the executing a bcdedit utility to export the boot configuration data to a file on a file system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein loading the boot configuration data into the temporary location includes executing a registry editing utility.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the temporary location is a temporary registry location.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein loading the boot configuration data into the temporary location includes loading the boot configuration data from the backup file.

7. An apparatus comprising:

one or more processors; and

a machine-readable medium coupled to the one or more processors, the machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed, cause the one or more processors to;

copy an application to a boot system partition,

save boot configuration data to a backup file;

load the boot configuration data into a temporary location,

create a registry object for the application,

store the registry object into the temporary location,

create a modified backup file by modifying the backup file to set a device partition for the registry object in the backup file,

store the modified backup file to the boot configuration data, and

set a next boot device value in a firmware boot manager to indicate the registry object.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions to copy the application to the boot system partition include instructions to mount an EFI system partition, and copy an EFI application file to a directory on the EFI system partition.

9. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions to save the boot configuration data to the backup file include instructions to execute a bcdedit utility to export the boot configuration data to a file on a file system.

10. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions to load the boot configuration data into the temporary location include instructions to execute a registry editing utility.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the temporary location is a temporary registry location.

12. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the instructions to load the boot configuration data into the temporary location include instructions to load the boot configuration data from the backup file.

13. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructions, that when executed, cause one or more processors to:

copy an application to a boot system partition;

save boot configuration data to a backup file;

load the boot configuration data into a temporary location;

create a registry object for the application;

store the registry object into the temporary location;

create a modified backup file by modifying the backup file to set a device partition for the registry object in the backup file;

store the modified backup file to the boot configuration data; and

set a next boot device value in a firmware boot manager to indicate the registry object.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions to copy the application to the boot system partition include instructions to mount an EFI system partition, and copy an EFI application file to a directory on the EFI system partition.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions to load the boot configuration data into the temporary location include instructions to load the boot configuration data from the backup file.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions to save the boot configuration data to the backup file include instructions to execute a bcdedit utility to export the boot configuration data to a file on a file system.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the instructions to load the boot configuration data into the temporary location include instructions to execute a registry editing utility.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 13, wherein the temporary location is a temporary registry location.