Virtual Machine cannot bootup after installing FreeBSD 12.x with EFI running on ESXi 7.0U3 and earlier versions

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

Virtual Machine (VM) fails to reboot into the installed guest OS after installing FreeBSD 12.x in VM with Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI).

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 6.7
VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0.x

Cause

FreeBSD 12.x does not create any EFI Boot Option during installation which causes the bootup to fail after rebooting.

Resolution

The issue has been fixed in VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0 version.

Workaround:

To workaround the issue, please install FreeBSD 13 instead of FreeBSD 12 in a VM running on ESXi 7.0U3 and earlier versions.