Enable or Disable UEFI Secure Boot for a Virtual Machine

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi 6.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.0
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.0

Issue/Introduction

Enable or Disable UEFI Secure Boot for a Virtual Machine

Environment

• VMware vSphere ESXi 6.x
• VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
• VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x 

Resolution

Prerequisites :-

You can enable secure boot only if all prerequisites are met. If prerequisites are not met, the check box is not visible in the vSphere Client.

• Verify that the virtual machine operating system and firmware support UEFI boot.
• EFI firmware
• Virtual hardware version 13 or later.
• Operating system that supports UEFI secure boot.

• Turn off the virtual machine. If the virtual machine is running, the check box is dimmed.

 

Resolution Steps :-

1. Browse to the virtual machine in the vSphere Client inventory.
2. Right-click the virtual machine and select Edit Settings.
3. Click the VM Options tab, and expand Boot Options.
4. Under Boot Options, ensure that firmware is set to EFI.
5. Select your task.
   • Select the Secure Boot check box to enable secure boot.
   • Deselect the Secure Boot check box to disable secure boot.
6. Click OK.
   
   
   
   Note: Some guest operating systems do not support changing from BIOS boot to UEFI boot without guest OS modifications. Consult your guest OS documentation before changing to UEFI boot. If you upgrade a virtual machine that already uses UEFI boot to an operating system that supports UEFI secure boot, you can enable Secure Boot for that virtual machine.