EFIDateien

efiDateien are executables used by the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) during the boot process and for pre-boot operations. They reside on the EFI System Partition (ESP), a dedicated FAT-formatted partition that stores boot loaders, drivers, and related components. The ESP is typically accessed by the firmware before any operating system loads, and its contents determine which software is started at boot.

These files are built as PE/COFF executables, available in 32-bit or 64-bit variants, and are designed to run in the pre-boot environment rather than as native applications of the operating system. EFI binaries come in two main forms: EFI applications (boot loaders or utilities) and EFI drivers. Applications are programs that can launch other software or provide user interfaces, while drivers extend firmware functionality by adding hardware support or services available to the pre-boot environment.

Boot loading and management rely on specific file paths and entries. For example, Windows commonly uses the boot manager at \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi, while Linux distributions and other boot managers place their loaders under their own subdirectories on the ESP (such as \EFI\ubuntu\grubx64.efi). Secure Boot adds an authentication layer, requiring valid digital signatures for EFI binaries to be loaded; unsigned or improperly signed files may be blocked depending on firmware policy.

In operation, efiDateien enable cross-platform booting, firmware-driven hardware initialization, and runtime services accessible to the operating system after boot. They are largely transparent to end users but are critical for boot stability and system security.