White Papers

10 Configuring server boot options on 14th generation Dell EMC PowerEdge servers
The most common way for a boot entry for a fixed disk drive such as a PERC RAID controller virtual drive to
be added is by the OS. During the OS installation process, the OS adds an entry for itself and places it first in
the boot sequence.
If an OS has not been installed, it is still possible to have a UEFI boot entry. A boot entry for a fixed disk will
be added if the file efi\boot\bootx64.efi exists on a FAT filesystem.
3.2.3 Hard Disk drive placeholder
In certain instances, administrators may wish to reserve a boot entry for a fixed disk in the UEFI Boot
Sequence before an OS is installed or before a physical or virtual drive has been formatted. When a Hard-
Disk Drive Placeholder is set to Enabled, the BIOS will create a boot option for the PERC RAID (Integrated or
in a PCIe slot) disk if a partition is found, even if there is no FAT filesystem present. When set to Disabled,
BIOS will only add a boot option if a UEFI boot file is found.
This allows the Integrated RAID controller to be moved in the UEFI Boot Sequence prior to the OS
installation.
The Hard-disk Driver Placeholder default is disabled and can be changed with the following BIOS Attribute. It
is available only in UEFI Boot Mode.
Hard drive placeholder settings
Name
Programmatic Name
Attribute
Hard-disk Drive Placeholder
HddPlaceholder
Possible Values
- Disabled
- Enabled
- Disabled
- Enabled
3.2.4 Summary of how UEFI Fixed-disk Boot Options are displayed in BIOS
 When OS has not been installed, “efi\boot\bootx64.efi” does not exist, and the BIOS Attribute Hard-disk Drive
Placeholder is set to Enabled.
 When OS has not been installed, but “efi\boot\bootx64.efi” exists:
 When OS has been installed (in this example Microsoft Windows Server):
3.2.5 Generic USB Boot
In addition to enabling reservation of virtual drives within the boot sequence, administrators may want to
reserve a boot entry for USB Boot Options, so it can be placed in the UEFI Boot Sequence even when the
device is not present. This allows a USB drive to be added or removed without affecting its position in the
boot sequence.