VMware

[cmo30]

Hi guys, I'm currently wanting to learn Linux. I currently have a VM setup in VMware Workstation Pro for Rocky Linux, but when I go to VMware settings for the VM in the Options section under the Advanced section, the firmware option is set to BIOS, but the UEFI and Secure Boot selections are grayed out. I'm not sure what to do. Any help and guidance is much appreciated. Thanks in advance. 

[leadeater]

To change those the VM needs to be powered off. You also need to upgrade the VM hardware version to one that is high enough to support UEFI & Secure Boot, I believe the correct OS is chosen in the VM settings too.

 

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/315655/virtual-machine-hardware-versions.html

[cmo30]

25 minutes ago, leadeater said:

To change those the VM needs to be powered off. You also need to upgrade the VM hardware version to one that is high enough to support UEFI & Secure Boot, I believe the correct OS is chosen in the VM settings too.

 

https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/315655/virtual-machine-hardware-versions.html

I just checked the VM hardware version and it's on VMware workstation pro 25H2. 

[KingTitan]

I’ve seen this happen before in VMware. If the VM was originally created in BIOS mode, VMware locks out the UEFI/Secure Boot options, so they stay greyed out. It’s not a Linux problem — it’s just a VMware thing. You can’t switch a VM from BIOS → UEFI after it’s already created.

The only fix is to make a new VM and pick UEFI during creation. Once the VM is UEFI from the start, Secure Boot can be toggled normally.

Personally I use VirtualBox for this kind of stuff — it’s free, easy to use, and you don’t usually run into these firmware-locked settings. But yeah, even in VBox, if you create a VM with the wrong firmware, you have to recreate it to change that.

Creating a new VM is the quickest way out here. After that, Linux should install with UEFI just fine.

[Eigenvektor]

44 minutes ago, KingTitan said:

I’ve seen this happen before in VMware. If the VM was originally created in BIOS mode, VMware locks out the UEFI/Secure Boot options, so they stay greyed out. It’s not a Linux problem — it’s just a VMware thing.

If you switch your UEFI into BIOS mode on physical hardware (enable "CSM") and then install either Windows or Linux, they'll create a disk with an MBR partition scheme (rather than GPT). If you then disable CSM, you'll end up with a system that no longer boots. VMWare prevents you from switching to prevent the same thing from happening to your VM.

[leadeater]

@KingTitan @Eigenvektor At least for ESXi and vSphere you can change between BIOS and UEFI. Yes you'll make the OS non bootable but that's also easily fixed/repaired. Don't know about Workstation specfically but all the same general rules apply, powered off to change it, Workstation (ESXi) version that supports required VM hardware version and VM hardware version set correctly to support UEFI/Secure Boot etc.

[cmo30]

20 hours ago, KingTitan said:

I’ve seen this happen before in VMware. If the VM was originally created in BIOS mode, VMware locks out the UEFI/Secure Boot options, so they stay greyed out. It’s not a Linux problem — it’s just a VMware thing. You can’t switch a VM from BIOS → UEFI after it’s already created.

The only fix is to make a new VM and pick UEFI during creation. Once the VM is UEFI from the start, Secure Boot can be toggled normally.

Personally I use VirtualBox for this kind of stuff — it’s free, easy to use, and you don’t usually run into these firmware-locked settings. But yeah, even in VBox, if you create a VM with the wrong firmware, you have to recreate it to change that.

Creating a new VM is the quickest way out here. After that, Linux should install with UEFI just fine.

When I went to recreate the VM I didn't see the option in the custom advance creation section to select UEFI or secure boot options. I went ahead and created the VM encrypted the VM but still am getting the uefi and secure boot options grayed out. 

[cmo30]

20 hours ago, Eigenvektor said:

If you switch your UEFI into BIOS mode on physical hardware (enable "CSM") and then install either Windows or Linux, they'll create a disk with an MBR partition scheme (rather than GPT). If you then disable CSM, you'll end up with a system that no longer boots. VMWare prevents you from switching to prevent the same thing from happening to your VM.

When I went to recreate the VM I didn't see the option in the custom advance creation section to select UEFI or secure boot options. I went ahead and created the VM encrypted the VM but still am getting the uefi and secure boot options grayed out.