parted shows such a partition with the
/boot flag. (Note: in a
MBR partitioned harddisk, the boot flag has a different meaning).
Contents
The ESP contains the
boot loader for all installed operating systems, the device drivers and system programs that run before the operating system is started.
This is one of the big advantages of
UEFI over
BIOS: Every operating system can install the files it needs into the ESP.
C:\> mountvol z: /s
C:\> tree /a
Z:\
└───EFI
├───Microsoft
│ ├───Boot
│ │ │ BCD <- This file can be manipulated with bcdedit.exe (and is referred to as store)
│ │ │ winsipolicy.p7b
│ │ │ bootmgfw.efi <- The microsoft provided boot manager: it loads an OS based on BCD entries. On my current system, this file is binary identical to \EFI\Boot\bootx64.efi
│ │ │ bootmgr.efi
│ │ │ kdnet_uart16550.dll
│ │ │ kdstub.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_10df.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_10ec.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_1137.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_14e4.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_15b3.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_1969.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_19a2.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_1af4.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_8086.dll
│ │ │ memtest.efi
│ │ │ boot.stl
│ │ │ kd_07_1415.dll
│ │ │ kd_0C_8086.dll
│ │ │ cbmr_driver.efi
│ │ │ SecureBootRecovery.efi
│ │ │ kd_02_1414.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_15ad.dll
│ │ │ kd_02_1d0f.dll
│ │ │ boot.pnd.stl
│ │ │
│ │ ├───bg-BG
│ │ │ bootmgfw.efi.mui
│ │ │ bootmgr.efi.mui
…
│ │ │
│ │ ├───CIPolicies
│ │ │ └───Active
│ │ │ {5DAC656C-21AD-4A02-AB49-649917162E70}.cip
│ │ │ {82443e1e-8a39-4b4a-96a8-f40ddc00b9f3}.cip
│ │ │ {CDD5CB55-DB68-4D71-AA38-3DF2B6473A52}.cip
│ │ │
│ │ ├───ko-KR
│ │ │ bootmgr.efi.mui
│ │ │ memtest.efi.mui
│ │ │ bootmgfw.efi.mui
…
│ │ ├───Fonts
│ │ │ segmono_boot.ttf
│ │ │ segoen_slboot.ttf
│ │ │ segoe_slboot.ttf
│ │ │ chs_boot.ttf
│ │ │ cht_boot.ttf
│ │ │ jpn_boot.ttf
│ │ │ kor_boot.ttf
│ │ │ malgunn_boot.ttf
│ │ │ malgun_boot.ttf
│ │ │ meiryon_boot.ttf
│ │ │ meiryo_boot.ttf
│ │ │ msjhn_boot.ttf
│ │ │ msjh_boot.ttf
│ │ │ msyhn_boot.ttf
│ │ │ msyh_boot.ttf
│ │ │ wgl4_boot.ttf
│ │ │
│ │ ├───Resources
│ │ │ │ bootres.dll
│ │ │ │
│ │ │ ├───de-DE
│ │ │ │ bootres.dll.mui
…
│ │ │
│ │ └───qps-plocm
│ │ memtest.efi.mui
│ │
│ └───Recovery
│ BCD
│
├───Boot
│ bootx64.efi < On my current system, this file is binary identical to \EFI\Microsoft\Boot\bootmgfw.efi
│
├───Dell
│ ├───Bios
│ │ └───Recovery
│ │ BIOS_BIR.RCV
│ │ BIOS_PRE.rcv
│ │ BIOS_CUR.RCV
│ │
│ └───logs
│ diags_previous.xml
│ diags_current.xml
│
├───GRUB
│ grubx64.efi
│
└───debian
shimx64.efi
grubx64.efi
mmx64.efi
fbx64.efi
BOOTX64.CSV
grub.cfg