Libreboot, the free and open-source boot firmware project that replaces proprietary BIOS and UEFI firmware on supported hardware, has released version 26.11, transitioning to full UEFI support through the MrChromebox EDK2 payload, which also makes it compatible with Microsoft Windows.
With this release, nearly all supported boards now ship exclusively with EDK2 firmware. The project removed GRUB as a coreboot payload, along with the previously included MemTest86plus and CSMWrap payloads, simplifying firmware configuration and reducing maintenance.
However, this change comes with an important warning for existing users. Systems configured to boot in legacy BIOS mode must be migrated to UEFI, including setting up a proper EFI System Partition, before installing the new firmware. Otherwise, existing operating system installations may no longer boot.
Legacy booting is still possible, but users must add the required components themselves when compiling Libreboot. The build system now supports inserting GRUB EFI, MemTest86plus, and ReBIOS through its efi/ directory.
On the hardware side, Libreboot 26.11 enables TPM 2.0 by default on several systems, including the ThinkPad X270, X280, T480, T480s, and T580, along with the Supermicro X11SSH-F and Topton X2E N150. TPM support was previously disabled due to problems with SeaBIOS, which no longer occur with EDK2.
Dell Latitude laptops also receive fixes for fan control, battery status reporting, and lid-switch handling during suspend. These improvements use an updated ACPI implementation replacing older SMM-based patches. Furthermore, SD card reader functionality has been restored on the ThinkPad W541 and Dell Latitude E7240 through an EDK2 patch.
For Chromebook users, the release restores configurations matching upstream MrChromebox after changes in Libreboot 26.10 caused boot failures on some systems. The Dell OptiPlex 780 also switches to EDK2, while the OptiPlex 5050 SFF gains SATA hotplug support and a fix for PCIe error reporting related to certain wireless cards.
A security-related EDK2 fix addresses an ICMP packet bounds-checking vulnerability in its PXE implementation. According to the developers, Libreboot was not affected because its configurations use iPXE instead, but the patch has been incorporated into the distributed source code.
Finally, the release simplifies several aspects of Libreboot’s build system, including firmware payload configuration, source handling, and ROM naming. Custom firmware images now use clearer BIOS and UEFI prefixes. Improvements to the lbmk build utility make it easier to insert additional EFI payloads and work with older firmware images.
For more information, see the release announcement.
