Freebsd 14.3 only shows a blank screen with the console cursor instead of bootsplash in virtual box

[vmisev]

Yes, it would copy the entire /boot directory, including loader.conf, which is properly configured on the original VM (boot_mute=, splash=...).


Not necessarily. loader.efi works just as well as bootx64.efi. Although the automatic created ESP installes both, the UEFI menu entry points to loader.efi, for example:

# ls -R  /mnt/efi
efi

/mnt/efi:
boot
freebsd

/mnt/efi/boot:
bootx64.efi

/mnt/efi/freebsd:
loader.efi

# efibootmgr  -v
Boot to FW : false
BootCurrent: 0004
Timeout    : 0 seconds
BootOrder  : 0004, 0000, 0002, 0003
+Boot0004* FreeBSD HD(1,GPT,0158f264-9d78-11f0-b331-080027ccffc3,0x28,0x82000)/File(\efi\freebsd\loader.efi)
                      ada0p1:/efi/freebsd/loader.efi (null)
 Boot0000* UiApp Fv(7cb8bdc9-f8eb-4f34-aaea-3ee4af6516a1)/FvFile(462caa21-7614-4503-836e-8ab6f4662331)
 Boot0002* UEFI VBOX HARDDISK VBfed6ad65-df2fbccd  PciRoot(0x0)/Pci(0x1f,0x2)/Sata(0x0,0xffff,0x0)
 Boot0003* EFI Internal Shell Fv(7cb8bdc9-f8eb-4f34-aaea-3ee4af6516a1)/FvFile(7c04a583-9e3e-4f1c-ad65-e05268d0b4d1)

Your suggestion was good, but it is not compatible with the OP's wishes.

It might also be overwhelming for the OP to proceed with the procedure you suggested, considering that he lacks knowledge about the various tools required.

On ESP /EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.EFI is the default, please see uefi(8). /EFI/freebsd/loader.efi is used only, and only if explicitly set by an EFI env managed by efibootmgr(8) , with something like efibootmgr -a -c -l /boot/efi/EFI/freebsd/loader.efi, which is needed if one wants to do dual boot with Win from the single drive, custom tailor boot for secure boot, etc.

Well, I gave my best to help – please take it from here, stage is yours...