Vboxhfs.efi

: It is frequently used for creating online DMG-based recovery USBs , which require an HFS+ driver to mount and download macOS installation assets. Implementation in Bootloaders

driver directly from Apple's own firmware. It was faster and more stable but, technically, its distribution was a legal gray area. OpenHfsPlus.efi: Eventually, the Acidanthera team (the developers behind OpenCore) created OpenHfsPlus.efi vboxhfs.efi

VirtualBox’s native EFI firmware does not understand Apple file systems. Without vboxhfs.efi , the VirtualBox UEFI BIOS sees a hard drive or ISO file but cannot locate the boot.efi file required to start macOS. : It is frequently used for creating online

When you boot a standard Linux or Windows virtual machine, VirtualBox uses a FAT32 EFI System Partition (ESP). The UEFI firmware reads EFI/BOOT/BOOTX64.efi directly from FAT32 seamlessly. macOS, however, complicates this process: OpenHfsPlus

In simple terms, VBoxHfs.efi acts as a "translator" for your computer's firmware. Without it, a standard PC's UEFI environment cannot "see" the files on a macOS-formatted disk.

It is derived from the open-source VirtualBox codebase.