System and method for extension of the BIOS boot specification

A system and method is disclosed for extending the BIOS Boot Specification. The specification is extended to accommodate the identification of a greater number of bootable devices. The specification is also extended so that the identifier for each bootable device identifies the default boot order of the device. The specification is also extended to provide additional information about the type of each bootable device and whether each bootable device is an onboard or add-in device. The extension of the BIOS Boot Specification also allows for the designation of certain entries as placeholders for devices that that are supported by the computer system, but not present in the computer system.