diff --git a/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-altcfg.conf b/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-altcfg.conf
index 3d64bdd1fe..e56c4f0a37 100644
--- a/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-altcfg.conf
+++ b/meta-poky/conf/distro/poky-altcfg.conf
@@ -14,4 +14,7 @@ POKY_INIT_MANAGER:poky-altcfg = "systemd"
 # systemd isn't suitable with musl
 POKY_INIT_MANAGER:poky-altcfg:libc-musl = "sysvinit"
 
+# for systemd etc UEFI support
+DISTRO_FEATURES:append = " efi"
+
 require conf/distro/include/poky-distro-alt-test-config.inc