diff --git a/grub-core/osdep/basic/platform.c b/grub-core/osdep/basic/platform.c
index 4b5502aeb..a7dafd85a 100644
--- a/grub-core/osdep/basic/platform.c
+++ b/grub-core/osdep/basic/platform.c
@@ -18,6 +18,12 @@
 
 #include <grub/util/install.h>
 
+const char *
+grub_install_get_default_arm_platform (void)
+{
+  return "arm-uboot";
+}
+
 const char *
 grub_install_get_default_x86_platform (void)
 { 
diff --git a/grub-core/osdep/linux/platform.c b/grub-core/osdep/linux/platform.c
index 775b6c031..6dee798e3 100644
--- a/grub-core/osdep/linux/platform.c
+++ b/grub-core/osdep/linux/platform.c
@@ -97,6 +97,28 @@ read_platform_size (void)
   return ret;
 }
 
+const char *
+grub_install_get_default_arm_platform (void)
+{
+  /*
+   * On Linux, we need the efivars kernel modules. If no EFI is available this
+   * module just does nothing besides a small hello and if we detect efi we'll
+   * load it anyway later. So it should be safe to try to load it here.
+   */
+  grub_util_exec_redirect_all ((const char * []){ "modprobe", "efivars", NULL },
+			       NULL, NULL, "/dev/null");
+
+  grub_util_info ("Looking for /sys/firmware/efi ..");
+  if (is_not_empty_directory ("/sys/firmware/efi"))
+    {
+      grub_util_info ("...found");
+      return "arm-efi";
+    }
+
+  grub_util_info ("... not found");
+  return "arm-uboot";
+}
+
 const char *
 grub_install_get_default_x86_platform (void)
 { 
diff --git a/include/grub/util/install.h b/include/grub/util/install.h
index b1a00154f..2631b1074 100644
--- a/include/grub/util/install.h
+++ b/include/grub/util/install.h
@@ -210,6 +210,9 @@ grub_util_get_target_dirname (const struct grub_install_image_target_desc *t);
 void
 grub_install_create_envblk_file (const char *name);
 
+const char *
+grub_install_get_default_arm_platform (void);
+
 const char *
 grub_install_get_default_x86_platform (void);
 
diff --git a/util/grub-install.c b/util/grub-install.c
index c6c3da331..264f9ecdc 100644
--- a/util/grub-install.c
+++ b/util/grub-install.c
@@ -319,7 +319,7 @@ get_default_platform (void)
 #elif defined (__ia64__)
    return "ia64-efi";
 #elif defined (__arm__)
-   return "arm-uboot";
+   return grub_install_get_default_arm_platform ();
 #elif defined (__aarch64__)
    return "arm64-efi";
 #elif defined (__amd64__) || defined (__x86_64__) || defined (__i386__)