Index: usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/bootconfig
===================================================================
--- usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/bootconfig
+++ usr.sbin/bsdinstall/scripts/bootconfig
@@ -138,17 +138,11 @@
 			bootlabel="FreeBSD"
 		fi
 
-		efibootmgr --create --label "$bootlabel" --loader "${mntpt}/EFI/freebsd/loader.efi" > /dev/null
+		efibootmgr --create --activate --label "$bootlabel" \
+			--loader "${mntpt}/EFI/freebsd/loader.efi" > /dev/null
 
 		umount "${mntpt}"
 		rmdir "${mntpt}"
-
-		# When creating new entries, efibootmgr doesn't mark them active, so we need to
-		# do so. It doesn't make it easy to find which entry it just added, so rely on
-		# the fact that it places the new entry first in BootOrder.
-		bootorder=$(efivar --name 8be4df61-93ca-11d2-aa0d-00e098032b8c-BootOrder --print --no-name --hex | head -1)
-		bootentry=$(echo "$bootorder" | cut -w -f 3)$(echo "$bootorder" | cut -w -f 2)
-		efibootmgr --activate "$bootentry" > /dev/null
 	done
 fi
 
Index: usr.sbin/efibootmgr/efibootmgr.c
===================================================================
--- usr.sbin/efibootmgr/efibootmgr.c
+++ usr.sbin/efibootmgr/efibootmgr.c
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*-
- * Copyright (c) 2017 Netflix, Inc.
+ * Copyright (c) 2017-2018 Netflix, Inc.
  * All rights reserved.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@
 } bmgr_opts_t;
 
 static struct option lopts[] = {
-	{"activate", required_argument, NULL, 'a'},
+	{"activate", no_argument, NULL, 'a'},
 	{"bootnext", required_argument, NULL, 'n'}, /* set bootnext */
 	{"bootnum", required_argument, NULL, 'b'},
 	{"bootorder", required_argument, NULL, 'o'}, /* set order */
@@ -171,37 +171,35 @@
 
 
 #define USAGE \
-	"   [-aAnNB Bootvar] [-t timeout] [-T] [-o bootorder] [-O] [--verbose] [--help] \n\
-  [-c -l loader [-k kernel ] [-L label] [--dry-run] [-b Bootvar]]"
+	"   [-aAnB -b bootnum] [-N] [-t timeout] [-T] [-o bootorder] [-O] [--verbose] [--help]\n\
+  [-c -l loader [-k kernel] [-L label] [--dry-run] [-b bootnum]]"
 
 #define CREATE_USAGE \
-	"       efibootmgr -c -l loader [-k kernel] [-L label] [--dry-run]"
+	"       efibootmgr -c -l loader [-k kernel] [-L label] [--dry-run] [-b bootnum]"
 #define ORDER_USAGE \
 	"       efibootmgr -o bootvarnum1,bootvarnum2,..."
 #define TIMEOUT_USAGE \
 	"       efibootmgr -t seconds"
 #define DELETE_USAGE \
-	"       efibootmgr -B bootvarnum"
+	"       efibootmgr -B -b bootnum"
 #define ACTIVE_USAGE \
-	"       efibootmgr [-a | -A] bootvarnum"
+	"       efibootmgr [-a | -A] -b bootnum"
 #define BOOTNEXT_USAGE \
-	"       efibootmgr [-n | -N] bootvarnum"
+	"       efibootmgr [-n | -N] -b bootnum"
 
 static void
 parse_args(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
 	int ch;
 
-	while ((ch = getopt_long(argc, argv, "A:a:B:b:C:cDe:hk:L:l:Nn:Oo:Tt:v",
+	while ((ch = getopt_long(argc, argv, "AaBb:C:cDe:hk:L:l:NnOo:Tt:v",
 		    lopts, NULL)) != -1) {
 		switch (ch) {
 		case 'A':
 			opts.set_inactive = true;
-			opts.bootnum = strtoul(optarg, NULL, 16);
 			break;
 		case 'a':
 			opts.set_active = true;
-			opts.bootnum = strtoul(optarg, NULL, 16);
 			break;
 		case 'b':
 			opts.has_bootnum = true;
@@ -209,7 +207,6 @@
 			break;
 		case 'B':
 			opts.delete = true;
-			opts.bootnum = strtoul(optarg, NULL, 16);
 			break;
 		case 'C':
 			opts.copy = true;
@@ -246,7 +243,6 @@
 			break;
 		case 'n':
 			opts.set_bootnext = true;
-			opts.bootnum = strtoul(optarg, NULL, 16);
 			break;
 		case 'O':
 			opts.once = true;
@@ -338,14 +334,14 @@
 	while ((next = strsep(&cp, ",")) != NULL) {
 		new_data[i] = strtoul(next, NULL, 16);
 		if (new_data[i] == 0 && errno == EINVAL) {
-			warnx("can't parse %s as a numb", next);
+			warnx("can't parse %s as a number", next);
 			errx(1, "%s", ORDER_USAGE);
 		}
 		i++;
 	}
 	free(cp);
 	if (set_bootvar("BootOrder", (uint8_t*)new_data, size) < 0)
-		err(1, "Unabke to set BootOrder to %s", order);
+		err(1, "Unable to set BootOrder to %s", order);
 	free(new_data);
 }
 
@@ -357,6 +353,9 @@
 	size_t size;
 	char *name;
 
+	if (bootnum < 0 || bootnum > 0xffff)
+		errx(1, "Need to specify a valid bootnum between 0 and FFFF with -b parameter");
+
 	asprintf(&name, "%s%04X", "Boot", bootnum);
 	if (name == NULL)
 		err(1, "asprintf");
@@ -490,10 +489,13 @@
 }
 
 static void
-handle_bootnext(uint16_t bootnum)
+handle_bootnext(int bootnum)
 {
 	uint16_t num;
 
+	if (bootnum < 0 || bootnum > 0xFFFF)
+		errx(1, "Need to specify a valid bootnum between 0 and FFFF with -b parameter.");
+
 	le16enc(&num, bootnum);
 	if (set_bootvar("BootNext", (uint8_t*)&bootnum, sizeof(uint16_t)) < 0)
 		err(1, "set_bootvar");
@@ -675,7 +677,7 @@
 	lopt_size = create_loadopt(load_opt_buf, MAX_LOADOPT_LEN, load_attrs,
 	    dp, llen + klen, label, env, env ? strlen(env) + 1 : 0);
 	if (lopt_size == BAD_LENGTH)
-		errx(1, "Can't crate loadopt");
+		errx(1, "Can't create loadopt");
 
 	ret = 0;
 	if (!dry_run) {
@@ -904,21 +906,22 @@
 int
 main(int argc, char *argv[])
 {
-
 	if (!efi_variables_supported())
-		errx(1, "efi variables not supported on this system. root? kldload efirt?");
+		err(1, "Unable to use EFI variables");
 
 	memset(&opts, 0, sizeof (bmgr_opts_t));
+	opts.bootnum = -1;
 	parse_args(argc, argv);
 	read_vars();
 
-	if (opts.create)
+	if (opts.create) {
 		/*
 		 * side effect, adds to boot order, but not yet active.
 		 */
 		make_boot_var(opts.label ? opts.label : "",
 		    opts.loader, opts.kernel, opts.env, opts.dry_run,
 		    opts.has_bootnum ? opts.bootnum : -1, opts.set_active);
+	}
 	else if (opts.set_active || opts.set_inactive )
 		handle_activity(opts.bootnum, opts.set_active);
 	else if (opts.order != NULL)