A method and related apparatuses involve extensible framework interface (EFI) byte code images packaged within extensible markup language (XML) documents. In one embodiment, a processing system obtains an XML document, extracts an EFI byte code (EBC) image from the XML document, and then executes the EBC image. For instance, such a process may be used to obtain configuration code such as an EFI driver from a remote system. Processes are disclosed for retrieving and loading configuration code in pre-boot and runtime environments. Additional embodiments relate to XML files containing EBC images, processing systems that use EBC images from XML documents as configuration code, and processing system that provide XML documents with EBC images to other processing systems. Other embodiments are described and claimed.