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deif writes:
A recent Windows 8 update detects other OS installs as a "security problem", erases non-windows bootloaders and enables UEFI Secure Boot, all without user intervention.
I contacted MS by chat (in Dutch, so of no use to you) and asked them about this. They vehemently denied this was possible at all. Multiple times, in no uncertain terms. Same results were acquired by phone: denial, denial, denial.
I pointed out that it did actually happen, and that it wan't the first time such a thing had happened in the history of MS updates -so "impossible" was BS, to put it shortly.
Then came a chat reply which amounted to "MS updates makes sure W8 functions fine, it does not look at other OS's integrity". This is, in my opinion, a de-facto admission that yes, the update had changed the bootloader back to the W8 version that ignores other OS's, and yes, it had set the UEFI setting back to "secure boot."
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Appalbarry on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:18AM
Honestly, this complaint looks way too sketchy for my tastes, and I don't trust MS one way or the other.
If anything I'd say it sounds like user error, not some big MS plot.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:25AM
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(Score: 5, Insightful) by GreatAuntAnesthesia on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:27AM
Easy enough to verify / disprove. I'm sure we'll see some first hand accounts very soon.
FWIW I can fully believe Microsoft would pull a stunt like this.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:36AM
Yeah, sound very sketchy, everybody knows that no one actually uses windows 8 :P
On a more serious note it's possible that the guy had a rootkit and that the malicious removal tool put it right the only way it knew how.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @08:31PM
Grub & Linux are not rootkits ... and if MRT can enable UEFI Secure Boot it would do so every time it runs on a computer where Secure Boot is disabled.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DECbot on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:39AM
This looks more like MS overlooked the possibility that there could be more than one OS on a Secure Boot machine and removing the foreign bootloader and re-enabling Secure Boot is the correct default option for most pwn'ed Windows machines.
Besides, if you're competent enough to disable Secure Boot and install a second OS, you can probably fix this.
(Score: 5, Informative) by cornholed on Wednesday March 26 2014, @11:05AM
Does Secure Boot prevent me from dual-booting or running other operating systems on my PC?
No. UEFI's Secure Boot feature prevents the computer from starting unsigned and unauthorized operating systems. This can prevent certain types of malware (e.g., Boot Kits) from starting on your computer. If you want to single- or dual-boot a Windows 8 certified PC with an operating system that does not support Secure Boot (e.g., Windows 7 or Linux), you can disable Secure Boot. For more information about UEFI and its Secure Boot feature, see Protecting the pre-OS environment with UEFI.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday March 26 2014, @03:08PM
I guess I have to agree with you on that. I clicked the link primarily to make a post about - uhhh - help me here, I'm getting senile - ARDA? The code in Windows 3.1 that prevented installation on top of anything other than MSDOS.
When I read your post, I thought for a second or two. Then I scrolled down, and someone mentions that soon there should be lots of complaints on the interwebs complaining of Win8 borking their systems.
So, I did a Google search - and come up pretty much empty handed.
[conspiracy theory[ If this Win8 update is so bad - OH WAIT!!! Microsoft and the NSA are probably collaberating to remove all the complaints faster than they can be posted!!!! [/conspiracy theory]
Ehhhh - As someone else has mentioned, anyone savvy enough to have disabled UEFI, then to install *nix as a dual boot shouldn't be challenged with re-installing Grub.
Personally, if/when I get a UEFI enabled board, I won't be installing Windows on it anyway. I only use Windows in virtual machines, and I haven't even bothered with that for almost a year now.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @09:40PM
help me here
AADR (Aaron R. Reynolds) [twimgs.com]
I'm getting senile
This may be the only time this week that you out-senile me. 8-)
-- gewg_