Dev.SN

Windows 8 Update Erases Grub, Enables Secure Boot

posted by LaminatorX on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:13AM   
from the It's-a-trap! dept.

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.

From a posting on reddit:

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."

• It's plausible It's plausible (Score: 4, Informative) by DarkMorph on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:37AM

  by DarkMorph (674) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:37AM (#21521)

  I'd believe it. It sounds like the evolution of what they do traditionally anyway. Older Windows installers would clobber your MBR silently almost immediately. If you would so much as begin the process to install Windows, your MBR would be hosed right away, and of course it doesn't warn you or offer an option to refrain from running this operation. I remember dual-boot guides always advising to install Windows before Linux because of how inferior the basic tools were in the Windows installer, and, well, the fact it clobbers your MBR right away. It would be obnoxious to go back and reinstall GRUB (or LILO, etc.) a second time because Windows deliberately doesn't play nicely with others and does whatever the hell it wants with your MBR whether you like it or not.
  
  Now, this was strictly about installing the OS. For an update for the OS, which is already installed, to act this way seems really aggressive which is why I'm sure many are doubting that the claim in TFA is true... Should be easy to verify though - if it's true it should be reproducible.

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• Re:It's plausible (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:01PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:01PM (#21866)

  Older Windows installers would clobber your MBR silently almost immediately
  From what I've seen in forums, this is not just a legacy problem. [google.com]

  this was strictly about installing the OS
  Yeah, the very first stuff I read about Linux said in bold INSTALL WINDOZE FIRST. [google.com]

  -- gewg_

  Parent

• It's more than plausible (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 27 2014, @10:15PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 27 2014, @10:15PM (#22345)

  This has been documented many times.
  Page with multiple links. [techrights.org]

  -- gewg_

  Parent