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."

• Re:I'll Wait For Confirmation On This One. (Score: 3, Interesting) by DECbot on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:39AM

  by DECbot (832) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:39AM (#21524)

  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.

  --
  

  • cats~$ sudo su
  • cats~# chown -R us /home/base

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