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Windows 8 Update Erases Grub, Enables Secure Boot

posted by LaminatorX on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:13AM   Printer-friendly
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."

 
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  • (Score: 2, Informative) by lajos on Wednesday March 26 2014, @01:05PM

    by lajos (528) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @01:05PM (#21600)

    Last week I got a auto update from MS on win8. When I restarted, the upgrade got stuck at 12%.

    After waiting for a an hour and resetting a couple times I got to the rescue screen, where i tried all things including reverting to a snapshot. Everything failed. Could not get back to win8.

    Called windows tech support and without hesitation the dude says I needed to wipe and reinstall win8. I was shocked. I told him I was willing to go through the secret methods of reverting from the stuck upgrade. He said there was no secret methods. I have to reinstall.

    I told him this was not my facebook status update computer, but it's my work pc and need it back. Still, the only option he said, was to reinstall.

    So I did. Then I got the same update and got stuck at 12%.

    Reinstalled again and disabled windows updates and windows driver updates. Fuck MS and auto updates.

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  • (Score: 2) by pixeldyne on Wednesday March 26 2014, @05:45PM

    by pixeldyne (2637) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @05:45PM (#21767)

    I was fed up with my work laptop so I've used a tool to convert the disk to a vm image, installed linux and am now running windows in a vm. Whenever it breaks down I can still use the host system (webmail for example) and use the snapshot functionality to recover when it's badly broken. I don't believe windows will ever leave the beta stage.

    I like the idea of uefi secure boot, I wanted it on a new desktop pc but couldn't get it to work with win 8.1.

  • (Score: 2) by isostatic on Wednesday March 26 2014, @07:02PM

    by isostatic (365) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @07:02PM (#21794)

    After waiting for a an hour and resetting a couple times I got to the rescue screen, where i tried all things including reverting to a snapshot. Everything failed. Could not get back to win8.

    Wow, did you have to pay for this feature, or was it a free improvement?