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."

• The golden rule. The golden rule. (Score: 3, Insightful) by zeigerpuppy on Wednesday March 26 2014, @05:52PM

  by zeigerpuppy (1298) on Wednesday March 26 2014, @05:52PM (#21770)

  Different OSs not playing nice with each other has always been the rule, not the exception.
  In my practice of the Xen of Tripple Booting (or even hexabooting on occasion), I have learnt the golden rule:

  Install the stupidest operating system first (and don't run update or repair tools until they are vetted by the community).
  So, it's usually Win7 first, then OSX, then Linux.
  However, you need to be second Dan to mix the GPT with the MBR and avoid spontaneous combustion.
  It makes me miss AmigaOS, partition management was so much saner.

  Starting Score:	1		point
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• Re:The golden rule. (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:40PM

  by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 26 2014, @10:40PM (#21882)

  Install the stupidest operating system first

  +1. Now, how do we get this knowledge out to **everyone**?
  More specifically, how do we get the unwashed masses to recognize that the OS that has traditionally come pre-installed on the most machines is actually the most fragile and clumsy?

  I mean, sure, they know that Redmond's OS blue-screens, locks up, gets infected at the drop of a hat, needs reboots for absolutely no reason, needs defragging often...

  ...but I mean, how do we...

  -- gewg_

  Parent