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: 2) by Jaruzel on Thursday March 27 2014, @09:22AM
Open up UEFI, or scrap it altogether
Erm, UEFI is not a MS technology, other than that they are members of the (pretty wide) forum that supported it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Fi rmware_Interface [wikipedia.org]
Secure Boot is there to help all of us, regardless of OS, it is not an evil plot device created by the Redmond Overlords.
(On-topic: of course, an update auto nuking Grub and enabling Secure Boot without askings is a bit off, but hey it's MS and they feel that there is only one 'supportable configuration' for Windows, and always have done)
-Jar
Wash at 40°C, and hand dry only. My MUD Engine [jaruzel.com]