Linux Foundation releases Windows Secure Boot fix
Summary: At long last, the Linux Foundation fix to Windows 8 Secure Boot lock-in is out, but it's not ready for ordinary users yet and not all Linux desktop fans are happy about it.
It took longer than anyone expected but the Linux Foundation fix for Windows 8 PC's UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) Secure Boot lockout of other operating systems has finally arrived.
James Bottomley -- Parallels' CTO of server virtualization, well-known Linux kernel maintainer, and the man behind the Linux Foundation's efforts to create an easy way to install and boot Linux on Windows 8 PCs -- announced on February 8 that the Linux Foundation UEFI secure boot system was finally out.
To finish this required security keys from Microsoft so that the Linux Foundation UEFI bootloader would work. These keys have now been included and these universal Linux bootloaders are ready to go. With these files you should be able to boot and install Linux on almost any Windows 8 PC.
I say "should" because this is the first release. As Bottomley himself wrote, "Let me know how this goes because I’m very interested to gather feedback about what works and what doesn’t work. In particular, there’s a worry that the security protocol override might not work on some platforms, so I particularly want to know if it doesn’t work for you."
You must also be an expert Linux user to even try to get this to work at this point. Today, all Bottomley has provided are the two key bootloading files: PreLoader.efi and HashTool.efi. These EFI files are Extensible Firmware Interface Firmware files. By themselves, they just set up a pre-boot environment that can then be used to boot Linux.
Bottomley has also "put together a mini-USB image that is bootable (just did it on to any USB key; the image is gpt partitioned, so use the whole disk device). It has an EFI shell where the kernel should be and uses gummiboot [a simple UEFI boot manger] to load" a Linux distribution.
If you couldn't follow those instructions, don't even try using this method yet. As Pēteris Krišjānis, an Ubuntu Linux tester, wrote on Bottomley's blog, "These instructions are for advanced users only. Users who want to install Linux distro on UEFI/Secure Boot computer will have to wait for distribution releases in April/May (Fedora/Ubuntu and related distros)." Krišjānis is right. Ordinary users should stay well away from this solution for now. It's really meant more for distribution developers. Their job will be to turn these esoteric instructions into something that requires little more than a user hitting an "OK" button.
In short, by May, it should be easy to boot and install the most popular Linux distributions on Windows 8 PCs. Today, we're still not there, but the developers now have the tools they need to get us there.
Others object to the Linux Foundation's attempt to work with Microsoft to get around Secure Boot's restrictions. One accused Bottomley of folding "to Microsoft UEFI and microsofts monopolistic decision to have OEMs use UEFI whether a consumer wants this or not under the guise of security when in fact its an effort to maintain control on MS part." Others used far harsher terms.
Unfortunately, these people are ignoring the simple fact that the vast majority of new PCs are being sold with Windows 8. This, in turn, means they're locked into that Windows 8 with UEFI Secure Boot Short of cracking UEFI security, something no one really wants to do in Linux development circles; the only viable choice has been to work within Secure Boot to get Linux to work. It's what Fedora, Ubuntu, openSUSE, and now the Linux Foundation, has chosen to do.
Is this ideal? No. As far as I'm concerned Secure Boot is far more about locking people into Windows than it is about security. For now though fixes like these are Linux's only viable options.
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Talkback
Don't agree
What you said about being in the minority is true
But that doesn't mean that we should take MS' preachments about security at face value or pretend that MS isn't using every trick they think they can get away with to keep users from defecting. Everything I've seen indicates that MS' top managers think they have every right to do just that.
Eternal vigilance...
In response to Master Wanyne, Master 3 or the Master du jour
Nor was the lengthly wait for MS support, who just delivered the secure key Feb. 6th. Good thing the Linux Foundation was much quicker than MS support or we would have to wait two or three months longer for this solution. Wink....
Linux and UEFI
The real reason?
conspiracy killer: load Linux on a Surface Pro
Case in point: On a Microsoft Surface Pro, you can simply go into the BIOS settings and disable settings to allow other Operating System installs
You may want to take in consideration that other OEM's that block this customization due it purely from a consistency and support perspective: they are NOT going to help you install anything but Windows 8 on these devices. Linux isn't the issue, its Windows 7.
An open arm to all sorts security risks
What specific risks?
Name one
I see whining is in full swing
Good heavens. MS and Apple control 98% of the desktop market. According to you, Steven, the desktop is over the hill and in decline. So why worry about the desktop, unless all the claims are false.
Then whining that MS handed over the keys so Linux can load on properly configured UEFI devices without issue seem to be as pointless as ever.
All it eally means is that the Linux foundation was so stubborn and blind to the future, it delayed compatibility and irritated more people.
Good luck Steven, all you've done is prove that the purists are more about hating MS than servicing the public they claim they want to free.
Even Android, the new flagship, couldn't find success until a multibillion dollar company took control and made it worth something. Even that success left a mess in versions, lack of updates and the rest.
Have fun being the whining monger you really
Everybody's picking on PIPMS
Cynical says it, so it must be true (never mind that he might have ulterior motives for posting the above comment).
More about hating microsoft?
The other possiblity is that you are a hapless user of Windows products because you don't have the smarts to figure out how to install and use any other OS. You bought the box. You're not happy with it but you're stuck with it. You're feeling insecure at reading how virtually everyone else is able to pick up Linux, BSD, what ever and give it a spin. This pisses you off. So in your desperation you formulate the "haters of winners" theory and preach it as if associating yourself with your perceived winner, microsoft, you're a winner too.
Which is more likely here.
you are a hapless user of Windows products
That you are a Microsoft hater.
And before you try to put me on blast for somehow dissing Linux - I'm not. Linux is a decent OS, I liked Ubuntu but there is no distro of Linux nor any version of the Mac OS that allows me to run the games I want to play. Windows does. Nor is there any version of iTunes or similar software for Linux that allows me to sync my iPhone with my computer. In short Linux does not work for me as an OS. Nor does Mac OS.
The theory that you are Microsoft haters is further proven by this whole whining over Secure Boot... you act like Microsoft put in place and is enforcing it with the OEMs simply to screw over Linux users... and that is simply not the case. It may be perhaps an added bonus to some people at Redmond. Honestly some Linux fanbois are as whiney and b1tchy as their Apple counterparts the frothing at the mouth zealots that see conspiracies from Microsoft everywhere.
To bad there is
How would one install Win 7 on a device
Can Windows 7 run UEFI native?
RE: Can Windows 7 run UEFI native?
At a minimum, secure boot must be disabled to install Windows 7, placing Windows 8 in a less secure state. In some cases, legacy mode must be selected to install and boot Windows 7.
So, Steven, how about a blog article detailing Windows 7 installation and booting on Windows 8 PCs? You actually like Windows 7, remember? Here's yet another chance to bash Windows 8.
P.S. Congrats to the Linux Foundation's efforts.
An example
"Samsung laptop bug is not Linux specific
Feb. 8th, 2013
http://mjg59.dreamwidth.org/22855.html
UEFI-related problems are not exclusive to GNU/Linux.
Not to mention...
The real reasons for the complaints ...
Secure Boot could have been great if there had been a few additional requirements on the manufacturers, like having to make it easy to add (and manually revoke) keys, so that your favorite Linux distribution won't have to get a key issued to them.