Windows 10's Secure Boot requirement could make installing Linux a big headache-gctid146995

[Ajamu]

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2900536/windows-10s-secure-boot-requirement-could-make-installing-linux-a-big-headache.html

Windows 10's Secure Boot requirement could make installing Linux a big headache

Jared Newman | @onejarednewman                                                                                                        
PCWorld                                                                                                              

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PC vendors may not have to include a Secure Boot toggle with Windows 10,  making it harder for users to install alternative operating systems.

  In Windows 8, Microsoft embraced a protocol known as Unified Extensible  Firmware Interface (or UEFI) Secure Boot. UEFI is a more modern  replacement for the traditional BIOS that earlier PCs used to start up,  and Secure Boot is intended to lock out low-level malware that might try  to infect the boot process. PC vendors that wanted "Designed for  Windows" certification had to include UEFI Secure Boot on their machines.

  The arrival of UEFI caused some anxiety in the Linux community  a few years ago, as it could have shut out alternative operating  systems that didn't work with the new technology. But in the end,  Microsoft provided a workaround: PC vendors had to provide a way to turn  off UEFI secure boot (at least for x86-based machines), essentially letting users manually unlock the door and install whatever they wanted.



Microsoft via Ars Technicahttp://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2015/03/windows-10-to-make-the-secure-boot-alt-os-lock-out-a-reality/

According to Ars Technica, citing a slide from a Microsoft WinHEC  presentation last week, Microsoft may no longer require PC makers to  provide a toggle for UEFI Secure Boot in Windows 10. In other words, PC  vendors can decide to raise bigger barriers for alternative operating  systems in the name of security. (As with before, Windows 10 smartphones  cannot have secure boot disabled.)

  Ars notes that Microsoft hasn't finalized the exact specs yet, so it's  possible that things could change. Additionally, this requirement would  only affect new PCs—not older models upgrading to Windows 10. But given  that the current Windows secure boot mechanism isn't attack-proof, it's not surprising that Microsoft would look to lock things down further.

  Why this matters: This move doesn't completely shut out  Linux distributions on Windows-based machines.

Larger distributions  such as Ubuntu already include their own tools to work with UEFI, and the Linux Foundation has been working with Microsoft  on a secure boot loader that works with independent distributions. But  dropping the option to turn off UEFI would create more work for creators  of alternative distros, and takes a little more control out of the  hands of users.