Is overriding secure boot, illegal?
 

I am a victim of 'Secure Boot', and I have been told by a computer retailer, that if I override secure boot which I am told is almost impossible I could be sued by Microsoft. With all the millions of computers in the world, I can't really believe this, but it has got me thinking. Thanks for the help I have received so far by the way. Is this retailer talking rubbish?

If your system is not an ARM device with Windows 8 pre-installed, then you should be able to safely override the "Secure Boot" setting in the UEFI/BIOS without issues.

That retailer is outright lying. Why should Microsoft sue for if you disable Secure Boot, when they make a switch to do that mandatory for their Windows 8 Logo certification?

Microsoft has made it mandatory for the user to be able to disable secure boot. I'm not sure, but I think you might be able to disable UEFI as well.

His alligator mouth is overloading his hummingbird *ss

The computer is yours. You paid good money for it, so that should give you the rights to do anything you want to it.
However I think. If you altered it and later on the computer fails for some reason and you decide to take it back to the retailer, They might argue with you that the computer failed because of modifications you did to it. So they will kind of make you think that by doing that you voided their warranty.

But I dont think disabling secure boot will make your computer crumble apart in pieces.

So being an illegal action I dont think is true.

Good luck to you!

Member Response
 

Hi,

Just too much 'FUD' concerning 'UEFI' protocol and the feature 'Secure Boot' being passed by uninformed people.

Assuming the computer is yours then choose any boot setting you like.

Who cares if secure boot can be enabled or disabled. Secure boot should be eradicated. All it does is cause problems and sometimes it is grey out so it can't be disable. When we buy a computer we should be able to put other OSes on it and make it seamless as possible. MS thinks all PCs should run windows only, I say to MS and the OEMs -- STOP CONTROLLING OUR COMPUTERS WE BUY, ERADICATE SECURE BOOT !!!

Secure boot is also good for linux. It is a tool to help protect data. It is a best practice and needs to be more well understood by users.

I would think that people that have a computer that supports Secure Boot and don't want to use it care about that option.

I don't think so, it has legitimate use cases, but I rather see them in corporate environments, not in the home sector.
Except when you actually use it.
If you have a computer with Windows 8 logo it must have a possibility to disable it. As always in the Linux world, someone who wants to buy new hardware should do some research before.
Agreed, when it comes to personal computers. Which is possible when you inform yourself in the first place.
Of course they do. They are a commercial enterprise, what else did you expect?
If you don't want to be controlled than buy computers that don't control. this will solve the problem for you in a simple way.

Is there an echo here? No need to repeat what I say.

There is nothing severely wrong with UEFI and secure boot...

Except that the owners of the computer cannot add/remove certificates...

And on Arm based systems certified as "Windows 8" cannot be disabled... and cannot add/remove certificates.

Due to the way MS is trying to do this makes the systems with it just more landfill, even though there may be nothing wrong with the hardware.

They must have the option to manage certificates if it is x86 hardware and the hardware is Windows 8 Logo certified.

The same way as Apple and most manufacturers of Android devices do it. I wonder why I see no outcry when they do it (although they own the market), but when Microsoft does it (with a negligible market share in the mobile sector).

Quoting the statements that one wants to comment is a common technique widely used all over the Internet.

Agree.......
 

I agree. However, on Windows 8 PCs secure boot can be disabled so the best way to seamlessly run multiple operating systems is to buy a computer with a Windows 8 logo on it. I also disagree with most, and think that secure boot is not good anywhere, not even in a corporate environment. If the techs at a company can't boot into their memtest or gparted CDs they are left out in the cold. All the techs would have to refer their clients that had secure boot on non-Windows 8 PCs to Microsoft.