Report: PC Makers Will Have Power to Lock Out Other OSes from Windows 10 PCs

[[Coi] Mr.CLuBBeR]

OEMs are currently required to allows users to manually disable UEFI Secure Boot

Microsoft courted controversy when it emerged, in the lead-up to Windows 8’s release, that OEMs were required to enable Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI)Secure Boot by default in order to have their systems certified for use with Windows 8. Widespread fears that the security feature would have the effect of locking out other operating systems were allayed when another requirement surfaced: “A physically present user must be allowed to disable Secure Boot via firmware setup.” However, the same may not be true when Windows 10 arrives later this year.
That’s according to the folks over at ArsTechnica, who have managed to get hold of a slide from Microsoft’s WinHEC hardware conference in Shenzhen, China. In so far as certified Windows 10 systems are concerned, the slide in question (pictured below) is clear that the decision whether or not to give users the option to disable Secure Boot will rest solely with the OEMs. If true, it would be a departure from the existing policy of expressly requiring them to give users such an option.

As Microsoft reminded everyone at the height of the whole Windows 8 secure boot saga, it is not some proprietary technology developed by the company to prevent other operating systems from being dual-booted alongside Windows. It is actually an UEFI (a BIOS replacement) security protocol that only allows signed, certified code and boot loaders to be run prior to the operating system itself, making the device less susceptible to rootkits and bootkits.
Image Credit: ArsTechnica
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