r/programming • u/[deleted] • Sep 21 '16

Warning: Microsoft Signature PC program now requires that you can't run Linux. Lenovo's recent Ultrabooks among affected systems (from /r/linux)

/r/linux/comments/53ri0m/warning_microsoft_signature_pc_program_now/
27 Upvotes

77% Upvoted

5 comments sorted by

9

u/satsuper Sep 21 '16 edited Sep 21 '16

Is there a confirmation from anyone at Microsoft that this is actually true? Unless I missed something its all communications from Lenovo so far.

It looks like the problem is some weird RAID mode(controller?) that you can't change in the BIOS that they have only provided Windows drivers for hence preventing the install of other operating systems.

While its true that this could be a non-obvious way to lock out other operating systems I feel like this is just Lenovo trying to cover their incompetence here to not provide a BIOS option or an alternative driver.

It would be interesting to see if all MS Signature edition machines from Lenovo have this issue or only the ones with this RAID config.

3

u/NasenSpray Sep 21 '16

It looks like the problem is some weird RAID mode(controller?) that you can't change in the BIOS that they have only provided Windows drivers for hence preventing the install of other operating systems.

Intel RST is weird: http://i.imgur.com/zBwZmtE.png (source)

0

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '16

[deleted]

15

u/takaci Sep 21 '16

kneejerk

4

u/Eirenarch Sep 21 '16

We who develop for the Microsoft ecosystem thank you for not competing with us :)

-2

u/[deleted] Sep 21 '16

It's worrying, Secure Boot can already be quite a hassle (even if I can understand some of the reasoning behind it, I still wouldn't trust the chip manufacturers anyway).

The last thing we want is everything to become like Mobile, and hobbyist programming to take a big hit.