Many PC customers with Home windows-and-Linux dual-boot setups woke as much as a scary message this week: “One thing has gone severely incorrect.”
Apparently, the newest patch to Home windows 10 and Home windows 11 appears to wreck secondary Linux installations when the Safe Boot function is enabled. Affected customers are in a position to get Home windows up and operating, however their Linux installations are left inoperable.
In line with a report from Ars Technica, numerous Linux customers throughout in style distros are impacted. Preliminary investigations level the finger at a repair for CVE-2022-2601, a 2022 vulnerability that might enable hackers to entry techniques even when Safe Boot is enabled. The patch appears to have labored on commonplace Home windows installations with out challenge.
Microsoft’s documentation for the patch mentioned that dual-boot setups with current variations of Linux which might be up-to-date shouldn’t be affected. Quoting the FAQ from the related web page:
“The SBAT worth just isn’t utilized to dual-boot techniques that boot each Home windows and Linux and shouldn’t have an effect on these techniques. You would possibly discover that older Linux distribution ISOs won’t boot. If this happens, work along with your Linux vendor to get an replace.”
However on consumer boards and social networks throughout the online, Linux followers are saying that simply isn’t true. The SBAT repair was utilized to dual-boot techniques, borking the non-Home windows half of those setups.
Microsoft hasn’t made a public assertion on the difficulty, which could not be stunning because it’s solely affecting merchandise exterior of the corporate’s remit. However that’s lower than comforting to affected customers, most of whom are fairly technical and would possibly even be counting on their dual-booted Linux techniques for essential work.
Some customers have discovered and shared non permanent options to entry Linux in their very own dual-boot setups, with steps that principally contain disabling Safe Boot and deleting the SBAT coverage.
Additional studying: Twin-booting Linux and Home windows, defined
