Windows is overwriting my Linux EFI Bootloader.
Posted: Mon Nov 25, 2024 3:03 pm
Introduction
This post is not so much about my finding a work-around using the tools available to us, it's about handing it to the OEM and getting them to fix it. I'm not there yet, but I have had a very welcome break-through after a long fight and I wish to share it with you all and the Open source Linux community as a whole. If your dual boot machine is in the foul position of overwriting your EFI Bootloader every time you boot Windows, you are not alone and I encourage you to take the time to read and digest this post, then get on board with the fight to regain control of the hardware you so rightly own.
Purpose
My title is as real as it gets, yet designed to mimic what a typical Linux user will find on a modern machine when they take the plunge and finally install (hopefully) MX Linux onto bare metal in a dual boot environment with any Windows version, be it 10 or 11, only to have it disappear the moment they boot back into Windows. The position we find ourselves in is that of what appears to be Microsoft being the perpetrators, and they are to a point, but they need a facilitator to make it possible, and this is the point of this post. We have to take it to the hardware manufacturer and give them a valid reason why our position has merit.
The bones of the matter
The truth of the matter is that Windows is permitted to overwrite the EFI bootloader and elevate itself into the priority boot position every time it is allowed to boot in a dual-boot with Linux setup, but it's the OEM manufacturers who are facilitating it. After a long fight with a hardware Motherboard manufacturer, I thought I'd lost the fight, because I received no response to my most recent response to a rather lengthy and extended support request that seemed to drag on for way longer than necessary. As usual, they were just not getting it and sticking their toffee noses in the air like they just did not care, after all why was this Linux nerd not letting go of this complaint, we've had enough of him, and who is this low-life nobody that we should take notice of him?
The breakthrough
My old IT business partner used to jokingly speak of my writing sternly worded letters, but he had a point, there are some things I will not lightly let go of, and I have a history of getting things done through those strongly worded letters. Fact is, I'm just too stupid to let it go and it takes me far too long to find the right words.
The good news is, it seems as if I have gained some ground in this space. Either they were tiring of my persistence, or something I said hit the mark, and I really think it's the latter, combined with the former. Having waded through the minefield of endless dumb responses which is so typical of first level support who either intentionally or through ignorance attempted to toss my issue aside, I finally got a response by presenting a case scenario which if allowed to escalate would bring disrepute to their name.
The core of my complaint and an admission
My complaint all along was about their facilitating an action that allowed a single Windows boot instance to overwrite a users pre-set BIOS Boot choice to boot into their preferred OS, whether it be multiple OS's on the same drive or multiple drives, each with its own OS. This argument went on for some time with all responses negating the seriousness of my complaint. Their support page history does not include their past responses, it only shows their most recent response, however, in two of their more recent responses said they said the Windows bootloader is prioritised and I would have to press F12 to boot into Linux. To that I asked them to explain why they allow a BIOS boot priority pinning to allow the modification of my EFI Boot loader without my knowledge or consent, and that I had to fix it every time I booted windows, therefore pressing F12 is not an acceptable remedy.
Even at this they continued with their mindless responses, so I replied with the following
Is it lawful to tamper with someones computer without their knowledge or consent? That is exactly what is happening here and there is no shortage of users who do not know as much as I do to whom this very thing has caused catastrophic data loss. Are you sure you want to continue ignoring this issue?
Once again, they directed me towards the F12 and stated they have no way to access my data, how then did they tamper with it, to which I replied
I never said tampering with data, I said tampering with the computer and by allowing the BIOS to change the default boot OS without the users knowledge or consent, [manufacturer] are illegally resetting a users boot choices by facilitating a priority boot option that makes the change without the users knowledge or consent and without warning. This is the type of behavior one might expect from a malicious operator who has direct access to their machine, and that's EXACTLY what it looks like to the end user. I don't care if [manufacturer] prefers Windows, no doubt it's because you don't know any better, but [manufacturer] have no place in trying to force your choices down the throats of other users by willingly allowing an unnecessary feature in your BIOS to make changes to a boot device or boot manager chosen by the owner of the machine. That is illegal behaviour and it requires a fix. F12 is NOT a fix.
I thought I had lost the fight
I did not receive a response to this for quite some time and I thought I may have cooked my goose, but last night I finally had a response which stated
Please ignore all my earlier responses to use the F12 key, Please advise what Motherboard and BIOS version you're using.
Ironically, all these details were required to even make my initial request, but I provided them again and asked if the fix was going to be provided across the full range of their hardware because I do not wish to have to go through all this again when I upgrade to the next processor platform.
Like I said at the beginning, I'm not there yet, I await their response
In the meantime, if you have a dual boot set-up, where this is happening, I encourage you to ever so nicely raise a support request with your device manufacturer and gently lead them through a process to where you try to extract an admission of priortising the Windows boot-loader without making it evident you are doing so. Once you have this, you can begin down the road to the hard questions, but please do it nicely. Maybe, just maybe, we can set a precedent and smash this BS illegal OS prioritisation from unexpectedly stealing our preferred boot-loaders without our knowledge or consent. I believe we have legal grounds to enforce a class action lawsuit and effect a permanent change to the ways manufacturers respond to the MS monopoly who use hardware manufacturers to attempt “ownership of your hardware”
This post is not so much about my finding a work-around using the tools available to us, it's about handing it to the OEM and getting them to fix it. I'm not there yet, but I have had a very welcome break-through after a long fight and I wish to share it with you all and the Open source Linux community as a whole. If your dual boot machine is in the foul position of overwriting your EFI Bootloader every time you boot Windows, you are not alone and I encourage you to take the time to read and digest this post, then get on board with the fight to regain control of the hardware you so rightly own.
Purpose
My title is as real as it gets, yet designed to mimic what a typical Linux user will find on a modern machine when they take the plunge and finally install (hopefully) MX Linux onto bare metal in a dual boot environment with any Windows version, be it 10 or 11, only to have it disappear the moment they boot back into Windows. The position we find ourselves in is that of what appears to be Microsoft being the perpetrators, and they are to a point, but they need a facilitator to make it possible, and this is the point of this post. We have to take it to the hardware manufacturer and give them a valid reason why our position has merit.
The bones of the matter
The truth of the matter is that Windows is permitted to overwrite the EFI bootloader and elevate itself into the priority boot position every time it is allowed to boot in a dual-boot with Linux setup, but it's the OEM manufacturers who are facilitating it. After a long fight with a hardware Motherboard manufacturer, I thought I'd lost the fight, because I received no response to my most recent response to a rather lengthy and extended support request that seemed to drag on for way longer than necessary. As usual, they were just not getting it and sticking their toffee noses in the air like they just did not care, after all why was this Linux nerd not letting go of this complaint, we've had enough of him, and who is this low-life nobody that we should take notice of him?
The breakthrough
My old IT business partner used to jokingly speak of my writing sternly worded letters, but he had a point, there are some things I will not lightly let go of, and I have a history of getting things done through those strongly worded letters. Fact is, I'm just too stupid to let it go and it takes me far too long to find the right words.
The good news is, it seems as if I have gained some ground in this space. Either they were tiring of my persistence, or something I said hit the mark, and I really think it's the latter, combined with the former. Having waded through the minefield of endless dumb responses which is so typical of first level support who either intentionally or through ignorance attempted to toss my issue aside, I finally got a response by presenting a case scenario which if allowed to escalate would bring disrepute to their name.
The core of my complaint and an admission
My complaint all along was about their facilitating an action that allowed a single Windows boot instance to overwrite a users pre-set BIOS Boot choice to boot into their preferred OS, whether it be multiple OS's on the same drive or multiple drives, each with its own OS. This argument went on for some time with all responses negating the seriousness of my complaint. Their support page history does not include their past responses, it only shows their most recent response, however, in two of their more recent responses said they said the Windows bootloader is prioritised and I would have to press F12 to boot into Linux. To that I asked them to explain why they allow a BIOS boot priority pinning to allow the modification of my EFI Boot loader without my knowledge or consent, and that I had to fix it every time I booted windows, therefore pressing F12 is not an acceptable remedy.
Even at this they continued with their mindless responses, so I replied with the following
Is it lawful to tamper with someones computer without their knowledge or consent? That is exactly what is happening here and there is no shortage of users who do not know as much as I do to whom this very thing has caused catastrophic data loss. Are you sure you want to continue ignoring this issue?
Once again, they directed me towards the F12 and stated they have no way to access my data, how then did they tamper with it, to which I replied
I never said tampering with data, I said tampering with the computer and by allowing the BIOS to change the default boot OS without the users knowledge or consent, [manufacturer] are illegally resetting a users boot choices by facilitating a priority boot option that makes the change without the users knowledge or consent and without warning. This is the type of behavior one might expect from a malicious operator who has direct access to their machine, and that's EXACTLY what it looks like to the end user. I don't care if [manufacturer] prefers Windows, no doubt it's because you don't know any better, but [manufacturer] have no place in trying to force your choices down the throats of other users by willingly allowing an unnecessary feature in your BIOS to make changes to a boot device or boot manager chosen by the owner of the machine. That is illegal behaviour and it requires a fix. F12 is NOT a fix.
I thought I had lost the fight
I did not receive a response to this for quite some time and I thought I may have cooked my goose, but last night I finally had a response which stated
Please ignore all my earlier responses to use the F12 key, Please advise what Motherboard and BIOS version you're using.
Ironically, all these details were required to even make my initial request, but I provided them again and asked if the fix was going to be provided across the full range of their hardware because I do not wish to have to go through all this again when I upgrade to the next processor platform.
Like I said at the beginning, I'm not there yet, I await their response
In the meantime, if you have a dual boot set-up, where this is happening, I encourage you to ever so nicely raise a support request with your device manufacturer and gently lead them through a process to where you try to extract an admission of priortising the Windows boot-loader without making it evident you are doing so. Once you have this, you can begin down the road to the hard questions, but please do it nicely. Maybe, just maybe, we can set a precedent and smash this BS illegal OS prioritisation from unexpectedly stealing our preferred boot-loaders without our knowledge or consent. I believe we have legal grounds to enforce a class action lawsuit and effect a permanent change to the ways manufacturers respond to the MS monopoly who use hardware manufacturers to attempt “ownership of your hardware”
And now, to take-up the mantle!
