Linux Community Magazine

Will Windows 8 block users from dual-booting Linux? Microsoft won't say

Some are concerned that Microsoft's coming Windows 8 secure-boot technologies and policies could result in users being unable to dual-boot Linux alongside Windows 8. Microsoft officials aren't commenting on whether the worries are unfounded or grounded.

There's a report circulating -- originating with a Red Hat employee -- that says Microsoft's new secure-boot functionality in Windows 8 could preclude users from running both Windows and Linux on their PCs.

True or false? Well-grounded or unfounded? Microsoft execs will not comment -- which is leading many to assume it's true.

Matthew Garrett, a power management and mobile Linux developer at Red Hat, blogged about the possible lock-out scenario on September 20. He explained how the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI) technology and Microsoft's secure-boot plans -- outlined in a new blog post on the "Building Windows 8 blog this week -- potentially could thwart those who want to dual boot Linux and Windows 8 on their Windows 8 machines.

Garrett's conclusion: "It's probably not worth panicking yet. But it is worth being concerned."

Microsoft officials have said -- via a UEFI session at the company's recent Build conference, along with the aforementioned blog post -- all that they are going to say on the topic.

Here's what Microsoft has said, re: its secure boot plans for Windows 8. These tidbits are from the previously mentioned Build session on UEFI:

All firmware and software in the boot process must be signed by a trusted Certificate Authority (CA)Required for Windows 8 clientDoes not require a Trusted Platform Module (TPM)Reduces the likelihood of bootkits, rootkits and ransomwareAnother slide from the same talk:

Garrett's interpretation of Microsoft's shared information on the topic:

"Microsoft requires that machines conforming to the Windows 8 logo program and running a client version of Windows 8 ship with secure boot enabled. The two alternatives here are for Windows to be signed with a Microsoft key and for the public part of that key to be included with all systems, or alternatively for each OEM to include their own key and sign the pre-installed versions of Windows. The second approach would make it impossible to run boxed copies of Windows on Windows logo hardware, and also impossible to install new versions of Windows unless your OEM provided a new signed copy. The former seems more likely.

"A system that ships with only OEM and Microsoft keys will not boot a generic copy of Linux."

I can't resist a rant here: The Windows team's decision not to comment on this report is an example of the new communication strategy that Microsoft seems to be instituting with Windows 8: Clarification on any Windows 8 topic -- not only features and policies that are still unannounced, but also those that already have been disclosed publicly -- apparently will not be provided by anyone from Microsoft in an official capacity. The result: An increasing amount of misinformation about Windows 8 is circulating, and Microsoft is doing little or nothing to correct it.

I understand Microsoft's increased desire for secrecy around its Windows plans, somethingcompany officials began pushing post-Vista. (I haven't always agreed with the goal, especially when it results in FUD for customers attempting to make rational buying decisions or OEM/ISV partners attempting to build products that work with Windows.) But allowing wrong information to go unchecked in the name of wanting to control the message and the way it is delivered seems like bad business to me.

Back on topic: Does anyone out there have any more to share (in an official capacity or not) about whether you think the new Windows 8 secure boot technologies and policies will block users from dual-booting Linux? Ars Technica's take: "Ultimately, the Windows 8 changes aren't likely to wipe out Linux dual-boot scenarios, but they could restrict the types of hardware that will allow them." Other opinions?

Read more: /battery-technology/what-windows-8-must-bring-the-big-windows-8-tablet-challenge/

There are literally hundreds of thousands of netting hosting companies out there. Many of these companies adduce both Windows hosting and Linux hosting plans. Windows plans usually equivalent supplementary since of the license costs imposed by Microsoft. Knowing this, how can you discern when you ravenousness Windows hosting and when Linux hosting entrusthoopla applicable as well or better? Keep reading to find out.

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Linux and windows differences

The two main operating systems employed by the PC owner are windows and Linux. Although they appear very similar on the face of it there are fundamental differences in the two operating systems.

A major advantage with Linux is the price, it is completely free! Windows can be very expensive.

There are enormous differences in the way that they behave at a technical level, but I suspect what you really want to know is how they differ from the perspective of an end user.

The vast majority of people will know how to use a windows operating system. This is mainly due to the fact that every PC sold usually has the Microsoft operating system installed and the mighty Microsoft has a mighty marketing budget. The Linux marketing budget is miniscule.

The main differences in operating systems:

1. Linux is open source, free under GNU, Windows is a licensed os.2. Windows is developed by Microsoft, a single huge entity. Whereas Linux has many distributors such as red hat, mandrake etc. 3. Linux is more secure than windows in the case of virus, worms etc.4. Linux works on both GUI & Console mode but windows only GUI.5. Linux has multi-user, multitasking, multiprocessing, multiprogramming features.6. Linux code is open source and as a result it has been tweaked and tweaked to perfection by millions of users doing it as a hobby.7. Linux was developed from the UNIX operating system, Windows is a completely unique entity.8. Windows security is password based, the Linux system is secured with access rights.9. Windows file names aren't case sensitive, Linux are.After reading these points you may be asking yourself why everyone isn't using the Linux system. To put it simply, the Linux system requires a lot more technical knowledge both to install it and to maintain it as a n operating system. Software that is written for windows will not work on Linux and as such it is much more difficult to buy off the shelf applications.

Microsoft's Windows is often the best option for most people because of the required technical knowledge with Linux. It's just good to know that there is a free alternative to Windows.

The forgetful nature of human can create several complications. Creation of the relevant files and forgetting them is the case that can happen to any of the Linux user. If you still remember the directory name, then by the hook or crook, you can find the specific file. But this creates delay a big problem if you can't even remember the bit of information about the missing file.This can happen to anyone as none of us posses the pictorial memory. So that's for sure that one or the other time, you have undergone the experience of forgetting the path information of the precious file.For this purpose of finding the misplaced file, Windows offers you the find and search tool, where you can type the text or phrase of the filename and hence find all the files which contain this phrase as their filename part. But the situation can be tricky if you don't even remember the word or the phrase in the filename, then you need to go through the text of each file.Well in Linux, the whole s cenario is omewhat different. Instead of the GUI support, in Linux the more emphasis is on executing the commands from the shell. Certain commands are there which can help you in finding those lost files whose information is slipping from your mind: grep-lir : This is the command to find the files whose related phrase is not been remembered apart from some text. The three switches: -1, -I and "r help you to output the name of the files containing the text, ignore the case while searching and to descend in the subdirectories respectively. grep -i "n : To find the files containing the keywords. grep --with-filename --line-number `find -type f`': This is the command to look the directory for the files containing the stringIf your file is not found by either of the command, then the probable chances are there for the accidental deletion. Look in the 'Trash Bin' to locate the file, if you are unable to see the file text or phrase even after restorng all of them. Then may be y ou have deleted it using the rm command or Shift+Delete key, inaccessible by Linux operating system.Now in this case the only cure to get the file back is to have the Linux recovery solution, practical through Linux recovery software. File and data always reside on the hard disk regardless of the deletion method and can be recovered until overwritten. Linux data recovery software work on the same principle and deploy some specific algorithms to retrieve the lost information.Data loss can be traumatic if the lost data is at the cost of your business. But the proper application of the data recovery Linux software would help you to come out of this ditch. The superb Linux data recovery is attempted by the software in an interactive manner and does a great job for recovering the data.Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software is the tremendous rsult oriented data recovery Linux product combating all the data loss problems. The software has been designed with the unique techno logy to scan the hard drive for all kind of lost files and folders and thus enabling Linux recovery.This Linux data recovery utility is made to be used for Ext2, Ext3 and Reiser FS file systems and for all the flavors of Linux operating system. Maintaining the integrity of the data, this data recovery Linux software offers you the intuitive user interface

Sometimes when you try to install device drivers on your Linux system, you might fail to do it. It could be due to incompatibility of the operating system Kernel with your device driver or device. To work around this issue, you need to install the latest version of Linux kernel. It may include 'forcedeth' patch, which is capable of resolving most of the incompatibility issues. In some cases, after installing the latest version of Kernel, when you reboot the Linux system, you might face the following error message:"fsck.ext2: No such file or directory while trying to open /dev/hda8. The super block could not be read or does not describe a correct ext2 file system. If the device is valid and it really contains an ext2 file system (and not swap or ufs or something else) then the super block is corrupt, and you might try running e2fsck with an alternate super block: e2fsck -b 8193 fsck failed."After this error message, neither the system boots nor any file can be accessed.Gro unds of the issueAs stated in the error message, this problem generally occurs due to super block corruption or file system corruption. Super block and file system are two most important data structure of Linux system. Proper functioning of both these is required for ensuring effective working of the system. After corruption, the operating system could not locate the file and thus can not retrieve it. ResolutionTo work around this problem, you need to install a fresh copy of super block and file system. It is possible through formatting of the hard drive and reinstallation of operating system. Though, it will remove the errors but will also erase all the data stored on your hard drive. It is the worst scenario of data loss and needs Linux data recovery to get it fixed. Linux data recovery is feasible with the application of third party Linux recovery software known as Linux data recovery software. Linux recovery software is easy to use and thus allow you to have simple and fast data recovery Linux. Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery is the most advanced Linux recovery software offered by the data recovery giant- Stellar. This data recovery Linux software works well in all data loss cases and allows Linux data recovery for all sorts of files. Stellar Phoenix Linux Data Recovery software is powerful enough to carry out efficient scanning of entire hard drive and extract all lost data from it. The user interface of this software is very interactive and thus does not require any sound technical knowledge from users' side.