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So annoyed that BIOS is totally locked down on a used laptop.. impossible to install linux (hexbear.net)

submitted 1 year ago by glans@hexbear.net to c/technology@hexbear.net

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My friend gave me their old laptop before they left town. I was going to install linux on it and use it for a server.

I have basically given up doing anything because the BIOS is locked with a Secure Boot supervisor password which I guess they forgot about being there.

I've sent a message asking if they happen to remember it and would feel comfortable sharing it if it is not one they use for anything else. But the odds of both those things being the case are slim and I don't feel good about trying to get someone to share any password. Especially since it was so kind to just give me the machine in the first place. It's not practical to physically get the device and the person together in the near future.

It's impossible (or past my skill level) to install linux on this thing without the freaking password. I did manage to install windows. Last time I did that it was win2k. It will boot OK but I can't use that to circumvent the lock. But Ubuntu and a couple other distros are no gos.

It is so fucked that computers can be rendered bricks like this. Obviously yet another way to design in obsolescence disguised as a security feature. Encryption is one thing; this is independent of any data.

Gaaaaaah I spent most of the weekend trying to install linux on this otherwise perfectly functional machine. I think it's toast though.

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[–] glans@hexbear.net 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

seems to me like if you got it together to have a maid, and an evil one at that, you got it together to buy a second laptop

I think it should be disabled when the storage is removed, or after some arbitrary amount of time, or some other smart nerd solution I can't even conceive of.

[–] raven@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

Exactly, you buy another laptop and the first one goes in the waste bin or some "recycling center" where they just stack up laptops in a warehouse and never "recycle" shit.