ITWire

Called secure boot, it is a feature made possible by the emergence of a replacement for the old BIOS (basic input output system). Known as UEFI (unified extensible firmware interface), it is now making its appearance in motherboards. (It is now commonly referred to as the UEFI BIOS and I shall use this term throughout this article.)

Microsoft has done its own implementation of secure boot for reasons it refuses to divulge; the public statements are that it is done for the security of users. A process of matching of cryptographic keys takes place at boot-time to ensure that one is booting a genuine copy of Windows 8 and that it has not been tampered with.

All Windows 8 PCs or laptops that are sold by grey-box or other dealers come with secure boot turned on. This means that one cannot install another operating system, either to replace Windows or as an addition, on the same box. Not unless the operating system can boot on a box that is configured for secure boot. Else, one has to get into the UEFI BIOS and turn off secure boot. This is possible on the x86 platform.

Motherboard manufacturers appear to be loath to use the term "secure boot" on their packaging; ASUS has a "Windows 8 ready" sticker on some boxes, with an instruction that readiness may depend on the updating of the BIOS or the installation of drivers. Gigabyte, as yet, has no boards that support secure boot for general purchase in Australia; at least not at the dealer I visited, MSY, one of the bigger franchises selling computer parts in the country.

Micro-Star International (MSI) has a sticker on the box of some boards saying "Windows 8 compatible". This is misleading as even older boards are compatible with Windows 8, just not with the newer features like secure boot. But what the manufacturer really means is that one can use the new Windows 8 features, including secure boot. At this stage, it requires an upgrade of the UEFI BIOS.

Finding a motherboard that supports secure boot is thus somewhat difficult. The dealer did have an ASUS board (P8Z77M) that I knew would be fine as one enterprising blogger has tested out a variant and installed Windows 8 with secure boot enabled. But, then, it is no fun going where others have already gone; hence I opted for an MSI board, a Z77A-G41.

An Intel i5-3330 processor and 16GB of memory were the other parts I needed to upgrade the PC on which this experiment was to be carried out. This board has no IDE interfaces so I had to buy a DVD rewriter that is connected by a SATA cable.