[Blind-sysadmins] Re: turning off secure boot and UEFI

24 Feb 2019

      Hello,

Adding to my last message, an arch linux thumb drive also won't boot either.

Where do I find the linux efivar and the efibootmgr commands?

Thanks.
Dave.

On 2/23/19, David Mehler  wrote:
...
Hello,
I had some unexpected sighted help last night and got secure boot off.
For this machine the m5a97 motherboard the setting was in the uefi,
advanced setup, boot tab, secure boot area. By default secure boot is
on and can not be disabled. So, cleared secure boot keys, saved, and
then secure boot was disabled. I then rebooted and rechecked uefi and
confirmed secure boot is indeed still disabled. Hope that is of use to
someone.
My problem still is now putting in a thumb drive, either a win10
created 1803 thumb drive, or a talking win PE in neither case will
they boot. Any ideas on that?
Thanks.
Dave.
On 2/23/19, Jason White  wrote:
...
The Linux efivar command will let you set the UEFI variables at a fairly
low
level. You can also use the efibootmgr command to change the boot order,
and
probably to add boot loaders too.
I needed to turn off Secure Boot recently to enable an Arch Linux
installation on a laptop. The easiest solution was to call an Aira agent
for
assistance. I read somewhere that the Secure Boot setting can't be
changed
once the operating system is loaded; you have to do it from the firmware
menu during the boot process. I can't verify this claim though. At least
on
my laptop (a Lenovo P51), you can also change the EFI variables within
Windows using scripts available from the manufacturer's web site.
On 2/22/19, 13:39, "John G Heim"  wrote:
I am not sure I am totally up on the latest technology. But my guess
is
that you will probably have to get sighted assistance. About a year
ago,
I poked around looking for linux tools that allowed you to access
EUFI
    settings. I found nothing of significance.
There is some chance you could manage it with the KNFBReader iPhone
app.
The KNFBReader app can read a computer screen. It does not do well
with
console text. It does much better with black text on a white
background.
I actually succeeded in changing a BIOS setting once but I used a PC
    Weasel card. So that is a card that looks like a VGA card to the
system
but it actually gives you text output on a serial port. You can use a
    null-modem cable and a terminal emulator on a second machine to get
to
    the console display.  So what I did was to google  for how to change
the
setting and found a video where the person walked you through
changing
    the setting. I could kind of follow along with  which keys he was
    hitting and did the same thing. It worked. But there was probably
devine
intervention. Every once in a while I look on Craig's List for one of
    those PC Weasel cards. They stopped making them  years ago. It saved
my
bacon many a time though.
It can be frustrating to get sighted assistance from someone who is
not
tech savvy to do something like change a EUFI setting. Another thing
    I've done in the past is to pack the machine up, drag it to a used
    computer store, and offer them $5 to helpme. Actually, the last time
I
    did something like that, I didn't set a price ahead of time and they
    dinged me for $20. Lots of times they'll do stuff like that for free
though.
On 2/21/19 10:59 PM, David Mehler wrote:> Hello,
     >
     > I've had to do a new win10 install and somehow I must have cleared
my
     > bios settings, had also to replace a power supply. The first clue
came
     > after the machine was booted up again and wouldn't boot off of any
USB
     > drive, so I checked system information, UEFI was back on as was
secure
     > boot. I do not remember how I turned this off as I just did it
once
     > and forgot about it. I do not like UEFI nor secure boot, although
I
     > understand the purpose i'd rather be able to set my machine to
boot
     > off an inserted USB thumb drive.
     >
     > The motherboard is an Asus m5a97 and the bios is an american
megatrends.
     >
     > Suggestions welcome.
     >
     > Thanks.
     > Dave.
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