It’s been a few days since the software giant launched this set of updates for the various versions of Windows that are still supported. Well, according to what we now know and based on a multitude of reports and complaints from users, these August Windows security updates have a serious problem.
Specifically, they are interrupting dual boot on some Linux systems if the PC has secure boot enabled. This is an increasingly common practice among many users, we are talking about configuring their computer to have a dual boot, for example with Windows and Linux. And that is precisely where the errors are being detected after installing the August patches.
After analyzing the problem, it seems that it is caused by Microsoft’s decision to apply a secure boot update or SBAT to block unpatched Linux bootloaders. All this to combat the CVE-2022-2601 secure boot bypass vulnerability that could negatively impact Windows security.
We are talking about a vulnerability located in the Linux GRUB2 bootloader. This bootloader is designed to support secure boot on systems running this operating system, as Microsoft itself informs us in order to address this problem.
How to fix dual boot problem in Windows
With all this, what is achieved is that the most recent versions of Windows are no longer vulnerable to this security flaw. However, after installing the latest updates released by the company, it seems that dual booting does not work at all, which is a major problem.
To give us a better idea, it is worth mentioning that many Linux users say that their systems Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Zorin OSor Puppy Linux, among other distributions, no longer boot after installing the August updates on their Windows PC. Those affected are faced with an error when verifying data and an alleged security policy violation.
A definitive list of Linux distributions and versions affected by this problem has not yet been published. Thus, those affected who tried to solve the problem say that remove SBAT policy or restoring Secure Boot does not work.
While we are waiting for Microsoft to fix this dual boot issue once and for all, we can use a temporary solution. The only way to re-enable this feature is to disable Secure Boot on the PC, install the latest version of the Linux distribution, and re-enable Secure Boot.
In fact, to date Microsoft has yet to acknowledge that installing this month’s update will cause dual boot systems cannot start. So we will still have to wait a few more weeks until all this is resolved.