Document the need to disable Secure Boot prior to attempting Qubes installation

[rjrizzuto]

How to file a helpful issue

Qubes OS release (if applicable)

4.2, possibly earlier

Brief summary

I am NOT maintaining documentation, but am glad to point out errors and omissions.

I can find nowhere in the installation guide where it says to turn off secure boot. That is certainly not obvious to someone coming from Windows, or even Linux Mint, which do not have that requirement.

[xaki23]

there is a whole bunch of weird platform-specific things that can go sideways like that, and i am not sure whether it is a reasonable goal to document them, and in what form. f.ex. a few months ago i tried to install on some random dell notebook, and ... any kind of linux refused to see that things internal nvme, at all. even a plain fedora was "there is no storage on this". took half an hour to figure out i had to disable some intel-rapid-storage option in bios before any linux would admit that yes, the machine has some nvme.

perhaps some FAQ or "collection of installation lore"?

[rjrizzuto]

I think disabling secure boot is a common requirement on modern computers. It goes back to Windows 10 at least. I don't think it is a big ask to document this requirement. Certainly easier than supporting secure boot ;-)

On Tuesday, February 13th, 2024 at 10:06 PM, xaki23 @.***> wrote:

there is a whole bunch of weird platform-specific things that can go sideways like that, and i am not sure whether it is a reasonable goal to document them, and in what form. f.ex. a few months ago i tried to install on some random dell notebook, and ... any kind of linux refused to see that things internal nvme, at all. even a plain fedora was "there is no storage on this". took half an hour to figure out i had to disable some intel-rapid-storage option in bios before any linux would admit that yes, the machine has some nvme.

perhaps some FAQ or "collection of installation lore"?

— Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub, or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: @.***>

[andrewdavidwong]

Related: https://github.com/QubesOS/qubes-issues/issues/4371

[IOZZYS]

I think I'm running with secure boot... might check later.

[bi0shacker001]

I think disabling secure boot is a common requirement on modern computers. It goes back to Windows 10 at least. I don't think it is a big ask to document this requirement. Certainly easier than supporting secure boot ;-) … On Tuesday, February 13th, 2024 at 10:06 PM, xaki23 @.> wrote: there is a whole bunch of weird platform-specific things that can go sideways like that, and i am not sure whether it is a reasonable goal to document them, and in what form. f.ex. a few months ago i tried to install on some random dell notebook, and ... any kind of linux refused to see that things internal nvme, at all. even a plain fedora was "there is no storage on this". took half an hour to figure out i had to disable some intel-rapid-storage option in bios before any linux would admit that yes, the machine has some nvme. perhaps some FAQ or "collection of installation lore"? — Reply to this email directly, [view it on GitHub](#8941 (comment)), or unsubscribe. You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: @.>

Secureboot support has been standard in pretty much every modern linux distribution for years, and isn't particularly hard to implement, it just costs money, requires partnering with another project, or requires user implementation (see fedora, universal-blue, and archlinux, in that order, for examples)

That being said, the FAQ does say that secure boot is not supported, and the binaries are not signed. I believe that counts as it being documented.

[rjrizzuto]

I think it would be helpful to add disabling secure boot as a step in the installation guide. While it is in the FAQ, a new user might not see it there, whereas they would definitely see it as one of the steps in the install guide.

[unman]

Agreed.