Hardware Some ultrabooks/laptops are becoming locked to running only Windows 10

[e1-531g]

Ryan Farmer wrote in explaining that his Yoga 900 ISK2 UltraBook hasn't been able to see Linux installed over a proprietary RAID mode that's locked by the UEFI/BIOS of this ultrabook: Linux can't see the SSD. When contacting Lenovo, he was told by a Lenovo representative, "This system has a Signature Edition of Windows 10 Home installed. It is locked per our agreement with Microsoft."

Microsoft Reportedly Requires "Signature PCs" To Be Locked To Only Running Windows
MicrosoftStore:Signature Edition PCs

This is probably Microsoft's answer for thing like:
Lenovo preinstalls man-in-the-middle adware that hijacks HTTPS traffic on new PCs

For most people this is probably good, because they wouldn't install Gnu/Linux or *BSDs anyway, but for us choosing a laptop is becoming more troublesome.

[richardet]

I try to stay away from any equipment clearly designed for proprietary windows features; its not worth it, if you want to run an OS which is a Unix-Like OS. (My view only.)

[scottro]

Both Microsoft and Lenovo said that the employee misspoke and that there was not such an agreement.

On the other hand, when MS first put in that lock to only allow approved things to be installed, one of the conditions was that it be easily removed by the user. They have taken away that requirement, I believe, though I'm too lazy to google it now, meaning that a manufacturer doesn't necessarily have to make that boot loader lock easily removable. Therefore, it does pay to research before buying a newer machine and make sure you can easily remove the boot lock.

On the other hand, i think that both Canonical and RedHat, and possibly FreeBSD, all have software to enable them to be installed on such machines, but again, I would research before buying. (This goes for desktops as well.)

[joesmith]

I bought a Lenovo ideapad netbook last February, thinking I would run openbsd on
it. I never dreamed I wouldn't be able to boot from a usb on it. what a surprise. did
lots of searching-no joy. and they say the "uefi" is for security. right. security of their income. I've got it locked up/all updates killed-i'll use it for emergencies. I still use a 7
machine also anyway. what I did also do is buy 4 used thinkpads, and 2 used compaqs!!
Ba$t@rd$ just try to keep ME off open bsd. this episode just confirmed why I was looking for a better OS. /rant off