Booting into a windows 8 or 10

[trinidad]

It is ridiculously unlikely that EFI has a virus. The only quirk in windows8 that I know of, is the requirement of dual signing keys, one EFI boot, the other kernel, but this is an OEM spec and HP has never enabled it to my knowledge on home desktops. You may want to provide specific information, mobo, cpu, OEM to a RHEL forum. They would know if the dual key is the issue though I doubt HP has ever done this. EFI is not new, except to MS, the opposite of what you may think. The problems of OEM specificity do not exist with windows10, and Ubuntu trusty provides dual signing keys anyway. I suspect you have gone through your steps incorrectly. Depending on your BIOS version, you may be able to raise a shell to correct the EFI, unless of course you deleted the partition on your drive that contains the logs and shell. Check for that with HP. Finally, some windows8 machines did not contain the CSM for legacy booting from the factory, and some versions of windows8 software, did not allow EFI to legacy options even if they did actually exist on the HDD. Again I doubt any of these things are your problem here. Some windows security features transfer to some USB sticks. You can avoid this by partitioning the USB first, before copying the ISO to USB. The very first thing you must do, when attempting a dual boot with windows8 is disable windows quick boot, then you must check to see if windows quick return from suspend is enabled, and disable that. Certain versions of Windwos8 are the only ones I know of where this is necessary, but there are patches available for this from MS, at least there were a couple of years ago. Again I am not aware of HP ever manufacturing a home desktop machine without legacy options, and/or obtainable shell options for BIOS and EFI even those preloaded with windows8. It was commonly only a low-end laptop issue, and was actually rare. Again some windows8 laptop machines ran EFI with their own windows proprietary binaries, and the only way around that is working from an EFI shell to make changes and additions which you will have to obtain from HP if it is not present. Provide your mobo, cpu, ram numbers, and versions of BIOS and/or EFI, HP model and date, and then your problem can be solved. You are correct in only one supposition. The problem is windows related and you have obviously compounded it into the EFI. I'm not sure of the odds, but about 1 in several trillions that you actually have an EFI virus. You need to be more specific.
Trinidad             

[Les Normal]

ThanQ everyone for all your replys.

This was my original post to HP about the problems.

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Notebook-Operating-System-and-Recovery/UEFI-Boot-Virus/m-p/4363946#M57862


maybe I should just warn all of you to be careful...Remember 2 computers with a file transfer within 10 days developing the EXACT same intermittent problem.
One 2months old one 2years old...

 t might seem outrageous but.... I think Microsoft might have done this.
They are the Only ones who could benefit.

[JmaCWQ]

No probs Les Normal.
It's also possible that the Desktop.ini in your Onedrive account is actually supposed to be there.
Onedrive has limitations on what file types can be uploaded to it & synced with it & I'm pretty sure Desktop.ini is one of those.
If that's so it's possible it's created & locked from deletion by Microsoft and used as a reference for displaying things like icons etc. when the Onedrive account is viewed.
.ini files aren't executable, they just contain configuration data programs use when initialising/starting/running.
I guess in some malicious circumstances they can actually be executable files renamed with the file extension changed to appear to be .ini files, but even the most basic of anti-virus programs should detect that.
Perhaps it may help to mention your situation on a Microsoft or Windows site/forum, there'd be someone there that would know definately these things & could probably explain it better than I can.

I've seen similar to your boot issue of fans starting etc. then everything shutting down when the OS should boot, and it didn't do it all the time, sometimes things would work normally, sometimes not.
In that instance it was caused by dead capacitors on a dying mainboard.

If it boots ok with your recovery USB inserted can you use that to do a repair with so it boots normally all the time?

[Les Normal]

Thank you both for your replies & your help.

JmaCWQ wrote:
That sounds like standard behaviour for a desktop.ini file

Yes, Its possible that is just a red herring. But it surprised me when desktop.ini FORCED ITSELF up to my unwanted & un-used MS one drive account!
Its still the only thing on there & is undeleteable.

Less Normal
Your "secure boot" EFI is supposed to prevent root viruses to your root booting system.

Yes but back in early 2014 The procedure was to turn off Secure boot & enable legacy whatever & move DVD player to earlier in boot sequence.

.Which I did for 3 weeks. but the comp never recognized anything I put in the DVD player. When I realized I had a virus I immediately reset everything back to factory settings but of course it was way too late.

Its well thought out...It allows comp to start & fans to buzz & when it should load the OS it just shuts back down......The it allows it to run here & there so you think you have a faulty computer. 2or3 tries to start at first ..then later 6 or 7

I then stuck in the W8 recovery USB. It started 1st time!
Then 2or 3 tries...... then 5 or 6 ......then 10.....

Seems to be just begging to be taken somewhere to be looked at & hooked into some new hardware..doesnt it? LoL

If I just restart/warm boot it Its just fine,always runs Windows.
My theory its not going all the way back to the UEFI as it does from a cold start.

Ive done this every other day or so since I managed a cold boot after sitting for the HP guys to do a remote hook-up,Mid 2014.
Until Wednesday when I accidentally shut it off moving it around.

Its got a big 750Gb HD chock full...If I expiriment again with putin linux on it I will buy some cheap HDs that I can toss if it fails.

I bought 3 HGST 7200spin SATA 500GB Hds for $33 a piece online . I forget where .
Edit:
Starmicro is the place.
 They may have sold out of the 1s I bought, or it may be this link. I thought it was a great buy. They seem fine.

 https://starmicroinc.net/toshiba-500gb-7400rpm-6gbps-16mb-sata-2-5-oem-hdd-mq01acf050/

[tomt]

Less Normal
Your "secure boot" EFI is supposed to prevent root viruses to your root booting system.I think JmaCWQ is correct it does sound like an .ini file. I have not used windows in years and in fact bought an HP desktop and the first thing I did when I got home was to take Win 10 off and install Linux. For me Linux can do anything Windows can and more. What you might try, before you throw good money into win 10, which by the way from what I read has it`s own issues, is to take the computer that is working and download any Ubuntu distro (Mint, Ubuntu Mate or even Ubuntu itself) onto a DVD or USB stick and try plugging that into the computer that won`t boot. If it takes hold you can follow the directions to install and when it gets to the question that asks you if you want to ERASE the drive and install Linux whatever, it will clean off your drive and the problem would be solved. Of course be aware that if you do it this way your going to loose windows 8 because you would be wiping it clean. The you can come back and search tutorials on how to dual boot Win and Linux Lite. The only thing you have to lose is win 8 which you don`t have now anyway. The other distros I mentioned are set up to boot easily on a UEFI/EFI set up which is what most new computers will eventually come installed with as they eliminate BIOs. Lite requires more steps to do this and those are describe in tutorials. I hope this helps you out. If you can get Windows working you can go into con.fig and run as admin.which will take you to the terminal and run a register and file check and there are instructions on how to do this on Microsofts help section.You can find distros that will work here--- http://distrowatch.com/

[JmaCWQ]

That sounds like standard behaviour for a desktop.ini file, they're pretty much everywhere on a Win system, usually a hidden operating system file by default, used for display configuration of the folder they're in.
If deleted they're auto recreated on a logout/restart, I remember something from years ago about a regsitry edit that stopped the system using them but I think using it broke the ability to save customisations of folders & icons etc..

[Les Normal]

Hi tomt Nice to meet you.

This no ordinary virus... I have used malwarebytes AVG Avira Avast, Online AVs.

All found nothing.

I dont think they check the UEFI/EFI boot up stuff .

I figured I could just wait it out ....but its not happening

 I made a thread on HP forums. I cant locate it now...{Handle aLuddite}
Must have expired.... last time I searched for "UEFI boot Virus" it was in the top 5 returns.

HP did remote check of the computer & found nothing.
When I bought a new comp monday I  accidentally hit the power button moving it & it shut down for the first time in well over 18 months ..LoL
 I havent tried to restart it too much other stuff to deal with.
I  may try to start it & get W10 on it & see if it solves the problem.I dont like W8 anyway.

If I can get a small cheap HD I might risk it & see if I can linux my way out of this.
 But I really think its in the UEFI of the MB myself.

the damn thing seems to disguise itself as  'desktop.ini' its snuck its way onto my forced w8 one drive.
Which I have never used ..&sneaks onto my cd/dvds as a hidden file that I DID NOT put on there.

[tomt]

Greetings Less Normal and Welcome Linux Lite. I never liked Best Buy either. I bought my desk top HP both of them from Walmart. About your problem first thing you have to do with Windows is download Malewarbytes, it is free , and clean your computer. They will do that without cost. There is plenty of help on here for booting LL into a UEFI secure boot computer.
If you take the good one you have running and download any Ubuntu or Mint flavored distro and write it to a USB stick you will be able to boot with UEFI - secure boot as they all come with a key that is recognized by Microsoft. You can always work from there. I noticed Mike added a video guidance that will guide you how to boot LL step by step recently if your care to go through
all that. You can search for it in forums. Regards.

[Les Normal]

Hold on there... no so fast...
 I have W8 machine that has a serious Secure boot/Legacy boot issue.

I never did get it to recognize a CD/DVD to boot from EVER!
 I turned it all off for about 3 weeks & got the worlds ONLY copy of a UEFI boot virus..LoL

I turn it on & goes *BUZZzzzzz* *Blah* & shuts down  in about 2 seconds...
Started out being very intermittent & slowly got worse sometimes nt starting at all after 6-7 tries.

Hmm..I wonder who could benefit from a virus that only allows me to  re-boot my MiserySoft machine  & Never Ever power it down.... again....


I found out it was a virus when I started to remove my stuff to another comp with an Ext HD to reinstall Windows8 .

Yes, the other comp started doing it also......It was a W7 Machine w EFI

Both are "Best Buy Exclusives" Made by HP.

"Best Buy Exclusives" DO NOT LIKE LINUX !!!!!!!
I have 3 of them....sad but true......
Right now 2 are down for the count but the 3rd from 2010 wasnt  Linux friendly last time I tried maybe 2 years ago.

Im hoping the newer distributions will solve that ...

I suspect  odd-ball hardware in the way underpriced PCs is the problem.


May be I should go introduce myself.

[tomt]

This topic may have been covered if so please accept my apologies. This article may be useful to windows users looking to boot into Linux Light. The secure boot disable option is of course up to the producer of the computer. Mine had windows 10 and fortunately I could disable secure boot and engage legacy to boot Linux Light or any other Linux distro that may not have a key for Microsoft. Hope it helps.

 http://www.pcworld.com/article/2011669/linux-foundation-unveils-a-new-solution-for-win-8-secure-boot.html

   Jerry might as well remove this. It is an old subject that commands no interest. Sorry I posted it, just thought it might help someone leaving Windows for LL.

[tomt]

This topic may have been covered if so please accept my apologies. This article may be useful to windows users looking to boot into Linux Light. The secure boot disable option is of course up to the producer of the computer. Mine had windows 10 and fortunately I could disable secure boot and engage legacy to boot Linux Light or any other Linux distro that may not have a key for Microsoft. Hope it helps.

 http://www.pcworld.com/article/2011669/linux-foundation-unveils-a-new-solution-for-win-8-secure-boot.html