But you could delete system32 if you wanted, it just broke everything, I can’t imagine deleting the bootloader would go particularly well for you either.
Yeah this is sort of funny because Linux used to let you delete EFI vars, bricking motherboards, since it mounted them to the root filesystem. It’s since been patched in every motherboard, but sometimes full control is more dangerous than “haha I can just reinstall”
There are now. In 2016, there were motherboards that didn’t properly implement the UEFI standard, outlined in the link I provided, and those motherboards would be bricked were someone to delete the EFI vars. The motherboard would never reach POST on boot
Actually, you can’t, not by normal means anyway. For starters, there’s the Windows File Protection (WFP) which automatically restores any deleted essential system files, and there’s also the Windows Resource Protection (WRP), which prevents you from even attempting to delete those files. There are ways you can get around it of course, but even still, you can’t delete files which are in use, which means you still wouldn’t be able to delete the system32 folder.
The only way to actually delete it completely, would be to boot from a second OS or a rescue environment and then delete the folder.
In modern installs you’ve got to jump through a few hoops to be able to delete system32, because normally it simply won’t let you or anything running do that.
But you could delete system32 if you wanted, it just broke everything, I can’t imagine deleting the bootloader would go particularly well for you either.
Deleting bootloader at least won’t kill your system. You can always reinstall it.
Also some dude on Reddit shared neofetch screenshot showing 3+ years of uptime. He doesn’t need a bootloader.
Bootloaders are bloat! Always thought it
Well remember when that Arch update broke grub?
I couldn’t boot into my PC at all. And for whatever reason, the fix they posted on the Arch wiki wasn’t working for me.
I deleted my bootloader in a live ISO environment and installed a different one (rEFInd). It was actually very easy.
Having the flexibility and power to do whatever you want to your system is truly something I deeply appreciate with Linux.
Yeah this is sort of funny because Linux used to let you delete EFI vars, bricking motherboards, since it mounted them to the root filesystem. It’s since been patched in every motherboard, but sometimes full control is more dangerous than “haha I can just reinstall”
https://lwn.net/Articles/674940/
Are there not physical ways to reset efi vars? I’m pretty sure there are
There are now. In 2016, there were motherboards that didn’t properly implement the UEFI standard, outlined in the link I provided, and those motherboards would be bricked were someone to delete the EFI vars. The motherboard would never reach POST on boot
Those motherboards have no excuse to do that. I hope people at least got their money back if they were under warranty
Not really bricked, you could always use an external flashing tool, and they are cheap
Actually, you can’t, not by normal means anyway. For starters, there’s the Windows File Protection (WFP) which automatically restores any deleted essential system files, and there’s also the Windows Resource Protection (WRP), which prevents you from even attempting to delete those files. There are ways you can get around it of course, but even still, you can’t delete files which are in use, which means you still wouldn’t be able to delete the system32 folder.
The only way to actually delete it completely, would be to boot from a second OS or a rescue environment and then delete the folder.
Deleting a bootloader is a perfectly valid thing to do.
I deleted my bootloader recently. You can actually just boot the Linux kernel directly by using efibootmgr to write a custom UEFI boot entry.
In modern installs you’ve got to jump through a few hoops to be able to delete system32, because normally it simply won’t let you or anything running do that.