prevent boot order and dual boot?

[justme666]

Hello,

if i have an administrator account(password protected), but no one else in the family does,
does that mean they can NOT

1. create a dual boot on the computer

2. change boot order

thanks

 

[ManyBeers]

Originally posted by: justme666
Hello,

if i have an administrator account(password protected), but no one else in the family does,
does that mean they can NOT

1. create a dual boot on the computer

2. change boot order

thanks

I'm not an expert but i think they could create a dual-boot computer but could
Not change the boot order.

Simply having access to the computer they could put an Ubuntu Live cd in the cd drive and then boot from cd (if the boot order is cd first in the bios)
install Ubuntu which would overwrite the MBR (if selected to do so) and add the existing OS to Grub for a dual-boot system. I think.

 

[justme666]

but if I, first, would change boot order such that it would boot from the hard drive first, then they would
not be able to do this, right?

if i do this, i'd like to know if they can change the boot order back to boot from cd first...
or if they can just create a dual boot ..( both from non administrator accounts...)

 

[ManyBeers]

Originally posted by: justme666
but if I, first, would change boot order such that it would boot from the hard drive first, then they would
not be able to do this, right?

Correct.

if i do this, i'd like to know if they can change the boot order back to boot from cd first...
or if they can just create a dual boot ..( both from non administrator accounts...)

Enable the BIOS password. I'm pretty sure most BIOS, can be password protected.

 

[justme666]

errr... i read the bios password can be hacked...wiki how tells you how to do it...

what i really what to know is if i have xp pro/vista business, and i password protect my
administrator account...could that, in and of itself, prevent someone with only a non admin account from dual booting or chaning boot order....

thanx

 

[mechBgon]

Boot-device order is determined by the motherboard's BIOS. It has nothing to do with the operating system(s) that is installed. To prevent people changing boot-device order (so they can't boot from a CD and set up a dual-boot, etc), password-protect the BIOS and lock the chassis shut so they can't clear the CMOS or swap BIOS chips.

If your family are such uber-hackers that they can overcome those defenses, and you want to keep them out of your OS installation, you're probably going to need to resort to full-disk encryption. And watch for hardware keystroke loggers. Or just move out and get your own place 😉

 

[justme666]

thanx for the advice mechBgon
....

seriously, where can i learn about full disk encryption...

 

[VinylxScratches]

http://www.truecrypt.org/

 

[Nothinman]

what i really what to know is if i have xp pro/vista business, and i password protect my
administrator account...could that, in and of itself, prevent someone with only a non admin account from dual booting or chaning boot order....

No, I can pull the CMOS battery to reset the BIOS, change the boot order to boot from a CD, boot from a Linux LiveCD, mount your Windows partition and then edit boot.ini to change the Windows boot menu.

 

[justme666]

so i'd have to lock the case to prevent that....

now suppose I change the boot order to the hard drive first and cd second. now what
would happen if the os has a problem. would someone, then, be able to boot
from the cd???

In other words, if the the os does not boot for some reason - can this happen???, the bios would
then look to the cd???

the os would be always be on the c drive....it's just that if it fails, someone could
"get in" , so to speak, from the cd... although, i guess they still could not change
boot order it is password protected and case is locked...

 

[Crusty]

If someone has physical access to the machine they can do as they please no matter how many passwords you set. All else fails just take the HDD out and prep it in another machine.

 

[Nothinman]

In other words, if the the os does not boot for some reason - can this happen???, the bios would
then look to the cd???

It's possible, just depends on why it couldn't boot from the hard disk.

 

[justme666]

Originally posted by: Nothinman

In other words, if the the os does not boot for some reason - can this happen???, the bios would
then look to the cd???

It's possible, just depends on why it couldn't boot from the hard disk.

what are the reasons it would not boot from the hard disk?

 

[Nothinman]

what are the reasons it would not boot from the hard disk?

The only reason I can think of right now that would cause it to fail over to the CD is if the hard disk is dying and doesn't respond quick enough on power up. I think most other problems would just cause a halt, like the "NO OPERATING SYSTEM" error the MBR prints if it can't find an active partition to load.

 

[Bozo Galora]

Look, Just put all your kiddie porn and stolen credit card numbers into a folder and use Folderlock sw to password protect it.

I can guarantee you that absolutely no one lacking the password will be able to get into that folder (or partition, or HDD) by any means other than extraordinary encryption cracking (super computer).

http://www.newsoftwares.net/folderlock/