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My family might be buying a Windows Surface tablet with Windows RT (Nvidia)? I was wondering if I can run Ubuntu or WUBI on it for my homework?

Emerson Hsieh
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college2014
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4 Answers4

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Since on the RT tablet I would say no, since Microsoft requires secure keys in order to boot up it. It would probably on a standard Windows 8 tablet though, since the secure boot is an optional thing for OEM's, unlike the mandatory one for the Surface.

Here is a similar question

http://www.reddit.com/r/linux/comments/1229uw/question_linux_on_a_windows_surface_tablet/

Leealis
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In short, it doesn't look likely without some extreme hacking that nobody has done.

Microsoft have deliberately nobbled the Windows 8 specification so that this can't happen on ARM-based machines.

To be Windows 8 RT compatible (ARM machines only) it must not be possible to disable or reconfigure secure boot. So if you have an ARM machine that can run Windows 8 RT then it can only run an operating system signed by Microsoft.

So the Surface RT is like all other Windows 8 RT in that it's very much a device for muggles and mouse mittens; no Linux or BSD wizardry allowed, no dual-booting hacked-up iOS and no Android either. I can understand why they'd do this because most people are pointers and clickers, but it's not a machine for tech-heads.

The Surface Pro has an Intel i5 machine so hopefully Ubuntu 13.04 will support it of the box, if it does then I'll get one.

Source: Windows Phone Central Forums

Community
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brim4brim
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1

Yes: Microsoft recently leaked so-called "golden keys" used to (essentially) disable secure boot on RT devices.

This makes it possible to run Ubuntu on RT devices; how to do it would be a nice follow-up question, and there doesn't seem to be many guides out there.

Clément
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-5

I'm not sure if this would work but if you

  1. Go to your settings go to "Change PC Settings"
  2. And "Devices"
  3. Then to "Recovery"
  4. And look under "Advanced startup" and you might be able to try and start your surface using a usb with Ubuntu on it
sazzy4o
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jarom
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