Bootloader unlocked?

GeekBone

I was able to install UT on a Pixel 3a with just a little angst, but it up and running successfully. The only question I have is every time I turn on the phone, it gives me the "Bootloader is unlocked warning". Is this a permanent thing?

nero355

@geekbone said in Bootloader unlocked?:

I was able to install UT on a Pixel 3a with just a little angst, but it up and running successfully.

Congratulations! :thumbs_up_light_skin_tone: :thumbs_up_light_skin_tone:

The only question I have is every time I turn on the phone, it gives me the "Bootloader is unlocked warning". Is this a permanent thing?

YUP!

Perfectly normal and very common on a lot of phones!

Moem

@geekbone said in Bootloader unlocked?:

every time I turn on the phone, it gives me the "Bootloader is unlocked warning". Is this a permanent thing?

Yes it is. It's best to see it as a badge of honour. It means this machine has been freed from the clutches of... well, mostly Google, I suppose.

fredldotme

FWIW I thought about a way to make the warning go away on supported devices, with the Pixel 3a being the main development target. Here is a blog post I made about it: https://fredl.me/envisioning-verified-boot-on-ubuntu-touch-devices/

It involves telling the bootloader in a secure way that the system has not been tampered with, but has some side effects which some people might not be aware of.

nero355

@fredldotme said in Bootloader unlocked?:

FWIW I thought about a way to make the warning go away on supported devices, with the Pixel 3a being the main development target. Here is a blog post I made about it: https://fredl.me/envisioning-verified-boot-on-ubuntu-touch-devices/

Thanks for the explanation, but please consider using a smaller font type that doesn't degrade our monitors by wasting at least 50% of the space on it

It involves telling the bootloader in a secure way that the system has not been tampered with, but has some side effects which some people might not be aware of.

I knew about the vbmeta.img and A/B slots stuff already but did not know that if you have all the security stuff in use that remounting the system in R/W mode is no longer an option!

Considering how important that option is for us Ubuntu Touch users I would suggest that the developers should not waste any time on that part and just ignore it!

fredldotme

@nero355 I have a security background, and to be honest, I won't just ignore it because mounting the rootfs rw is actually acting against the design decisions that went into Ubuntu Touch. I'm confident that, if this ever manages to materialize, I will make my daily-driver phone locked down like that.

nero355

@fredldotme
Well...

I would rather have such options available at all time so no silly Google/Microsoft introduced technologies for me!

That's also the reason that I treat all phones as toys : If they get stolen then I haven't lost any important data!

mateo_salta

or someone could hack the bootloader to just not show that screen. i think there was option on the mi a2 to do this

messayisto

@mateo_salta its here:
https://rubencarneiro.github.io/rubencarneiro.io//Ubuntu-Touch-Device-Bootlogos.markdown/

mateo_salta

@messayisto don't think that will hide the unlock screen...

messayisto

@mateo_salta it does on the Mi a2!