Microsoft has finally resolved a critical issue that prevented Linux from booting on dual-boot systems with Secure Boot enabled after users installed the August 2024 Windows security updates.
## The Problem
The issue affected a wide range of systems running Windows 10, Windows 11, and Windows Server versions (2012 and later). The root cause was a Secure Boot Advanced Targeting (SBAT) update designed to block UEFI shim bootloaders vulnerable to the CVE-2022-2601 GRUB2 Secure Boot bypass exploit.
Although Microsoft had intended to avoid delivering this update to dual-boot systems, their detection mechanism failed to identify customized dual-boot configurations. As a result, many Linux users running distributions including Ubuntu, Zorin OS, Linux Mint, and Puppy Linux found their systems unbootable after installing the August 2024 Windows updates.
Affected users encountered error messages stating: “Something has gone seriously wrong: SBAT self-check failed: Security Policy Violation.”
## The Resolution
Nine months after acknowledging the problem, Microsoft has announced that the May 2025 Patch Tuesday security updates resolve the issue for all affected users.
“This issue was resolved by Windows updates released May 13, 2025, and later,” Microsoft stated in a Windows release health update. “We recommend you install the latest update for your device as it contains important improvements and issue resolutions, including this one.”
## Interim Solutions
Prior to the permanent fix, Microsoft had provided temporary workarounds:
1. In late August, they released instructions to delete the problematic SBAT update
2. On September 19, they stopped automatically applying the SBAT update to firmware
3. They advised users who wanted to prevent future SBAT updates to run the following command:
“`
reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlSecureBootSBAT /v OptOut /d 1 /t REG_DWORD
“`
Microsoft clarified that “This known issue only occurs with the installation of the August 2024 security and preview updates. The September 2024 security update and later updates do not contain the settings that caused this issue.”