I currently have a Dell laptop that runs Windows for work. I use an external SSD via the Thunderbolt port to boot Linux allowing me to use the laptop as a personal device on a completely separate drive. All I have to do is F12 at boot, then select boot from USB drive.
However, this laptop is only using 1 of the 2 internal M.2 ports. Can I install Linux on a 2nd M.2 drive? I would want the laptop to normally boot Windows without a trace of the second option unless the drive is specified from the BIOS boot options.
Will this cause any issues with Windows? Will I be messing anything up? For the external drive setup, I installed Linux on a different computer, then transferred the SSD to the external drive. Can I do the same for the M.2 SSD – install Linux on my PC, then transfer that drive to the laptop?
Any thoughts or comments are welcome.
Edit: Thank you everyone! This was a great discussion with a lot of great and thoughtful responses. I really appreciate the replies and all the valuable information and opinions given here.
Forget the technical details. I work in a corporate security department and if yours finds out what you’re doing there’s high odds they would absolutely hate it. I mean it likely isn’t an issue for org security (assuming they’re using bitlocker appropriately etc.) But not everyone over security is so rational and there are edge case attacks which may even trouble more sensible individuals. Either get permission, expect to do this in secret, or better yet just don’t.
Not to mention you really can’t hide that other drive from windows, and I’m sure a lot of the security tools would start screaming about new storage added when not expected. Data Loss Prevention is a big deal and random storage showing up doesn’t often mean the user has good things planned.
Exactly. This is a terrible idea. I’m fairly certain that anyone caught doing this would be immediately fired at some companies.
Yeah… I really don’t see the motives to do this either. Possibly:
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I guess if you’re traveling and you have to bring 2 laptops.
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Or you can’t afford a PC with the same specs as your work laptop.
Both of those situations don’t warrant booting work laptop to external personal HD though.
I mean it likely isn’t an issue for org security (assuming they’re using bitlocker appropriately etc.)
Data loss/leak prevention would vehemently disagree. It’s a potential exfiltration point, especially if the org is blocking USB writes.
Networking might have a thing or two to say about it as well, as it is essentially an untrusted setup on company networks
(assuming they’re using bitlocker appropriately etc.)
Stop using work devices for personal business
Yes, and especially don’t fuck with the hardware or core boot/OS configuration. That’d the kind of stuff that can get you fired in most orgs I’ve been in.
Is Linux likely to mess up the stuff in Windows: probably not? It does require you to do likely-unauthorized things to the device to install, including potentially circumventing some controls required in the work device.
Whether it causes issue or not, circumventing those policies or controls is not going to land well if you get caught at it.
Sure, people should not use their work computer for personal use.
However, I would say the majority of people absolutely do use it for occasional personal use. Checking your personal email at work? Googling driving directions to the dentist? Using the pdf editor to fill out a form? Searching for a flight during your lunch break? I would say everyone I see at work does this, and I would bet that when they take their laptop home they would not hesitate to boot it up for personal use. And the people working remotely I would wager use it even more.
I’m not saying it’s right, but I do think using a completely separate SSD and OS is way more responsible from a security perspective.
and I would bet that when they take their laptop home they would not hesitate to boot it up for personal use. And the people working remotely I would wager use it even more.
Are you willing to bet your job or career on this? If so, proceed. Otherwise, I would heed the multiple warnings given in this thread. But then again, you might just be one of those fuck around and find out types. If so, be sure and drop in here and let us know how well it went.
There’s a difference between using a web browser to access certain websites, which still use the sandboxing and safe environment that the company has set up, and running your own OS which has unrestricted hardware access to everything.
IT likely knows that people will use their laptops for personal use, but probably trust that browsers are good enough at sandboxing that is not a concern. They can also tweak settings in whatever Windows management thingie they’re using to ensure that everything is up to date and all the programs you are running are safe.
However, running your own OS is very different. They can’t trust the browser sandbox or OS any more. They can’t trust that you’ll only run safe software. They can’t trust that you’ll not install malware that will infect firmware or your Windows install (which will steal company secrets).
If I were running an IT department I’d 100% lock down the efi and require a password. I’d try to make it as frictionless as possible if you wanted a certain distro for work reasons, but ultimately I’d like to know what’s going on.
Just because people do it doesn’t mean you should.
Using a separate SSD and OS might work fine for protecting your data from company monitoring software, but it doesn’t protect company data from your rogue OS. If your company has a dedicated security team, your head will roll when they find out you put the company at risk. And if they don’t, you better hope IT is either apathetic or incompetent.
It’s not worth the risk of losing your job for being a liability. They might not be able to tell future employers why you are no longer employed with them, but “we would not hire {you} again if given the opportunity” speaks for itself.
Just buy a shitty laptop and use that.
Simple question: what would your employer say if you asked them?
My contract has a standard “no using company computers for personal business” clause. However I feel entirely confident that my employer doesn’t mind me using it to do personal errands using the web browser (on my own time). And I know they have no problem with me using Zoom or Teams to join meetings for non-work things in the evening. How do I know this? Because I asked them…
I’ve never asked them “can I install a new hard drive in my laptop, install an OS I downloaded off the internet, and boot into that OS to do things which I’d rather you not be able to track like you could on the main OS”. But I’m completely confident I’d know what the answer would be if I did ask.
If you think installing a new SSD etc. is acceptable, ask them. If you’re not asking them because you’re worried they’d say “no”, then don’t do it.
Try asking them instead if you can use your laptop to look up directions to the dentist on Google Maps. See if you get the same answer.
Danger Will Robinson! Do NOT fuck with company hardware!
You are going to potentially set off a shit ton of alarm bells, and risk your job, by even attempting this.
First of all, almost all such devices come with a BIOS lock. You’d need to get the password before you could even begin this (again, do not do it!)
Secondly, they’ll be able to tell something is up from the foreign UEFI entries.
Thirdly, if that doesn’t expose you, Intel IME will. Doesn’t matter what operating system you’re running.
And you’re going to create some royal fucking headaches for a lot of people in your company.
Let’s start with security. Remember when I said you’ll set off alarm bells? Well, I mean some mother fucking alarm bells. Security will have a god damn aneurysm over this, and they will believe you may be doing this to bypass security, possibly for nefarious reasons. A foreign hard drive with its own OS looks shady as shit.
Then there’s the regular tech people. You’re going to cause various headaches for them too. Not least because under many service agreements, the company itself may not be authorised to open up the workstations themselves. Many workplaces rent their workstations nowadays, and it is not uncommon to see this language in their SLAs.
Then there’s the fact that the OS image on the original drive potentially cannot be trusted any more, so they have to wipe the fucker clean and do a fresh image install.
TL;DR, You are giving your company several solid reasons to fire you for cause by doing this.
He already boots linux via USB drive on it, I guess the difference to booting from PCI/M.2 drive would not be that different, in terms of security, or did I miss something?
The security implication from a USB boot are probably more severe but also more the fault of the people configuring your work machine. It is expected that people will plug things like pen drives in, to a degree. It is your job to block it with configurations.
The real problem is that once you start adding or removing internal hardware, that configuration no longer stays a trusted one because they’ve meddled with the components.
I have a recommendation, buy a personal laptop that isn’t tied to your company.
You shouldn’t do this. Why would you do this
Want to elaborate on why it’s such a bad idea? I’m curious now
Provided the user doesn’t put their windows password in, then things should not be accessed.
You run the risk of getting your ass fired. It’s not your property, you’re not supposed to mess with it, let alone installing additional hardware and another OS which could then lead to issues with the work side of things.
So you’re saying it will mess with the other partitions?
This is essentially OPs question, but I didn’t see you answer it in that way.
Well for one thing the laptop doesn’t belong to OP so it’s not their’s to mess with.
I was more looking for a functional reason, not just a “cos I said so” from the employer.
I thought maybe some of you work in cybersec had a real answer or a cve/attack vector etc.
