Secure Boot feature mandated for Battlefield 6, with Call of Duty Black Ops 7 potentially following suit; discover its relevance, reasons behind Linux gamers' discontent, and steps to activate it
Battlefield 6, the highly anticipated first-person shooter from Electronic Arts (EA), has announced that Secure Boot will be a mandatory requirement for accessing the open beta. This security feature on Windows PCs ensures only trusted and signed software runs at boot, preventing cheats that operate deeply in the system, such as kernel-level rootkits or memory manipulation tools.
Enabling Secure Boot on Windows 11
To ensure you can participate in the Battlefield 6 open beta, follow these steps to enable Secure Boot on your Windows 11 system:
- Check if Secure Boot is enabled:
- Press Windows Key + R to open the Run dialog.
- Type msinfo32 and press Enter to open System Information.
- In System Summary, locate:
- BIOS Mode: Should be UEFI (not Legacy).
- Secure Boot State: Should be On.
If Secure Boot State is Off, and BIOS Mode is UEFI, you can enable Secure Boot in the BIOS/UEFI settings.
- Enable Secure Boot in BIOS/UEFI:
- Restart your PC and enter the BIOS/UEFI setup (usually by pressing keys like F2, DEL, or ESC during boot — check your motherboard manual).
- Locate the Secure Boot option in the Security or Boot section.
- Enable Secure Boot.
- Save changes and exit.
- Additional prerequisites:
- Your system disk must be partitioned using GPT (GUID Partition Table), not MBR, if BIOS Mode is UEFI.
- TPM 2.0 must also be enabled because Secure Boot depends on it; these are related security features required by the game's anti-cheat system.
Important Notes
- Since BIOS configuration can vary between manufacturers, it is advised to consult your motherboard manual or manufacturer support if unsure.
- Some gamers are upset because older machines that don't support UEFI, Secure Boot, or a Trusted Platform Module (TPM) are unable to run the game.
- To enable the TPM, it might be necessary to check the Trusted Computing Platform settings.
- Windows 11 users may be able to enable Secure Boot on their machine if they updated to Windows 11 following official procedure.
Other Games Requiring Secure Boot
In addition to Battlefield 6, Call of Duty Black Ops 7 will also require Secure Boot to be enabled. EA has signposted that Secure Boot would remain in place for Battlefield 6, and Battlefield 2042 also required Secure Boot after a patch.
An anti-cheat software gains greater reassurance of blocking cheaters in-game with Secure Boot enabled. However, this means that Linux gamers are unlikely to run Battlefield 6 anytime soon due to anti-cheat requirements, as the game isn't built for gaming on Linux, joining other games like Valorant and Fortnite that aren't built for Linux due to anti-cheat.
[1] EA's Battlefield 6 Open Beta Requires Secure Boot [2] How to Enable Secure Boot in Windows 11 [3] Enabling Secure Boot on Windows 11 [4] Secure Boot: How it works and how to enable it on Windows 11 [5] Battlefield 6 Requires Secure Boot to Play
- To ensure a smooth experience in the Battlefield 6 open beta, gamers must enable Secure Boot on their Windows 11 system.
- Secure Boot will also be a mandatory requirement for playing Call of Duty Black Ops 7.
- EA has announced that Secure Boot will remain in place for Battlefield 6 and Battlefield 2042.
- The game's anti-cheat system requires Secure Boot, making it impossible for Linux gamers to run Battlefield 6 without modifications, similar to Valorant and Fortnite.
