accessing firmware settings from a computer with an SSD

[rybnik]

I don't have a solid state drive, but I was curious about this from a theoretical perspective.

So Windows 8 computers make it so that you have to first boot into Windows in order to access the uefi settings. I read that this is (allegedly) because now there are computers with solid state hard drives that boot so fast that there isn't enough time for a human reaction to push "F2."

So...

(1) Let's say you have what was once a "Windows 8 computer" that was then wiped of all traces of Windows and has just linux on it. How, then, do you access the firmware settings? (given that, as I understand it, you can only do so when you first boot into windoze)
(2) If you have a computer that never had windows on it but has a solid state drive with (say) linux installed, and it boots too fast for you to be able to hit F2, then how can you access the firmware settings?

sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum section...

[SteveRiley]

Fast Boot is a UEFI feature that's unrelated to SSDs. Matthew Garrett explains it and how to work around it.

[rybnik]

Thanks for the link, Steve! That was an interesting read.

However, the part I didn't understand was:

Is there a way to permanently change the amount of hardware that gets initialized before boot, or do you need to keep a windoze partition just to be able to get into the firmware settings?

[SteveRiley]

If you can do something to force the system to enter the UEFI setup menu, then you can:

1. Disable Fast Boot
2. Remove all Windows partitions

Matthew Garrett mentions pulling the hard drive. There are probably other methods, too. Googling for "disable fast boot" might be useful.

[rybnik]

Thanks.

For those reading this who are interested, here are instructions I found for disabling "fast boot":
http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials...ndows-8-a.html