▲ 344 ▼ Your Windows PC Has a Permanent ID That Follows You – Even With a VPN (archive.is) submitted 3 months ago by alessandro@lemmy.ca to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca 84 comments fedilink hide all child comments
[–] BigTrout75@lemmy.world 14 points 3 months ago (6 children) Does it follow me after Linux install? permalink fedilink source hideshow 6 child comments replies: [–] e0qdk@reddthat.com 7 points 3 months ago (5 children) Well, there is /etc/machine-id on Linux... permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 5 child comments replies: [–] Sickday@kbin.earth 4 points 3 months ago (1 child) Just want to point out that /etc/machine-id is unique to systemd systems. AlpineLinux, for example, doesn't generate this file on install. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 1 child comment replies: [–] forestbeasts@pawb.social 2 points 3 months ago We tossed systemd out the window on our Debian. Stuff broke when we removed /etc/machine-id. Turns out dbus ALSO uses it, but if it's not in /etc, it makes its own at /var/lib/dbus/machine-id (which was symlinked to /etc/machine-id on our system). So we just wrote 00000000000000000000000000000000 to it instead. 🙃 -- Frost permalink fedilink source parent [–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 months ago (2 children) What happens if you erase it though? System32 moment? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] Sickday@kbin.earth 2 points 3 months ago You can check the man pages for this file, but in short it gets regenerated. It's used to determine whether this is the first boot or not. permalink fedilink source parent [–] e0qdk@reddthat.com 2 points 3 months ago Honestly not sure. I wouldn't be surprised if it breaks something with D-Bus based on skimming the man pages, but I've never dug into it. Its not exposed in containers I run though, and I haven't run into anything that broke there as a result... 🤷️ permalink fedilink source parent
[–] e0qdk@reddthat.com 7 points 3 months ago (5 children) Well, there is /etc/machine-id on Linux... permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 5 child comments replies: [–] Sickday@kbin.earth 4 points 3 months ago (1 child) Just want to point out that /etc/machine-id is unique to systemd systems. AlpineLinux, for example, doesn't generate this file on install. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 1 child comment replies: [–] forestbeasts@pawb.social 2 points 3 months ago We tossed systemd out the window on our Debian. Stuff broke when we removed /etc/machine-id. Turns out dbus ALSO uses it, but if it's not in /etc, it makes its own at /var/lib/dbus/machine-id (which was symlinked to /etc/machine-id on our system). So we just wrote 00000000000000000000000000000000 to it instead. 🙃 -- Frost permalink fedilink source parent [–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 months ago (2 children) What happens if you erase it though? System32 moment? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] Sickday@kbin.earth 2 points 3 months ago You can check the man pages for this file, but in short it gets regenerated. It's used to determine whether this is the first boot or not. permalink fedilink source parent [–] e0qdk@reddthat.com 2 points 3 months ago Honestly not sure. I wouldn't be surprised if it breaks something with D-Bus based on skimming the man pages, but I've never dug into it. Its not exposed in containers I run though, and I haven't run into anything that broke there as a result... 🤷️ permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Sickday@kbin.earth 4 points 3 months ago (1 child) Just want to point out that /etc/machine-id is unique to systemd systems. AlpineLinux, for example, doesn't generate this file on install. permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 1 child comment replies: [–] forestbeasts@pawb.social 2 points 3 months ago We tossed systemd out the window on our Debian. Stuff broke when we removed /etc/machine-id. Turns out dbus ALSO uses it, but if it's not in /etc, it makes its own at /var/lib/dbus/machine-id (which was symlinked to /etc/machine-id on our system). So we just wrote 00000000000000000000000000000000 to it instead. 🙃 -- Frost permalink fedilink source parent
[–] forestbeasts@pawb.social 2 points 3 months ago We tossed systemd out the window on our Debian. Stuff broke when we removed /etc/machine-id. Turns out dbus ALSO uses it, but if it's not in /etc, it makes its own at /var/lib/dbus/machine-id (which was symlinked to /etc/machine-id on our system). So we just wrote 00000000000000000000000000000000 to it instead. 🙃 -- Frost permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 3 months ago (2 children) What happens if you erase it though? System32 moment? permalink fedilink source parent hideshow 2 child comments replies: [–] Sickday@kbin.earth 2 points 3 months ago You can check the man pages for this file, but in short it gets regenerated. It's used to determine whether this is the first boot or not. permalink fedilink source parent [–] e0qdk@reddthat.com 2 points 3 months ago Honestly not sure. I wouldn't be surprised if it breaks something with D-Bus based on skimming the man pages, but I've never dug into it. Its not exposed in containers I run though, and I haven't run into anything that broke there as a result... 🤷️ permalink fedilink source parent
[–] Sickday@kbin.earth 2 points 3 months ago You can check the man pages for this file, but in short it gets regenerated. It's used to determine whether this is the first boot or not. permalink fedilink source parent
[–] e0qdk@reddthat.com 2 points 3 months ago Honestly not sure. I wouldn't be surprised if it breaks something with D-Bus based on skimming the man pages, but I've never dug into it. Its not exposed in containers I run though, and I haven't run into anything that broke there as a result... 🤷️ permalink fedilink source parent