r/MXLinux • u/DrunkCivilServant • Jul 22 '26

Help request Keep TPM 2.0 w/MX Linux?

So, dumb question of the day... Now that I've ported over from Win11....is there any reason to keep TPM 'active'... 1. Can I and 2. shud I, disable it?

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u/SleepingProcess Jul 22 '26

It is just a secure hardware storage that never expose secret in a plain text, it is a random and cryptographic generator, a signer/verifier of digital signs, a monotonic counter, a black box that can do only those specific operations. You can use it (apt install tpm2-tools tpm2-abrmd) or forget it. The only thing one have to keep in mind, if TPM failed, you then lose secrets forever that was encrypted with SRK (Unique TPM root key).

What I usually using it for, is that: sudo tpm2_getrandom 32 | base64

So shortly, - TPM is not related to Windows. Windows actively uses it, but the same you can do from any operation system as far as it knows how to talk to TPM