Activation and developer keys

Getting a Developer Key for your xo

This is necessary for anyone who wants to run unsigned development builds

1. On the xo, open the browser activity.
2. Click on the Library link "other" and then on "about your xo"
3. Click on the link at the very bottom of the page called "apply for a developer key". (First hit the last link in the table of contents to quickly get to the bottom of the page.)
4. Follow the directions to apply for a developer key.
5. The key should be created within a day or two.
6. Go back to the page when your key is ready, and follow the instructions for downloading your key.
7. Reboot your xo.
8. Now, whenever the laptop boots, open firmware will give you the option to hit esc and get an ok prompt.
   • This is the insecure boot process, and it will boot into any image you install on the xo.
9. If you type 'disable-security' at the ok prompt, security will be turned off on your laptop permanently.
   • This is somewhat advisable, as developer keys will expire (not for many years, but still), and if you are doing fresh installs (complete overwrites; i.e. not olpc-update) of the operating system, you will lose the key and if the build you overwrote with isn't signed, your laptop won't boot.
   • This is also why it is good to copy your key to a usb key for safe keeping, as if you boot the laptop with a usb key that has a directory /security with your develop.sig in it, the laptop will boot insecurely.

Getting Activation/Developer Keys for one or many xo's

(NOTE: this requires having an account on activation.laptop.org)

1. First, you must create a 'Collection key'
   1. Download File:Actos.zip and File:Runos.zip
   2. Put these files in a directory called 'boot' on a usb key.
2. Boot the laptop with the 'Collection key' inserted.
   • This will create a laptops.dat file on the usb key. (if you've done this before, delete any old laptops.dat files on the key.
3. Boot each laptop in turn that you want to create keys for. The 'Collector key' will concatenate the laptops.dat file with each new laptop, so do not delete the laptops.dat file between each laptop in a group that you are getting keys for.
4. Goto: http://activation.laptop.org
5. Sign in
6. Click on 'Create a new lease request'
7. Upload the laptops.dat file, and fill in the request information.
   • You will probably have to wait a day or two to get your keys.
   • Note: the activation key (leases.sig) should go into the root directory of your USB key; the developer key (develop.sig) should be added to a subdirectory called 'security' on the USB key.
8. Boot the laptop with the usb key in
   • The same key should work for all the laptops you included in the laptops.dat file.
9. If the laptop wasn't previously activated... it will now boot properly
10. If you're using the developer key, you should be able to get to the ok prompt.
11. To disable secure boot, you can type 'disable-security' from the OK prompt. You may need to leave the developer key in for a reboot and one more 'disable-security' command.

See also: OLPC on free/open source software