tpm_setactive(8)

💖 tpm_setactive — the glow-up edition 💖

okay bestie, so this one lives in the TPM Management family, section 8 of the System Manager's Manual, and it's called tpm_setactive. yes the name is giving "let me flip a switch on your TPM" and that's exactly what it does. 🦋

🌸 NAME 🌸

tpm_setactive — change TPM active states

✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

tpm_setactive [OPTION]

💅 DESCRIPTION 💅

so like, tpm_setactive reports the status of the TPM's flags regarding the active state of the TPM. that's the default behavior, and you can also get it with the --status option. heads up though: requesting a report of this status prompts for the owner password. 👑

the --active option changes the TPM to the active state (via the TPM_PhysicalSetDeactivated API). this operation requires evidence of physical presence, it's persistent, and it requires a reboot to take effect. periodt.

the --inactive option (via the TPM_PhysicalSetDeactivated API) changes the TPM to the inactive state. same deal: requires evidence of physical presence, is persistent, and requires a reboot to take effect. and an inactive TPM is essentially off but still allows for a tpm_takeownership to occur. ikyk. 🫶

the --temp option causes deactivation (via the TPM_SetTempDeactivated API) to happen immediately, but it only endures for the current boot cycle. so it's like, temporary temporary. 🎀

no cap: the --status, --active, --inactive, and --temp options are mutually exclusive — the last one on the command line will be carried out. so don't be out here writing all four and expecting a group project. 💀

🎀 the options 🎀

• -h, --help — display command usage info.
• -v, --version — display command version info.
• -l, --log [none|error|info|debug] — set logging level.
• -u, --unicode — use TSS UNICODE encoding for passwords, to comply with applications using TSS popup boxes.
• -s, --status — report the status of flags regarding the TPM active states.
• -a, --active — make the TPM active. the operation is persistent, requires physical presence to authorize, and a reboot to take effect.
• -i, --inactive — make the TPM inactive. the operation is persistent, requires physical presence to authorize, and a reboot to take effect.
• -t, --temp — makes the TPM inactive for the current boot cycle only.
• -z, --well-known — authenticate using 20 bytes of zeros as the owner password (the default TSS Well Known Secret), instead of prompting for an owner password. iconic shortcut behavior, honestly.

🦋 SEE ALSO 🦋

tpm_version(1), tpm_setpresence(8), tpm_takeownership(8), tpm_setenable(8), tcsd(8)

😭 REPORTING BUGS 😭

report bugs to <trousers-users@lists.sourceforge.net>

and that's the whole page bestie!! 🌈 this one's from TPM Management, dated 2005-05-06, and it slayed in section 8 the whole time. go forth and manage your TPM active states responsibly, mwah 💖✨👑