How to Enable Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) Using a Custom Application

Documentation

Install & Setup

000058957

02/11/2022

Overview

Intel® Software Guard Extensions (SGX) is a security technology built into Intel processors that helps protect data in use via unique application isolation technology. Selected code and data are protected from modification using hardened enclaves. SGX must be enabled on the platform before applications written for SGX can benefit from it.

Prerequisites

  1. Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) is set to Software Controlled in BIOS.
  2. Operating system is installed in UEFI mode.
Note

Check if Windows® 10 is booted in Legacy or UEFI Mode using one of these options. If Windows 10 is in Legacy mode, change to UEFI mode in BIOS and reinstall Windows 10. Follow these instructions on AskUbuntu for changing from Legacy mode to UEFI mode in Ubuntu.

Procedure

Refer to Properly Detecting Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) in Your Applications for a full explanation of detecting and enabling Intel SGX on a platform using Intel SGX SDK APIs.

Related topics
How to Enable Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) Using the SGX Activation App in Windows® 10
How to Enable Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) Using the SampleSGXEnable Sample app in the Intel SGX SDK for Windows*
Properly Detecting Intel® Software Guard Extensions (Intel® SGX) in Your Applications