Configuring HP Desktop BIOS using SCCM 2012 Task Sequence

In this case I wanted to unify BIOS settings (setup password and bios version) on HP Desktop Computers (DC5800, DC6000, DC6300, 600 G1). I was using SCCM 2012 R2 for operating system deployment, and in the task sequence for operating system deployment I have added steps for setting the BIOS password and updating the BIOS to latest available version for HP desktop model. For setting up the BIOS password I was using BiosConfigUtility.exe from HP sp52095.exe, and for updating the BIOS to the latest available version I was using HPQFlash which is part of BIOS update package and can be downloaded from support web page of the HP desktop model.
What I want to notify here is that BIOS password set with numbers from numerical part of the keyboard is not the same when typed with same numbers from regular part of the keyboard. So, in my case I wanted to set the BIOS password with numbers from numerical part of the keyboard. For example, for BIOS password I wanted to set seven,eight and nine from numerical part of the keyboard, knowing that previous BIOS password is either blank or "abcd". And syntax for achieving that task is following:

BiosConfigUtility.exe /cspwd:"" /cspwd:"abcd" /nspwd:"<KEYPAD 7><KEYPAD 8><KEYPAD 9>"

Note that several "old" BIOS password can be specified in same line using /cspwd, and new password is specified after /nspwd with syntax specified as above when wanted to use numerical part of the keyboard.
My next step was to update BIOS version. For updating the BIOS using HPQFlash when BIOS setup is password protected, setup password has to be provided in encrypted form. Setup password must be encrypted using HPQPswd utility which is part of BIOS update package. HPQPswd will create a file with encrypted setup password. Specifying that file for BIOS setup password will allow HPQFlash to update the BIOS version. Presuming that BIOS update file is located in same location as HPQFlash, the syntax for updating BIOS in silent mode is:
HPQFlash.exe -s -psetuppass.bin
Where setuppass.bin is the encrypted BIOS setup password file created with HPQPswd, and note that there is no space between -p and name of the encrypted BIOS setup password file.

Happy BIOS flashing !

2 comments:



  1. Great and useful article. Creating content regularly is very tough. Your points are motivated me to move on.

    123 HP Setup 8720

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