Cloned BIOS Settings

The standard BIOS settings for the SelectPC are not suitable for DICE machines. Rather than go through a tedious and error-prone manual process to configure the BIOS to match our requirements it is possible to clone the BIOS settings of one machine and apply them to another.

Restoring Settings

HP EliteDesk 800

To restore BIOS settings on this hardware a USB stick is required and it must be formatted as Windows/FAT. It requires a text file named HpSetup.txt in the top-level directory which can be found at:

• G3 /afs/inf.ed.ac.uk/group/mp-unit/bios/hp_elitedesk800g3/HpSetup.txt
• G3 mini /afs/inf.ed.ac.uk/group/mp-unit/bios/hp_elitedesk800g3_mini/HpSetup.txt
• G4 /afs/inf.ed.ac.uk/group/mp-unit/bios/hp_elitedesk800g4/HpSetup.txt
• G5 /afs/inf.ed.ac.uk/group/mp-unit/bios/hp_elitedesk800g5/HpSetup.txt

Do not apply these configs to anything other than the intended machine type, you could easily end up with an unbootable machine. If a model is not listed here you MUST contact the Managed Platform Unit.

The file holds the details of the set of changes to be applied. The settings file is a DOS file which is easily messed up by editors on Linux so it must be copied to the USB stick, do not copy/paste the contents.

Starting from the default SelectPC settings is trivial on this hardware.

1. Boot into the BIOS screen (use [F10]).
2. Insert the USB stick.
3. Select Replicated Setup on the Main screen.
4. Select Restore current settings from USB device
5. Check it was successful.
6. Return to Main screen.
7. Switch to Security screen.
8. Select Change BIOS Administrator Password in the Administrator Tools section and set the correct Informatics password.
9. Exit and Save Changes

HP EliteDesk 800 G2

To restore BIOS settings on this hardware a USB stick is required and it must be formatted as Windows/FAT. For the HP EliteDesk 800 G2 it must contain a text file named HpSetup.txt (attached) in the top-level directory. This file holds the details of the set of changes to be applied. The settings file must be downloaded and saved, do not copy/paste the contents. Note that this process will only succeed once as it disables some features which are required for it to function.

Starting from the default SelectPC settings is trivial on this hardware.

1. Boot into the BIOS screen (use [F10]).
2. Insert the USB stick.
3. Select Replicated Setup on the Main screen.
4. Select Restore current settings from USB device
5. Check it was successful.
6. Return to Main screen.
7. Switch to Security screen.
8. Select Change BIOS Administrator Password in the Administrator Tools section and set the correct Informatics password.
9. Exit and Save Changes

Saving Settings

These notes are mainly here for MPU. Beware it might NOT be safe to directly apply settings downloaded from a machine, there's a chance that you will end up overwriting the serial number. The downloaded file needs to be carefully editted before further use. It's a DOS file so ensure your editor doesn't trash the line endings.

HP EliteDesk 800 G2

1. Boot into the BIOS screen (use [F10]).
2. Check that Booting from USB is enabled, if not you MUST enable it and reboot again.
3. Configure the BIOS as required (potentially including disabling booting from USB again).
4. Save Changes.
5. Insert the USB stick.
6. Select Replicated Setup on the Main screen.
7. Select Backup current settings to USB device
8. Check it was successful.
9. Return to Main screen.
10. Exit
11. You should now have a file named HpSetup.txt on your USB stick.

-- StephenQuinney - 09 Jun 2016