Dell SupportAssist OS Recovery User’s Guide

BIOSConnect overview

BIOSConnect is a preboot framework that allows your PC to be connected to Dell Technologies over Internet.

When your system is unable to boot to the operating system after repeated attempts, BIOSConnect downloads SupportAssist OS Recovery, and initiates recovery of the operating system.

BIOSConnect may be available on your PC in one of the following configurations:

• Attached BIOSConnect—where most of the BIOSConnect software components reside on the service partition of the hard drive. Formatting the hard drive results in loss of BIOSConnect capabilities.
• Hybrid BIOSConnect—where most of the BIOSConnect software components, except the wireless driver stack, reside on the firmware. Formatting the hard drive affects the BIOSConnect capabilities. BIOSConnect can start SupportAssist OS Recovery only if your PC is connected to the Internet through a wired Internet connection.
• Embedded BIOSConnect—where all BIOSConnect software components, including supported wireless driver stack, reside on the firmware. Loss or damage of hard drive partition does not impact BIOSConnect wireless capabilities.

Depending on the type of Internet connection that is available, one of the following actions may occur:

• Wired Internet connection—download of the SupportAssist OS Recovery image is automatically initiated.
• Wireless Internet connection—BIOSConnect scans for wireless networks and displays the list of available wireless networks. You can also connect to hidden wireless networks. After the connection is established, download of the SupportAssist OS Recovery image is automatically initiated.