Changing remote PC bios settings

Question

Hi, We are trying to use wake on lan across our whole network. We need a way of enabling the 'remote wakeup' setting in the bios, as well as setting the 'setup password', remotely, across the whole network.   We have the 'Dell Client Configuration Utility' version 1.1.111.0. Although this works fine for setting the 'remote wakeup' setting, the 'setup password' setting never gets applied. The instructions say in DCCU you need to enter the OLD password, followed by a space, and then the NEW password - but our PCs do not have an OLD password to enter. I have tried it with just a space at the beginning, but this also didn't work.   As well as that, the DCCU only works with 2000/XP, but we still have around 400 NT4 machines left on the network which need their bios updating too.   Does anyone know any other ways of making these changes? We know you can do it via IT Assistant, but that seems to involve individually going through each PC in the list to make the change.   Anyone know of a WMI script which might make the changes needed?   Does anyone know how to force DCCU to set the setup password correctly? At least that would mean we could get all the windows 2000 machines done.   Thanks, Daniel.

Rijko · Answer

hi,

i am not really familiar with DCCU.

I have read that it will not succesfully update some of the older bios versions. Is this behaviour you experience related to old bios versions ?

The following is a script i found on the Dell board somewhere. ( I think the author is a German guy who looked into this and wrote more nice stuff so search for his thread if interested ) It requires the freeware pcpbios tool. With a few adjustments to the script i think it might help you with all Dell machines.

The script needs tinkering anyway if called from the logon script - right now it will ask every logon if the chipset software needs to be installed. More elegant would be to check for the existence of that software and let the script decide wether it needs to install, or not.

Look on their site for more info. I would recommend testing until you drop before unleashing a mass-update on your clients. I would not expect much problems but it might bite you big time.

The script can be called from the logon script and update the bios if needed. With slight modification it can also send an Email to someone informing them of success/failure. I would do so anyway : it will leave you with an ever shrinking list of to-do machines. And update every machine with an old b ios that logs on (preferrably when re-configuring the machine) hands-off, as opposed to the labour-intensive per-machine work.

batchfile :

@ECHO OFF
REM Determines model type of laptop and automatically installs
REM required system files and queries user for additionally programs

REM Change to system drive and drive location
%SYSTEMDRIVE%
CD\DRV

REM Verify existance of required files
if exist PCPBIOS.EXE goto exists
echo PCPBIOS.EXE not found
goto end

REM PCPBIOS exists, dump BIOS
:exists

REM ----- DUMP BIOS ----
PCPBIOS >BIOS.TXT

REM Search BIOS.TXT for model number and output to TEMP.BAT
type BIOS.TXT | FIND "Product Name =" > TEMP.BAT

REM Create temporary batch files to set variables
> PRODUCT.BAT ECHO SET ModelID=%%3

REM Delete PRODUCT.BAT before second run
REM >> PRODUCT.BAT DEL PRODUCT.BAT

REM Call temp batch files using keywords from find to run
CALL TEMP.BAT

REM Check ModelID variable and go to installation routines

If %ModelID% == C200 goto C200
If %ModelID% == C400 goto C400
If %ModelID% == C600 goto C600
If %ModelID% == C610 goto C610
If %ModelID% == C840 goto C840
If %ModelID% == D400 goto D400
If %ModelID% == D600 goto D600
If %ModelID% == D610 goto D610
If %ModelID% == X200 goto X200
If %ModelID% == M60 goto M60
If %ModelID% == 650 goto 650

REM The model was not found, goto end

echo The model was not found ending...
goto end

:C200

Echo This is a Dell Latitude C200 and requires no additional installations.
goto end

:C400

Echo This is a Dell Latitude C400.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo The Dell TrueMobile 1150 Client Software will now install
Echo Cancel the installation if you do not want it installed.
C:\DRV\COM\NIC2\setup
goto end

:C600

Echo This is a Dell Latitude C600.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo The Dell TrueMobile 1150 Client Software will now install
Echo Cancel the installation if you do not want it installed.
c:\DRV\C600\NIC2\setup

goto end

:C610

Echo This is a Dell Latitude C610.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo The Dell TrueMobile 1150 Client Software will now install
Echo Cancel the installation if you do not want it installed.
C:\DRV\COM\NIC2\setup
goto end

:C840

Echo This is a Dell Latitude C840.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo The Dell TrueMobile 1150 Client Software will now install
Echo Cancel the installation if you do not want it installed.
C:\DRV\COM\NIC2\setup
goto end

:C400

Echo This is a Dell Latitude D400.
Echo Installing Dell Desktop System Software
C:\DRV\COM\SYS1\Setup -s
echo Installation of Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 LAN Adapters
echo and Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection or
echo Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection and
echo Dell Wireless WLAN Cards cannot be done automatically
echo please run the appropriate batch file on the desktop
echo and then delete.
copy C:\DRV\COM\*.bat C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\Desktop
pause
goto end

:C600

Echo This is a Dell Latitude D600.
Echo Installing Dell Desktop System Software
C:\DRV\COM\SYS1\setup -s
Echo Installing O2Micro O2711EC1 PCMCIA/SmartCard Controller Driver
C:\DRV\D600\CHP1\setup -s
echo Installation of Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 LAN Adapters
echo and Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection or
echo Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection and
echo Dell Wireless WLAN Cards cannot be done automatically
echo please run the appropriate batch file on the desktop
echo and then delete.
copy C:\DRV\COM\*.bat C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\Desktop
pause
goto end

:C610

Echo This is a Dell Latitude D610.
Echo Installing Dell Desktop System Software
C:\DRV\COM\SYS1\setup -s
Echo Installing Dell Wireless 350 Bluetooth Internal Module Driver
echo Cancel installation if Bluetooth adapter is NOT installed
echo.
echo.
echo DO NOT END this batch!!!
pause
C:\DRV\D610\NIC2\Setup
echo Installation of Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 LAN Adapters
echo and Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection or
echo Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection and
echo Dell Wireless WLAN Cards cannot be done automatically
echo please run the appropriate batch file on the desktop
echo and then delete.
copy C:\DRV\COM\*.bat C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\Desktop
pause
goto end

:X200

Echo This is a Dell Latitude X200.
Echo.
Echo.
Echo The Dell TrueMobile 1150 Client Software will now install
Echo Cancel the installation if you do not want it installed.
C:\DRV\COM\NIC2\setup
goto end

:M60

Echo M60 installation routine
Echo Installing Dell Desktop System Software
C:\DRV\COM\SYS1\setup -s
echo Installation of Intel PRO/Wireless 2100 LAN Adapters
echo and Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2915ABG Network Connection or
echo Intel(R) PRO/Wireless 2200BG Network Connection and
echo Dell Wireless WLAN Cards cannot be done automatically
echo please run the appropriate batch file on the desktop
echo and then delete.
copy C:\DRV\COM\*.bat C:\DOCUME~1\ADMINI~1\Desktop
pause
goto end

:650

Echo 650 installation routine
goto end

:end
REM Delete temporary batch files
DEL TEMP.BAT
DEL PRODUCT.BAT
DEL BIOS.TXT

Message Edited by Rijko on 05-07-2005 07:48 PM

Networking, Internet, & Bluetooth

Changing remote PC bios settings

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