With all of the security issues and malware lately, BIOS to UEFI for Windows 10 deployments is becoming a pretty hot topic (unless you have been living under a rock, UEFI is required for a lot of the advanced security functions in Windows 10). In addition, with the Windows 10 Creators Update, Microsoft has introduced…
If you have ever done OSD, then chances are you have had to open up CMTrace a time or two to look at the smsts.log file. CMTrace displays one of the most annoying pop up boxes of all times and it is usually hiding behind the running task sequence dialog window: “Do you want to make…
In this blog post, I am going to show some simple steps that you can add to your Task Sequences to be able to detect, disable, and enable BitLocker status. This can be useful (and necessary) when performing activities like flashing the BIOS, running the new MBR2GPT utility, or upgrading to a newer version of Windows.…
You may have noticed a message under Update status in Settings after installing the March 2017 cumulative update that says “Good news! The Windows 10 Creators Update is on its way. Want to be one of the first to get it?” and a link below that says “Yes, show me how“. This is great for consumer…
Update 2/14/2017: Dell has publicly posted a download link to the 64-bit BIOS Installation Utility (now called Flash64W.exe) and you can find it here: http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/enterprise-client/w/wiki/12237.64-bit-bios-installation-utility Now that the cat is out of the bag that Dell has a 64-bit Flash BIOS Utility, I can finally blog about it. Earlier this week, Warren Byle of Dell…
[Update 4/5/2017] This post was based on the MBR2GPT that was released with the Windows Insider build 15007. There are a few things that have changed since then – the /silent switch has been replaced with the /convert switch. Also, it is highly recommended to run MBR2GPT from WinPE 1703 (this is required for earlier…
In my previous post, BIOS to UEFI made easier with Windows 10 Creators Update, I uncovered a hidden gem in the 15007 build of the Windows 10 Enterprise Insider Preview called MBR2GPT. The benefits of this MBR to GPT conversion utility is that it makes it easier to convert systems from BIOS to UEFI and…
Back in December, Microsoft published a blog (Windows 10 Creators Update advances security and best-in-class modern IT tools) where they mentioned a conversion tool for making the conversion to UEFI: “In-place UEFI conversion We’ve heard from our customers that they want to take advantage of new Windows 10 security investments like Device Guard on their…
1E BIOS to UEFI is a component of the 1E OSD Solution Accelerator that comes with 1E Nomad and enables administrators to create a true Zero Touch BIOS to UEFI Task Sequence method. This enables enterprises to get to secure Windows 10 by enabling feature like Secure Boot, Credential Guard and Device Guard to name…
I have recorded some end-to-end OSD videos that show a zero touch BIOS to UEFI OS deployment (from a single task sequence without PXE) in order to show that this could be done. I have also captured screen shots from Dell, Lenovo and HP BIOS screens to have when presenting on the BIOS/UEFI topic –…
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