How to update BIOS using Linux

In this tutorial i show you the process of upgrading the bios on a dell latitude e4310 laptop. Starting from sourcing the information you need to get the bios executables and making sure the executables have not been damaged while you downloaded them.
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I also show you how to use the hashes provided by the bios vendor to confirm that your bios files are intact.
For the installation process i used freedos loaded onto a USB flash drive which i used to boot from and install the new BIOS update onto the laptop.
Freedos:
www.freedos.org/
Disclaimer!
This tutorial is for education and evaluation purposes ONLY!
Updating BIOS can be dangerous and render your computer unusable if done incorrectly. Make sure you follow any instructions of the manufacturer of your hardware before you attempt to update BIOS.
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[@carltaylor4942]

Thanks very much - I've often wondered how to do this. You have a very clear way of explaining things which I could follow very well. Thanks again.

[@farazhussain4589]

This video is very helpful. However, I found that on my Dell Latitude e5470, the process was even simpler. I just downloaded the appropriate bios update file from the Dell website using my service tag number. I then copied it to /boot/efi (I have Ubuntu 17.04). Then just rebooted, used F12 to access the one-time boot setup menu, and selected "flash bios" or "update bios" (forget the exact words). It then allows you to select the update file. Of course, I chose the one I just copied into /boot/efi. Worked like a charm! Took about 3 minutes. But it was actually this video that gave me the courage to even try doing it. On the forums there were many skeptical voices cautioning against messing with the bios unless there was a real issue. "Fear will eat you alive" :) Also, it allowed me to directly update to bios version 1.14.4 from 1.3.8, so just needed a single file, no increments required.

[@JT-qn5qv]

Lovely clear explanation, many thanks for all your hard work. Just one point, regarding the use of MD5 with Bioschecksums, I struggled until I discovered that the .TXT file needs to be renamed as an .MD5 file. After that, it worked OK. But the whole point of this was to downgrade my BIOS. Unfortunately, although Dell permit a downgrade of BIOS in Micro$oft by using Run As Administrator, no such solution appears to be available for doing so in Linux or DOS.

[@ealcantara22]

It worked really good. No issues at all. I updated my dell optilex 790 (DT) from verion A10 to A19. I use linux so install versions A21 and A22 will be an overkill. Thank you.

[@MasterFastSystem]

Finally got it to work, thank you for the video instructions.

[@hgaubaul]

thanks a million. didn't know it was possible to update my bios on Linux. been using the same bios for the last 10 years (kids computer now). But very helpful. thanks.

[@linuxleech]

You're welcome.

[@Darvit_Nu]

Thank you for explaining and showing in detail how to do this! ^_^

[@martbrighton2885]

As some others have already commented, Unetbootin failed to create a usable boot disk for me. If you find the same, here's the procedure that worked perfectly for me, this is specific to Dells but you can use your loaf to adapt it: 1./ Go to the FreeDOS website and downloaded the ISO file for USB (N.B: Use the FULL Installer version... the 'Lite' version when flashed to a USB drive, was tightly partitioned with only a tiny bit of free space even though using a 8GB USB stick, and DID NOT HAVE SPACE for the [8MB] Dell BIOS file!). I did this on another Windows machine. (The Full version is on the order of 500MB, use at least a 1GB USB stick if you want plenty of room). 2./ Write that ISO file to your USB flash drive using your favorite image writer like Win32DiskImager. You now have a bootable DOS. 3./ For Dell users: Download the latest BIOS for your machine from Dell. (Go to Dell Support page and enter the Service Tag of your machine, click the maginfying-glass icon, then click 'Drivers and Downloads' option about half way down the new page). From the list, find the appropriate BIOS file. Download that file - they are helpfully named e.g. for my Optiplex 7010. 4./ Save the above file to the same USB drive you just flashed with the FreeDOS. Just copying it under Windows worked fine for me. 5./ Now Insert the USB stick into the Linux box that needs its BIOS updated. 6./ Boot the linux machine with USB stick inserted. As soon as it displays the Dell roundel, press F12 for a One-Time boot. Select 'Legacy Boot: USB Storage Device'. Then select Language and OK it. At 'Welcome' screen, click 'No - return to DOS' (don't go further with FreeDOS install, I didn't go further but it might easily try to install DOS over your Linux HDD - NOT GOOD!!). 7./ Now you should have a nice black DOS screen, almost like the old days but with some colour. You should be on the USB drive, with a C: prompt. You can 'DIR' to see what's there. Should just be the FreeDOS components, plus the Dell executable for the latest BIOS, i.e. in my case . 8./ So now just type that filename to run it, follow the instructions on screen. 9./ Share & enjoy ;o)

[@GiampieroSalvi]

Great video, but before following the instructions check the following: - press F12 at startup, in my case (Optiplex 9020) I could update the bios directly from USB flash without booting into dos (saves a lot of time) - also it is not necessary to update every version in between: the bios is a self contained program and every update will erase the previous version. I successfully updated from A12 to A23 directly.

[@darshan7531]

will this process( and the .exe files ) work for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS on Dell laptop?

[@xaero1971]

Great video. Not totally sure you need to update all the interim BIOS files though, are you sure you can't just install the latest?

[@linuxleech]

Hi Martin, It really depends on the machine. On the particular Dell latitude in the video it won't let you skip versions. If you try and install a BIOS version that isn't the direct next version an error pop's up on the screen and it won't let you proceed.

[@kannegieter]

Unfortunally i can't find UNetbootin is there an other way to get it? Or is there a good alternative to find?

[@wisama11]

Thanks for the Video, but it did not work for me. I use a Lenovo E430 Machine (64-bit) , and i get the Error "This program must be run under Win32". Could you help out with a fix on that ?

[@hpp6116]

Awesome tutorial! Thanks!

[@pyotrleflegin7255]

Great tutorial. Many thanks for this - I didn't know it could be done!

[@MalamIbnMalam]

is unetbootin still available? I tried to search for it on my distro (Ubuntu 18.04).

[@basu.31]

I have only fedora installed in my laptop and I want to update its BIOS version, is the step of installing free DOS is important for this case also?

[@deedeewallllll001]

Very useful. Thank you

[@glauberfm2]

I tried to install unetbootin, but the system returned E: Unable to locate package. I think it's not more in use, unfortunately. Thanks for the video.

[@jethdaflip7741]

So you didn't need to click download for any of the bios file? Does it mean the terminal downloaded it automatically? Would this work if I need to do it for a separate pc that needs a bios update?

[@user-ss6zt2mo1l]

I bought an old Dell T3610 and it had no hard drive... When you update the bios, does it update the chipset software too or is that separate. I purchased windows and did it through dell support downloads, which I was not happy to shell out $ for Win10. Is there another way ?

[@swapneel4880]

Thank you so much for this video. This helped me a lot :))

[@linuxleech]

Glad it helped!

[@amitojha9]

Really nice video, I am trying this on Lenovo G580 2012 32bit laptop, msg coming is bad command of file name, can you please help

[@ThatThrottle]

Thank you! Very useful.

[@Malte-Micha]

Why would you have to install all of them up to the most current? Is it a bad to just install the current one?

[@enochthestud]

Can i do this on a Lenovo G550 running peppermint OS?

[@ericacereno3662]

Its my first time having samsung linux...but i dont know how to program it...plz i need help

[@MundiGamer9XPROX]

Hi I would like update might bios is a eepc ami bios notebook

[@LEO-xo9cz]

Thanks for this. How safe is the process?

[@AbarSimorgh]

Thank you for sharing. Appreciated.

[@linuxleech]

Thanks for commenting Kourosh.

[@terrancegrant1664]

Great vid, though no dice for my system. Thanks for the video.

[@JClavierIngSyst]

Thanks a lot, as my Latitude e6430 is in linux and no Bios flash available at F12 startup, the only way to update it was your methode

[@linuxleech]

Glad it helped

[@AdventureTimeWithAsh]

does this work with my asus mobo bios update ?

[@leonardogirardello4185]

I'm sorry but it propmpts "This program cannot be un in DOS mode." What can I do? I'm trying to do it on an Acer 3 series notebook

[@voiceoftreason1760]

too bad clevo doesn't release their firmware update images. I also doubt if this will also work on UEFI systems.

[@dalebowley]

can't get unetbootin for Ubuntu 22.04. Not in repositories anymore?

[@skenda]

It's only letting me put sdb1 instead of sdd1 is that ok?

[@nileshgulia8165]

After executing a bios file, it is showing 'This file cannot run in dos mode"?

[@TheAmjChannel]

So now my boot device (the one with Linux Doesn't do anything) and my system doesn't detect the USB halp

[@rwl0323]

If you happen to have the "gnome-disk-utility" installed on your Linux system it has the ability to format and write the FreeDos image file to your thumbdrive. The nice part being you have a graphical representation of all the drives connected to your machine...less chance to pick the wrong one :)

[@ethangender]

that software does not exist in latset ubuntu versions

[@MathieuOrfila]

wont work on sony it shows the exe file but wont let me run it says bad command or bad file the files good though

[@emmanuelboli7941]

Thank you.. It's cool and safe..

[@giorgosVahliotisVAH]

THANK YOU!

[@AlejandroAnzolaAvila]

good tutorial, i have always wondered how in the world could that be done with linux :)

[@hgaubaul]

Alejandro Anzola Avila very helpful indeed.

[@JuanPabloFuentealba]

great work

[@lorenzogalli5873]

I'm stuck, my keyboard types ">" instead of ":" when i try to write C:

[@christianbenitz]

Greate job. Thanks

[@maasidahl7005]

need help. Did everything as he explained, reebooted my laptop with 'boot mode' to levacy support and 'boot Priority' to legacy first and 'OS optimized defaults' to disabled. Rebooted to usb all I got is 'SYSLINUX 6.04 EDD Copyright (C) 1994-2015 H. Peter Anvin et al' its stuck there. Need help

[@maasidahl7005]

My laptop is lonovo legion y720

[@MobileDecay]

My update is only offered as an .exe file so I guess I'm screwed. =(

[@junhongxu228]

Excellent post. I have a problem here after I type *.exe bios file, it asked Start to flash......[Y/N] and I typed Y, then it prompted Decompress ROM file, flash setting ... done Get related information from Rom image file. -Error: Problem allocating memory The bios did not install, why did this happen?

[@fabiankelly1645]

Xu Junhong i have the same problem , and no solution in sight. Help!!

[@zenonayala9557]

Excellent

[@motivationinspiritual8000]

thank you so much

[@passportcontrol3263]

Great tutorial, thanks for that. But I am still stuck with the final step. My bios files are .rom files. Is it possible to install those as well?

[@spk0276]

No. Technically what this does is enables you as a user, to run .exe files without having to install windows. Meaning .exe files only EXECUTE in windows, free dos is able to execute windows files, those which end on .exe ROM files will not work.

[@sudeshchaudhary4558]

I'm not able to install UNetbootin in Lubuntu 19.04. An error is showing,"Unable to locate package unetbootin." What can i do for Lubuntu operating system. Please help someone....

[@SergyOrloff]

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gezakovacs/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install unetbootin UPD: But that didn't help me to update my BIOS anyway. I spent like 16 hours on that already with 0 results. But that's how it usually goes for me when I am trying Linux. And I was using Ubuntu for quite a long time, for years. Years of pain. People who are good with Linux are very delusional of how hard and inconvenient it is to use.

[@Shehzad.7]

i have bios password .... can you help me to remove it

[@larrymatteson99]

Cannot get the system to start from the USB, system indicates not a bootable device.

[@aaronryder4008]

Disable UEFI and enable legacy mode then it'll work

[@AxelWerner]

Did not work for me :( cannot switch to drive C: after bootin freedos from usb stick. wtf ?!

[@aaronryder4008]

If the first drive you see as A: then try B: instead. A lot of times its B drive not C

[@FTBLN]

To get unetbootin on Ubuntu 18.04, get it from this ppa: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gezakovacs/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install unetbootin

[@sardarasif1858]

Thank you :)

[@elamel05]

And ubuntu 20.04

[@rjfx4911]

Cheers for the info. I had to clear (toggle off) the Intel Virtualization Technology enabled in the original BIOS on my Dell machines for it to work though. (As described in Dell support). Also, although the Optiplex 990 support said I'd need to install version A10 first, it did actually go all the way to A23 from A05 in one go. Adding the link in case it helps anyone else... www.dell.com/community/Inspiron/BIOS-Will-Not-Install/td-p/6024805

[@RickyGrizutti]

I can't in board with only UEFI mode

[@4AdamKane1]

nice!

[@Hashimo]

DELL Studio 1558 - BIOS A08 here. Only downloadable new Version from Dell is A12 (R301434.exe) and can't be startet in FreeDOS. "This programm cannont be run in DOS mode." I already "unzipped" the three files in R301434.exe (with my other Windows machine) and got a text file and two exe files (1558_A12.exe and WIN_1194.exe). Neither of them can be run under DOS. I also tried the command prompt from a Win7 CD (repair options) with the same results. Any ideas?

[@MrSpecialR]

I personally managed to update my BIOS on a Mini Windows XP from Hiren's Boot CD although it was a bit stressful because the .exe didn't do anything after clicking the upgrade button, but it seemed to start the upgrade process upon a restart. I don't really know if that's how the BIOS upgrade on my Dell Optiplex 755 should've gone, or if I was just lucky not to brick my PC.

[@Hashimo]

Hey MrSpecialR! Thanks for your answer. I'm happy you got it done! :) Since I hadn't heard of that Boot CD in particular and was being impatient, I installed Win7 back on my laptop (only offline, no registration.. just for those couple of minutes), did the update and then re-installed 'my Linux OS'. A pity, but at least I got it done. Should have wrote that earlier, but I was so frustrated and didn't feel like anyone would be helped with my "solution".. so I remained calm. I hope your way will help others. (Sorry for mistakes.. english is not my native language and I already had a couple of beers ^^)

[@bajrabishal]

i got a "this program must be run under win32" not working on my lenovo thinkpad e470c

[@FTBLN]

Same here. Thinkpad L440. Did you find any solution for that already?

[@renaldypratama4459]

Any solution?

[@psychobuddha5379]

My USB is not recognized (bootable) after installing DOS via Unebotin. Any advice on how to fix/override this issue? I tried with different USBs. I am using Ubuntu 18.04

[@rjfx4911]

Have you only installed unetbootin or did you add uetbootin-translations? I ask because when translations were added bizarrely the usb drives did not work for me. Used another pc with only unetbootin and the stick would boot ok. If this isn''t/wasn't the problem please could you post how you resolved it. Thanks

[@psychobuddha5379]

Thanks for answering! I installed just unetbootin, didn't add translations. And it;s still not working, I tried to repeat the process with different USBs, but it seems something else is causing the problem. In case I manage to solve it, I will post it here.

[@onemorebastard]

Awesome Awesome Awesome !

[@TheeFoolishNoob]

Does it need to be a Dell computer to use freedos?

[@mach1553]

No

[@raghavkatoch3045]

"boot error".... Anyone help

[@davidezorzella3612]

When i write the file name after C:\> it says:"This program cannot be run in DOS mode"... why? :(

[@rjfx4911]

Hi Not being rude but are you sure you followed all the instructions? Just wondering if you are trying to open something other than the .exe executable? What machine are you trying to update and what is the file name you are trying to open please?

[@kucingganteng3148]

@@rjfx4911 can you help me? I got this message too.. On 2013 acer laptop

[@zmarkrobert14]

Thank you Thank you Thank you

[@zainuddinbrahim4625]

Thanks

[@ChefLynnGB]

I imagine the procedure would be essentially the same for HP laptops?

[@ChefLynnGB]

Follow up to say I tried this on my HP and it did not work. Booting to DOS wasn't an issue but the HP BIOS executable said it was unable to run in DOS. Are some executables unable to be run? Or is there a different method for HP than for Dell?

[@BendyLemmy]

unetbootin not available in linux mint right now...

[@linuxleech]

Try etcher instead. www.balena.io/etcher/

[@alenngk]

yea my *.exe file need win32 :(

[@AxelWerner]

it only works like that because DELL luckely still provides you DOS compatible bios upgrade tools and freeDos supporting USB, while MSDOS sucks ass, as any Microsuck products do.

[@Jagosix]

Good video, However this isn't what I'm looking for. The title is a little misleading. I want to be able to flash a bios using LInux only not FREEDOS or any variation of DOS. Just Linux. Is there away to do that ? You just showed us how to create a DOS bootable usb drive to run an exe file that's DOS based. I want a PURE linux flash bios option.

[@madissiimkull]

Wait a minute you mean that freedos runs modern windows applications?

[@qwfp]

Late reply, but actually BIOS update can't really be called a "modern application". It's DOS compatible

[@iyan110]

My optiplex 3020M no display after corrupt bios... will recover with Linux will recover my bios corrupted?

[@ikfur1743]

You don’t have to go one by one, can just install the latest

[@justjosh9423]

I got "This program cannot be run in DOS mode."

[@kucingganteng3148]

Mine too! Anyone found fixes yet?

[@tibfulv]

Try booting from a Windows rescue disc?

[@alexnather7614]

Thanks if it wasn’t for you I would’ve bought a whole new pc for my new cpu

[@informativecontent4778]

i just subbed bro i forgot my bios password and i have only ubuntu installed can u help me reset my bios password for hp using ubuntu

[@linuxleech]

Check out HP forums

[@informativecontent4778]

@@linuxleech thanks for helping they aren't helping dude

[@linuxleech]

@@informativecontent4778 Have you tried calling HP customer service?

[@informativecontent4778]

@@linuxleech their is no numb for my country i emailed their technical support though and they say u should call Timezones differ too much

[@linuxleech]

If you are on twitter send me a DM.

[@paulozabalotnicu1897]

Bad Command or Filename.....this is what show in the last...

[@ajaykorba5044]

Booting bios firmware 10:45

[@FTBLN]

Another thing I realized: Your USB device must be formatted as FAT32, otherwise Unetbootin doesn't recognize it.

[@jessecrockett]

Do you really have to update BIOS one version at a time??

[@linuxleech]

The specific Dell Latitude in the video won't allow you to skip version. Not always the case on other machines.

[@specialK312]

geez. why is updating BIOS on Linux have to be such a painful fucking process though. I loved Linux the moment i started using it until it came to upgrading BIOS.

[@pete4296589j]

doesnt even work for dell so looks like you need an os installed after all peeps

[@amerikanstafford]

Linux is fine. The only bad thing is that it doesn't support all languages like Windows has.That's why many people don't use it.

[@heiderjeffer7833]

FreeDos ???? wtf

[@erickcoutsii9499]

While I like that you're using FreeDoS to install the BIOS, whoever told you that you have to install every single BIOS version to get the latest is a flipping idiot. You wear out your BIOS chip that way because it erases and then rewrites the entire BIOS portion of the chip each time. It's like saying that you would have to erase your entire hard drive and install each and every OS version from Windows 7 through 10 just to upgrade.

[@aishaisah6684]

Me wondering how this'll work for me in 2024😢

[@mach1553]

Worked for me 👍

[@jpyper]

Man, clean your laptop screen. My OCD about went nuts. :-)

[@linuxleech]

Hahaha. The funny thing is I did, with a supposedly lint free microfibre cloth. What you are seeing on the screen is fibres from the cloth that were statically attracted to the screen. I couldn't get them off without making it a whole lot worse.

[@mustafasuljic4800]

Linux is bad system...all is coding instalation...

[@coughcough6692]

I don't really get how I would do this on Manjaro