HP: Remotely change BIOS settings with script at Andrius Blog

Couple months ago I needed to change BIOS setting on all our HP laptops. I wanted to do that remotely because we have many laptops and they are in 5 different locations. After spending some time searching I found very good document from HP.
HP Client Management Interface Technical White Paper

After some modifications I came up with the following VB script. This script enables LAN/WLAN Switching setting in the BIOS. Because all the laptops are password protected I had to include BIOS password in the script. The password line is “<kbd/>191E1F1F11181320″ which is password. As described in the HP document: ‘kbd’ denotes a string in hexadecimal format containing keyboard scan code input.
You can find keyboard scan codes here. Once I had the script I’ve used SMS2003 to deployed on the laptops. You can easely Active Directory to run the script on start-up.

Const wbemFlagReturnImmediately = 16
Const wbemFlagForwardOnly = 32
lFlags = wbemFlagReturnImmediately + wbemFlagForwardOnly
strService = “winmgmts:{impersonationlevel=impersonate}//”
strComputer = “.”
strNamespace = “/root/HP/InstrumentedBIOS”
strQuery = “select * from HP_BIOSSettingInterface”
Set objWMIService = GetObject(strService & _
strComputer & strNamespace)
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery(strQuery,,lFlags)
For each objItem in colItems
objItem.SetBiosSetting oReturn, _
“LAN/WLAN Switching”, _
“Enable”, _
“<kbd/>191E1F1F11181320″
Next

Download

Also I’ve wrote a script which will list all setting in the BIOS. It will also show possible options for setting and which one is set. This creates a *.txt file.

Dim objFileSystem, objOutputFile
Dim strOutputFile
Const wbemFlagReturnImmediately = 16
Const wbemFlagForwardOnly = 32
lFlags = wbemFlagReturnImmediately + wbemFlagForwardOnly
strOutputFile = “./” & Split(WScript.ScriptName, “.”)(0) & “.txt”
strService = “winmgmts:{impersonationlevel=impersonate}//”
strComputer = “.”
strNamespace = “/root/HP/InstrumentedBIOS”
strQuery = “select * from HP_BIOSSetting”
Set objFileSystem = CreateObject(”Scripting.fileSystemObject”)
Set objOutputFile = objFileSystem.CreateTextFile(strOutputFile, TRUE)
Set objWMIService = GetObject(strService & strComputer & _
strNamespace)
Set colItems = objWMIService.ExecQuery(strQuery,,lFlags)
Counter = 1
For Each objItem In colItems
objOutputFile.WriteLine(Counter & vbTab & objItem.Name & _
“ = ” & objItem.Value)
Counter = Counter + 1
Next
objOutputFile.Close
Set objFileSystem = Nothing

Download

Scripts were tested on HP Compaq nc6400 and HP Compaq 6910p laptops, both of them running WinXP SP2. The second script was also tested on HP dc7600 ultra slim PC.

Note: I’ve found out that some desktops and laptops (like nc6220) does not have CMI installed and the scripts don’t work without CMI. You can download it from here. (SP33341)

Update: For all of you who want to change Bios password I’ve created a separe post about it. Remotely change Bios password with a script

25 Responses to “HP: Remotely change BIOS settings with script”

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1 P Jun 20th, 2008 at 08:35

Can I use the first script with HP compaq NC6220 laptop? Please recommend.
2 Andrius Jun 20th, 2008 at 19:06

It should work as there should not be too many diferences. But I cannot guarantee as it was not tested on nc6220. I would recommend running second script first to get all possible options and then modify first script if needed.
3 Paul R Jun 24th, 2008 at 07:10

I am looking to only gather the ownership tag from this same data. I have run your script and it works a treat but I only need the Ownership data. I think I was shown on line 17.
Do you know how I could extract only this information?
Thanks
P
4 Andrius Jun 24th, 2008 at 09:53

Hi Paul,
the simplest way to get that info is through command line. Just type in the following line in command prompt.

wmic /namespace:\\root\HP\InstrumentedBios path HP_BIOSString where (name=”Ownership Tag”) get Value /value

This will show you ‘Ownership Tag’ value. The field might be named diferenly on your Bios. In that case just replace ‘Ownership Tag’ with the name you have in your line 17.
5 P Jul 3rd, 2008 at 09:45

I try to running second script with HP NC6220. The result is error following :
Line : 13
Char: 1
Error : 0×8004100E
Code : 8004100E
Source: (null)
How to use the script with other HP series that have difference menu for set bios?
6 Andrius Jul 4th, 2008 at 11:13

Hi P,
You are missing CMI on the laptop. Please read my note I’ve added to the post at the bottom.
7 P Jul 9th, 2008 at 03:54

Thank you Andrius.
8 Peter Jul 10th, 2008 at 10:33

I have use the second script and a textfile appear but in the textfile i dont see the bios password. I see Setup Password = and Power-On Password = Why cant i see these passwords. My bios is password protected. I have a compaq nc6220. My english is not so good so forgive for my english.
9 Andrius Jul 14th, 2008 at 11:04

Hi Peter,
you will not see the password as they are secure. Otherwise there would be no point setting passwords if a simple script can show them.
10 Peter Jul 15th, 2008 at 09:45

Oke i understand but my wireless is disabled how can i enable my wireless. Can the script do that for me. Or can i not change my bios settings with the scribt.
11 Andrius Jul 16th, 2008 at 08:14

Hi Peter,
you can enable your wireless using the script as long as you know Setup/Bios password. Which you have to provided as described in the post.
At first you need to find out what is the setting name. You can do that by running the second script.
When you get the name change the line “LAN/WLAN Switching” in the first script to the setting name you got and that should enable WLAN card.
12 Peter Jul 29th, 2008 at 03:33

Oke I understand thank you for your answer.
13 Anthony Aug 6th, 2008 at 09:25

I am trying to use the second script on Vista and getting bios-setting.vbs(17, 1) (null) 0×80041003

Is this to do with CMI not being installed?

Regards
Anthony
14 Anthony Aug 6th, 2008 at 09:36

Figured it out. Even though I was logged on as an admin I had to select to run the script as an admin. Damn Vista

Regards
Anthony
15 Frank S. Aug 18th, 2008 at 18:46

We have 200+ HP DC7800 workstations on site. We would like to change the BIOS Setup Passwaord without having to visit each workstation. We already have a password in place and we need to change the current password. Is there a way to accomplish this using a vbs file? PLease advise.

Thank you for your help!
16 Cal Aug 22nd, 2008 at 16:59

I have 150+ HP laptops and need to enable the password. I ran the script that lists all the setting.

Question….how would I script this? Any help is greatly appreciated!
17 Andrius Sep 2nd, 2008 at 13:39

Hi everyone,
I see many requests on changing BIOS password via scripts. I have not done that myself but I’ll do that in coming weeks and write a new post on that.
18 Merlus Sep 16th, 2008 at 05:59

To set the setup password or power on password it is very easy using the script provided in this blog.

All you need to do is modify the LAN/WLAN Switching to “Setup Password”

Then you enter the password in the form of “hexformat” He also provided the link to the hex codes.

Very easy, thanks heaps for this script. Save me much time.
19 Andrius Sep 24th, 2008 at 10:21

Thank you Merlus for your input. Finally I’ve found some time to write the post on BIOS passwords. http://andrius.kozeniauskas.com/blog/2008/09/24/hp-remotely-change-bios-password-with-a-script/
20 EBo Oct 8th, 2008 at 12:25

Hi I am having trouble to run this on HP NC6120 with Windows 2000, CAn someone confirm that CMI is working on this OS. XP on same model(not same machine) working fine. Thanks
21 Robin Dec 23rd, 2008 at 13:12

You can get thing to make the string, hpPwdCtl.exe
from here: ftp://ftp.compaq.com/pub/softpaq/sp33001-33500/sp33341.exe
22 G May 23rd, 2009 at 09:06

Hi,

Did anybody try this script to find the status of power on password on HP workstations.
these script are able to read BIOS password ISset value but i dont know why its not giving correct value for BIOS —securit –> poweron password .

need help
23 Ryan Oct 9th, 2009 at 15:41

What if we want to make multiple changes in the configuration via script, say Enable LAN/WAN switching and Disable the Fingerprint Device, what is the switch between?

For each objItem in colItems
objItem.SetBiosSetting oReturn, _
“LAN/WLAN Switching”, _
“Enable”, _

**WHAT GOES HERE TO MOVE ON TO THE NEXT REQUEST?**

For each objItem in colItems
objItem.SetBiosSetting oReturn, _
“Fingerprint Device”, _
“Disable”, _
24 Tom Oct 30th, 2009 at 20:22

Do you know if there is a way to change bios settings on HP/Compaq desktops?

Thanks!
25 robert Jul 17th, 2010 at 00:07

i have HP laptop 6730b i lost my windows login password how get relog my system