Back to results
US 8,949,813 B2Granted
Systems and methods for facilitating activation of operating systems
AssigneeDell Products L.P.
InventorsAndrew W. Wilks, Keung S. Kim, MyPhuong N. Sang
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Systems and methods are disclosed that may be implemented to install and use a replacement BIOS code stored in non-volatile memory of the system BIOS to facilitate activation of a new or replacement OS on an information handling system. The replacement BIOS code may include an activation certificate of authority information to activate a different version operating system for use on an information handling system that has been previously configured with a different operating system version along with a previous BIOS code that did not include the updated OEM activation string.
Claims27
A method of preparing a replacement operating system (OS) on an information handling system for activation on the information handling system using certificate of authority information, comprising:
- providing an information handling system comprising:
- BIOS non-volatile memory including memory space that is locked from editing with a private security key, the locked memory space being configured to unlock to allow editing only upon presentation of the private security key,
- at least one processing device, the processing device being coupled to access the non-volatile memory, and
- a first BIOS code and first operating system (OS) code that are each activated and executing on the at least one processing device, neither of the first BIOS code or first OS being capable of supplying the private security key to unlock the locked memory space of the non-volatile memory;
- providing a replacement BIOS code to replace the first BIOS code, the replacement BIOS code being different than the first BIOS code and being configured with the correct certificate of authority information corresponding to the replacement OS;
- providing BIOS updater code that includes the private security key, the BIOS updater code being either separate from the replacement BIOS code or part of the replacement BIOS code;
- installing the BIOS updater code and installing the replacement BIOS code on the information handling system to replace the first BIOS code, the replacement BIOS code including updated correct certificate of authority information;
- then executing the BIOS updater code on the processing device to provide the private security key from the BIOS updater code to the installed replacement BIOS code;
- then executing the replacement BIOS code on the processing device to:
- determine if the private security key provided by the BIOS updater code is a valid private security key, and
- cause unlocking of the locked memory space in the non-volatile memory and installation of the updated correct certificate of authority information in the unlocked memory space in the non-volatile memory only if the replacement BIOS code determines that the private security key provided by the BIOS updater code is a valid private security key;
- then executing the BIOS updater code on the processing device to call the replacement BIOS code to cause locking of the unlocked memory space in the non-volatile memory after installation of the updated correct certificate of authority information in the unlocked memory space in the non-volatile memory;
- and
- then executing the replacement BIOS code on the processing device to cause locking of the unlocked memory space in the non-volatile memory in response to the call received by the replacement BIOS code from the installed BIOS updater code.
11 more elements
An information handling system comprising:
- BIOS non-volatile memory including memory space that is locked from editing with a private security key, the locked memory space being configured to unlock to allow editing only upon presentation of the private security key;
- at least one processing device, the processing device being coupled to access the non-volatile memory;
- a replacement BIOS code configured to replace a first BIOS code that has previously been activated and executed on the at least one processing device, the first BIOS code being incapable of supplying the private security key to unlock the locked memory space of the non-volatile memory, and the replacement BIOS code being different than the first BIOS code and being configured with updated correct certificate of authority information corresponding to a replacement OS configured to replace a first OS code that has been previously activated for execution on the at least one processing device;
- and
- a BIOS updater code that includes the private security key, the BIOS updater code being either separate from the replacement BIOS code or part of the replacement BIOS code;
- where the BIOS updater code is configured for executing on the processing device to provide the private security key to the replacement BIOS code;
- and
- where the replacement BIOS code is configured for executing on the processing device to:
- determine if the private security key provided by the BIOS updater code is a valid private security key,
- unlock the locked memory space in the non-volatile memory and install the updated correct certificate of authority information in the unlocked memory space in the non-volatile memory only if the replacement BIOS code determines that the private security key provided by the BIOS updater code is a valid private security key;
- where the BIOS updater code is configured for then executing on the processing device to call the replacement BIOS code to cause locking of the unlocked memory space in the non-volatile memory after installation of the updated correct certificate of authority information in the unlocked memory space in the non-volatile memory;
- and
- where the replacement BIOS code is configured for then executing on the processing device to lock the unlocked memory space in the non-volatile memory in response to the call received by the replacement BIOS code from the installed BIOS updater code.
10 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.