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Archived This topic has been archived. Information and links in this thread may no longer be available or relevant. If you have a question create a new topic by clicking here and select the appropriate board.
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Maybe some obvious questions below, but thought I'd ask in case anything was overlooked.

 

Have you tried factory resetting your BIOS and/or clearing all security/password settings?

 

Is your machine joined to an Active Directory domain?  If so, could there be a group policy that is affecting your ablility to run the BiosConfigUtility.exe file?  Can you try running on stand alone desktop as administrator and see if you experience the same issue?

 

Even if you are running as administrator, could the file system rights be insufficient in the directory you are trying to write your output to?

 

Are you exectuting command directly in Command Prompt or are you running inside a batch file?  I had issues getting batch files to execute in SCCM OSD task sequence, and resorted to adding Run Command Line steps instead.  It could be that this was an issue because OSD is running in WinPE.  If I recall correctly, my batch files worked fine in Windows 7 itself.

 

 

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I've tried resetting the bios completely and starting over.

Yes the computers are joined to an ad domain but I've excluded them from all gpo's as a test. I even tried unjoining the domain.

Also not using any antivirus (yet).

I have full access to everything on the computer, including the c:\temp folder. I even tried a USB-stick. I can create files and folders.

I'm running the c:\temp\biosconfigutility.exe /getconfig:"c:\temp\test.txt" directly in the command prompt.

Next in line will be to disable all drivers except the network-drivers and give it a try.
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I forgot to ask but is the BIOS password set?  If so, add the /cspwd:"mypasshere" and see if that works.

HP Recommended

Yes the password is set and I have tried the /cspwd switch although it's only needed when using /setconfig.

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I apologize in advance if you've already tried or answered any of this previously.  I don't have the rest of the thread available as I'm typing this.

 

We are using Windows 7 Enterprise (x86 and x64).  What version are you on?  It shouldn't make a difference but thought I would check just in case.  I'm really not sure what else to suggest.  Other than your answer to OS version, I don't know what differences there could be in your environment that could cause this.

 

Not being able to write a file is almost always a permissions issue.  Have you tried running it inside the logged in user's Documents folder as a test?  Can you manually create a file using notepad in the C:\Temp folder you are trying to write the BCU output to?  From cmd prompt, type notepad test.txt, enter some data and try to save it and see if that works.

 

Are you working with tech support at all?  I've tried working with them myself, and it can sometimes take days/weeks to get an answer on something, which is very frustrating.  HP makes great hardware, but there seems to be some struggles within support/development.

 

I had issues getting started with the utility, but after hounding our HP rep, I was able to finally get my hands on some documentation that helped some, but there was still a lot of trial and error along the way.  It seems to be working quite well for us, but we don't have a wide range of hardware at our campus, at least not that we are officially supporting yet.

 

So far, I've been able to get this working on Compaq 6000 series, 8200, 8300, and several EliteBook models, which have some differences due to the BIOS developers being different between notebooks and desktops.  I honestly haven't seen a case where I couldn't dump/write a config file.

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After weekend of trial and error and going back to basics I found out that it's our ConfigMgr agent that does something to the WMI on the client.

I'm running WDS on SCCM2007 R2 and have removed everything in the TS for testing purposes. The only thing it does is dump an image and run the ConfigMgr task sequence.

Still didn't work. So after a bit of Google I found an article about WMI and how to repair it.

So ran the following in a task sequence after the ConfigMgr agent is installed.

 

net stop winmgmt /Y
net start winmgmt
winmgmt /resetrepository
net start ccmexec
net start iphlpsvc

 

Then I ran biosconfigutility.exe /getconfig:text.txt and it worked.

I tried /setconfig with a predefined dc8300elite.txt that we have in our xp sp3 environment and it also worked.

 

I can still advertise and deploy programs with SCCM and all logs looks good!

 

As far as I'm concerned it's solved.

PS I also created a new Windows 7 Enterprise x86 SP1 image with nothing in it. Same problem occurred (biosconfig not working until wmi was reset). I thought it was a patch or other software in our old image that somehow screwed it up.

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I haven't been able to test in my environment yet, so I can't vouch for it being able to resolve problems reported on this thread, but I thought there may be some interest in this.  It was passed along from one of my HP reps.

 

 

There is a newer version 2.50, SoftPaq sp57256.  As per the release notes…

ENHANCEMENTS: 
Split from SSM for customer clarity, Win8 compliance, and 64-bit functionality.
- Added 64 bit support
- Released as a separate softpaq from System Software Manager
- Created BCU User's Guide

 

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp57001-57500/sp57256.exe

ftp://ftp.hp.com/pub/softpaq/sp57001-57500/sp57256.html

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I am having the same issue on a HP ProBook 6565b.  EXCEPT the BIOSConfigUtility is NOT enabling the TPM. I am not getting error messages but I am not getting the TPM to enable either....  Also the BIOS does not show the TPM section in the Security Tab AT ALL.....  I have been reading a ton of Blogs and simply cannot come up with the correct utility or set of command lines to get this to work.

HP Recommended

HP this is absolue confusing. Not all syntax provided in the "Biosconfigutlity.exe" seem to work in a certain order!

 

Here is the correct syntax:

 

biosconfigutlity.exe /cspwd:"oldbiospassword" /cspws:"newbiospassword"

 

a) Yes, you have to metion the "-chars (Quotation marks)

b) "IF" you provider a existing passowrd AND it does not match it will be overssen and the NEW password written

c) The exact syntax and ORDER of the options have to be followed

d) Make sure you don't mess UP with this tool. On certain newer laptops if you mess UP the BIOS password you "Can't" reset it with a jumper. There are two way (Send device to HP or buy a unlock key from russia fpr USD50). A cutomer from us has tried and did not understand the tool correct.

 

If you don't want plain text passwords in your scripts you may have to use "HPQPswd.exe" which makes a password.BIN file from your entrys with the password encrypted.

 

[Personal Information Removed]

HP Recommended

Okay....  That is correct for the password reset.  Do you also happen to know how to get the TPM Enabled to prevent replacment of the entire motherboard?

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