System Management BIOS
In computing, the System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) specification defines data structures (and access methods) in a BIOS which allows a user or application to store and retrieve information specifically about the computer in question. Circa 1999, it became part of the domain of the Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF). Before this integration, SMBIOS functionality had the name DMIBIOS, since it interacted with Desktop Management Interface (DMI). At approximately the same time Microsoft started to require that OEMs and BIOS vendors support the interface/data-set in order to have Microsoft certification.
The DMTF released the current[update] version of the specification, version 2.7.1, on February 1, 2011.
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[edit] Structure types
As of version 2.7.1, the SMBIOS specification defines these structure types:
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| 0 | BIOS Information |
| 1 | System Information |
| 2 | Baseboard (or Module) Information |
| 3 | System Enclosure or Chassis |
| 4 | Processor Information |
| 5 | Memory Controller Information (Obsolete) |
| 6 | Memory Module Information (Obsolete) |
| 7 | Cache Information |
| 8 | Port Connector Information |
| 9 | System Slots |
| 10 | On Board Devices Information |
| 11 | OEM Strings |
| 12 | System Configuration Options |
| 13 | BIOS Language Information |
| 14 | Group Associations |
| 15 | System Event Log |
| 16 | Physical Memory Array |
| 17 | Memory Device |
| 18 | 32-Bit Memory Error Information |
| 19 | Memory Array Mapped Address |
| 20 | Memory Device Mapped Address |
| 21 | Built-in Pointing Device |
| 22 | Portable Battery |
| 23 | System Reset |
| 24 | Hardware Security |
| 25 | System Power Controls |
| 26 | Voltage Probe |
| 27 | Cooling Device |
| 28 | Temperature Probe |
| 29 | Electrical Current Probe |
| 30 | Out-of-Band Remote Access |
| 31 | Boot Integrity Services (BIS) Entry Point |
| 32 | System Boot Information |
| 33 | 64-Bit Memory Error Information |
| 34 | Management Device |
| 35 | Management Device Component |
| 36 | Management Device Threshold Data |
| 37 | Memory Channel |
| 38 | IPMI Device Information |
| 39 | System Power Supply |
| 40 | Additional Information |
| 41 | Onboard Devices Extended Information |
| 42 | Management Controller Host Interface |
| 126 | Inactive |
| 127 | End-of-Table |
| 128-255 | Available for system- and OEM- specific information |
[edit] Accessing SMBIOS data
[edit] From Linux
The Linux kernel contains an SMBIOS decoder, and based on matches on SMBIOS information, systems administrators can enable or disable certain workarounds for problems with specific systems. The userspace command line utility 'dmidecode'[1] can be used to inspect this data.
[edit] From Windows
WMI is the preferred mechanism for accessing SMBIOS information from Windows.[2]
On Windows systems that support it (XP and later), some SMBIOS information can be viewed with either use the WMIC utility with 'BIOS'/'MEMORYCHIP'/'BASEBOARD' and similar parameters, or by looking in the Windows Registry under HLKM\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System
Raw SMBIOS data can be retrieved using various utilities, such as "smbiosw"[3] and "SMBIOS Peek"[4].
[edit] From UEFI
In UEFI, the "SmbiosView" shell application can be used to view the SMBIOS data.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- SMBIOS specification page on dmtf.org
[edit] Notes and References
- Portions of this article were adapted from article DMI (13:44, 22 January 2012)
- ^ dmidecode, a tool which decodes DMI tables under Linux, BSD, and Solaris — the site also has links to other system-information-related tools
- ^ SMBIOS Support in Windows, Microsoft paper, updated April 25, 2005
- ^ http://desktopengineer.com/story_20050215082742328
- ^ http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/24730/SMBIOS-PeekM
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