The go to, and only, script for zero-touch Dell BIOS configuration.
ZTIDellBIOSSettings is a vbs script that can be included in a MDT or SCCM environment. It does several things.
First it sets up the CCTK (Client Configuration ToolKit) environment, initializes WMI, installs the HAPI driver, and checks all the files for existence.
Then ZTIDellBIOSSettings allows you to do the following:
- Pass arguments to CCTK
cscript ZTIDellBIOSSettings.wsf /arguments:"--assettag=PC1000"
- Give CCTK a settings file
cscript ZTIDellBIOSSettings.wsf /settings:"%path to file%"
- Order CCTK to change the password
cscript ZTIDellBIOSSettings.wsf /password
- Or any combination of the above
Maybe you are thinking by now, wait a minute. So all the work gets forwarded to CCTK?
You are almost right, I did not posses the time (or will for that matter) to reverse enigneer CCTK and incorporate this into my script, what I did do was create an awesome MDT and SCCM compatible wrapper for CCTK.
This script has a great password tester. When you give ZTIDellBIOSSettings an argument it will try to find the right password for the BIOS in the BIOSPasswords list variable. Once it has found a match it adds that to the commandline it gives to CCTK.
This has the huge benefit of not having to create a ton of different executables for the different BIOS passwords that may still be lingering on your network. CCTK itself has no way of doing this or even testing if there is a password required.
And with the BIOSArguments list variable or the "Arguments" argument you could do all kind of dynamic things. Set the assettag or propertyownertag of the bios to the computername or allowing usb booting based on the department the computer is in.
ZTIDellBIOSSettings has very helpful logging and error handling to pinpoint problems with the script, MDT/SCCM or CCTK. It can even translate the CCTK errorcodes into a human readable error message. Though it needs some help of "cctkerrorcodes.xml" for doing that.
What are you waiting for? Download it and give it a spin.
ZTIDellBIOSSettings uses all kinds of variables or locations to get the information it needs.
Below you will find a list.
CCTK files
ZTIDellBIOSSettings requires CCTK files to function correctly, see the "Required files" section for more info on how to get and prepare those files.
There are two places the script looks for the files:
- In the path found in the CCTKPath variable.
- It searches the root of the Boot Image for the folder "CCTK".
- A relative path can also be provided in the CCTKPath variable. It will then use that relative path + the current working directory to try and hopfully locate the required CCTK files. (This is enormously useful in SCCM packages.)
The root (X:) could look like this:
Program Files
Users
Windows
..
CCTK
Or:
Program Files
Users
Windows
_SMSTaskSequence\Packages\xxxxxxxx\CCTK
with the CCTKPath variable like:
CCTK\
Arguments
Soon
Settings files
Soon
Password list
Soon
New password
Soon
#Required files
ZTIDellBIOSSettings requires the "ZTIUtility.vbs" file found in the MDT deployment share "script" folder (MDT) or at the same place in the MDT package (SCCM).
If you don't want to use MDT you could get by with only using "ZTIUtility.vbs".
Furthermore ZTIDellBIOSSettings needs some CCTK files. So grab a copy of CCTK here:
http://en.community.dell.com/techcenter/systems-management/w/wiki/1952.dell-client-configuration-toolkit-cctk.aspx
Once you have downloaded CCTK, follow these steps:
- Install the toolkit.
- Go to the install folder of CCTK. (default is: "C:\Program Files (x86)\Dell\CCTK").
- If you want human readable errors, copy "cctkerrorcodes.xml", otherwise skip to step 5.
- Paste it into the folders: "X86" and "X86_64".
- Create 2 new folders named "Prestart-x86" and "Prestart-x64" in your sources folder (SCCM) or on your deployment share (MDT).
- In each of the previously created folders create a folder named "CCTK".
- Now from the install folder of CCTK copy the insides of the folder "X86" into "Prestart-x86\CCTK" and do the same for "X86_64", this ofcourse into "Prestart-x64\CCTK".
- Finally you have to get this folder into the SCCM or MDT "Boot Image". The easiest way to do this is to reference this folder in the "Extra Files"(MDT) or "Prestart"(SCCM) boot image option. Here you can select the folder which is name contains the same architecture as your boot image is (Prestart-x64 for a x64 boot image).
If you add the CCTK files some other way you can supply this custom path via the CCTKPath variable. The value could be something like:
\\server\share\CCTK\%Architecture%\
or
X:\ImageXAddedFolder\CCTK
#Setup soon
What is CCTK?
It stands for Client Configuration Toolkit, it is developed by Dell for their desktops and laptops.
It allows you to change BIOS/UEFI settings for Dell machines from within Windows(PE).
Why not just use CCTK to generate an .exe of the settings for me?
First of, you would miss out on the dynamic nature that a script brings. You could give ZTIDellBIOSSettings a variable to use in the settings, this for instance allows you to set the assettag on a per machine basis.
Like so:
cscript ZTIDellBIOSSettings.wsf /arguments:"--assettag=%OSDCOMPUTERNAME%"
Second, you could easily add a new settings file or change an existing one. Because you can place all of them on a share or in a SCCM package.
Third, you will not have the awesome password tester this script has. When you give ZTIDellBIOSSettings an argument it will try to find the right password for the BIOS in the BIOSPasswords list variable. And once found, add that password to the commandline it gives to CCTK. This way you also have your passwords seperated from your commandlines, which is a whole lot safer.
Will this script work on other brands?
No, currently it is specifically made for Dell.
It will even halt and throw an error if it detects something other than "Dell Inc."
So if you want to use your task sequence on all your machines. You should either, guard the script with a condition on %MAKE% == "Dell Inc." or let the script continue on error. I would suggest the former, if you let it continue on error you will not know if it succeded or not. It could have failed on an unknown password or non existing settings file.
When should I use the BIOSArgument list variable instead of the "Arguments" argument?
If you have more than one argument that contains spaces. e.g.
cscript ZTIDellBIOSSettings.wsf /arguments:"--assettag="this requires quotes due to spaces" --propowntag="this too""
Because of the way the commandline argument parser of VBScript works it will strip all quotes but the outer ones. It leaves the command line like this:
cscript ZTIDellBIOSSettings.wsf /arguments:"--assettag=this requires quotes due to spaces --propowntag=this too"
Afterwards you have the assettag filled with:
this requires quotes due to spaces --propowntag=this too
And an empty propowntag.
If you use the list, the script uses "ZTIUtility.vbs" which doesn't suffer from this.
Some bug fixes, beautifications, extra logging, and features later I am confident that this tool will fare well in even the most demanding environments. It has been successfully used for more than 3000+ computers, and numerous iterations of reconfiguration.
You can trust that this script will satisfy.
(The MIT License)
Copyright (c) 2014 Nino Floris <ninofloris@gmail.com>
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the 'Software'), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED 'AS IS', WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.
If you would like to use excerpts for an article or book. Please feel free to do so.However I would love to have a chat.