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I've been having some boot problems with it so I have Ubuntu and booted from the Drive. I wanted to update my BIOS to fix this issue but I don't have my product key so I looked up the website ( HP website that is ) and it could detect my product key so I tried it and it said that it only works for Windows and underneath that, it said that I should install Any of the following ( Internet Explorer, Mozilla or Chrome) browsers and I thought that I could use wine to run IE 8.

So can I get another software to run Windows things? remember I am booting from usb.

Braiam
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Jatttt
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  • possible duplicate of How do I resolve unmet dependencies? – jobin May 23 '14 at 14:23
  • Warning! Do not run ever the BIOS updater under Wine! You can brick your system. Read my answer. – Rmano May 23 '14 at 14:57
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    @Jobin the duplicate is not correct (caused by the badly misleading original title) – Rmano May 23 '14 at 15:12
  • @Rmano: Not only the title, the body itself asks for multiple issues to be resolved, retracting the close vote since the question(at least the title) doesn't seem to be a duplicate of the one posted. – jobin May 23 '14 at 15:26
  • They say never update your BIOS from Windows. The same applies for Linux. I suggest you make a bootable DOS floppy disk or CD and update it from there, it's the safest way. –  May 23 '14 at 19:01
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    @André: What? Nowadays computers can't even boot from floppies (or even run DOS if they could boot) so that doesn't even make sense. I've updated my BIOS myself a handful of times with the manufacturer-provided program. There's no reason not to do it from Windows, as long as the program is written properly it will work. (WINE is something else entirely, though.) – user541686 May 23 '14 at 20:29
  • @Mehrdad I've always been told to update from a DOS floppy/CD/USB and I do it when possible, that prevents an eventual OS-related issue from crashing the flash and bricking the board. Some manufacturers (that was the case for my Thinkpad T60) provide ready-to-use ISOs that you can just burn and boot directly on them, and they'll automatically update the BIOS. –  May 23 '14 at 20:35
  • @André I wish it was still true for all machines. My Samsung laptop Bios can only be updated via windows 7... – Rmano May 25 '14 at 21:34

4 Answers4

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@Cornelius answer will probably solve your WINE problem but:

BIG FAT WARNING

If I understand correctly, you are trying to run a program that updates your BIOS. If that is the case, YOU CAN ONLY DO THAT WITH A NATIVE PROGRAM.

  1. It will definitely not work on a virtual machine (it will try to update the virtual machine's BIOS, not your real machine's one).

  2. Under WINE will probably fail to run, but it could even run and that could be MUCH more dangerous --- it could fail midway updating your BIOS and then you have a very expensive brick instead of a PC.

You can run the BIOS updater only with the operating system you downloaded it for. If it's Windows, so Windows. Sometime the manufacturer offer a MS-DOS version of the updater, that you can run in a bootable Free-DOS (search google) USB. Sometime no, and you have to ask them.

For example, to update the BIOS of my Samsung Chronos laptop, I had to install Windows in it. Sad.

For additional information see:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Flashing_BIOS_from_Linux

and

https://wiki.debian.org/FlashBIOS

Community
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Rmano
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    It depends on the age of your machine and BIOS. Some BIOS updates will run on FreeDOS. See https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Flashing_BIOS_from_Linux and https://wiki.debian.org/FlashBIOS . Those techniques , however, will NOT work with more moderern BIOS. – Panther May 23 '14 at 15:04
  • If Windows is not installed on your computer, it might also be possible to use a Windows Recovery Disk created from an ISO file downloaded free from MS website, and to run the BIOS Updater EXE file from the Command Prompt. This is something that should be carefully checked though. – Sadi May 23 '14 at 16:15
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    @Sadi I jumped through hoops trying to make a bootable Windows 7 USB (it is so easy in Linux...) to just run the bios updater. No dice, tried literally tens of option (I do have a license, BTW). If someone has a nice, easy to follow link to instruction --- even if it is a Windows thing --- I think it would be really on-topic here, this is a common problem. – Rmano May 23 '14 at 16:19
  • As as I remember a while ago I also went through all these, and even tried the "UBCD for Windows" on my MultiSystem USB, but in the end I had to use a CD for Windows 7 Recovery/Repair Disk to update my BIOS. – Sadi May 23 '14 at 18:56
  • I just tried and succeeded to have Windows 7 Repair Disk ISO installed on USB through Multi-System (http://liveusb.info/) which you should then choose Syslinux sub-menu from the Grub menu or you can manually add a grub4dos menu item on the main menu. – Sadi May 25 '14 at 21:00
  • @sadi I tried to see at that page but, well, is in French,and seems a proprietary solution... If you ever got a page explaining step by step how to install a Windows7 in a boot able USB to update the bios, please share... – Rmano May 25 '14 at 21:25
  • MultiSystem website offers a "GoogleTranslate-powered" translation (a little down in the right column) and it's very good in English. I don't think it's proprietary at all. See also: http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/how-to-create-a-windows-rescue-usb-stick-984726 also http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/92177-boot-windows-7-system-repair-disc-usb-using-grub4dos.html also http://en.kioskea.net/faq/29462-windows-7-create-a-system-repair-usb-key also http://superuser.com/questions/557792/create-a-windows-7-system-repair-iso – Sadi May 26 '14 at 06:39
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No, you can't run Windows programs on Linux unless you use:

  • Wine
  • a virtual Windows machine

You can't update your BIOS using virtualisation!

Linux uses ELF format for executables while Windows uses MZ format.

For the errors you get you could try:

sudo apt-get install -f
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wine
Cornelius
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  • how can i get a virtual windows machine? – Jatttt May 23 '14 at 14:26
  • I have an old XP CD – Jatttt May 23 '14 at 14:26
  • You could use VirtualBox, but not on a live medium. You'll need a HDD installation of Ubuntu. – Cornelius May 23 '14 at 14:29
  • What is that. I do not understand it. – Jatttt May 23 '14 at 14:42
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    @Jatttt - The general format here is Question / Answer . Your first question has been asked and answered, and asking additional questions on additional topics in comments is discouraged. For Virtualbox see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VirtualBox . You can use KVM which is buit into the linux kernel and also comes with a graphical interface, see https://help.ubuntu.com/community/KVM . Although Virtualbox is more often advised, KVM has advantages in that it is better integrated with a Linux host (IMO) and does not require 3rd party software / support . – Panther May 23 '14 at 14:59
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    @bodhi.zazen I think the OP is trying to use wine or a VM to update his or her BIOS. Which is a no-no. The title is highly misleading, though. – Rmano May 23 '14 at 15:00
  • OIC, yes this has gotten a bit off topic. I am going to update the title. – Panther May 23 '14 at 15:01
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    No, Windows doesn't use MZ format, since it's DOS format. It supports it, but native apps are in PE format instead. – Ruslan May 23 '14 at 20:14
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I found this post on HP site.

You need to install Windows in another partition on your hard drive or on a second hard drive.
Then you can install the BIOS patch.
Windows 7 install CD is available for 30 day trial here

After BIOS patch you can remove Windows 7

For some BIOS you can use FreeDOS, but I do not think that HP supports it

Diego Vicentini
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  • +1 for the HP support link. Which shows the sad state of things: you have to install Windows (7! not even an XP!) to update the BIOS. – Rmano May 23 '14 at 15:11
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If you want to flash your BIOS without installing Windows you can try to boot from Windows Recovery or Installation CD and press Repair your computer. Then you can get a flash drive with the BIOS update .exe and run that from command line in the Windows Recovery Console.

Nazar554
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