Abstract:
In accordance embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include, during execution of an operating system on an information handling system and responsive to a user input indicating a desire to invoke a basic input/output system (BIOS) setup program for configuring a BIOS, prompting for and receiving user-provided credentials via a user interface communicatively coupled to the processor. The method may also include, during execution of the operating system, passing BIOS credentials to the BIOS based on the user-provided credentials. The method may additionally include, during execution of the operating system determining, by the BIOS, if the BIOS credentials are valid. The method may further include, responsive to determining that the BIOS credentials are valid, setting a flag to a value indicating that the BIOS setup program is to be invoked on a subsequent boot of the information handling system.

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
       [0001]    The present disclosure relates in general to information handling systems, and more particularly to invoking basic input/output system (BIOS) setup of an information handling system. 
       BACKGROUND 
       [0002]    As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems. 
         [0003]    A key component of almost every information handling system is the basic input/output system (BIOS). A BIOS may be a system, device, or apparatus configured to identify, test, and/or initialize one or more information handling resources of an information handling system, typically during boot up or power on of an information handling system. A BIOS may include boot firmware configured to be the first code executed by a processor of an information handling system when then information handling system is booted and/or powered on. As part of its initialization functionality, BIOS code may be configured to set components of the information handling system into a known state, so that one or more applications (e.g., an operating system or other application programs) stored on compatible media may be executed by a processor and given control of the information handling system and its various components. 
         [0004]    Oftentimes, various settings and parameters associated with a BIOS may be user-configurable, such that a user of an information handling system can configure or customize behavior of the BIOS and/or information handling resources of the information handling system. Historically, a user could configure BIOS settings by invoking a BIOS setup program by entering a specified keystroke (e.g., a “hotkey”) during boot of the information handling system but before loading and execution of an operating system. However, operating system publishers and information handling system manufacturers are increasingly moving toward “fast boot” operating systems, in which the delay between powering on of an information handling system and execution of an operating system is such a small duration that a user may not have sufficient opportunity to enter a keystroke necessary to invoke BIOS setup. While such fast boot approach may improve user experience for normal operation of the information handling system, it presents a challenge to the user in invoking BIOS set up. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0005]    In accordance with the teachings of the present disclosure, the disadvantages and problems associated with invocation of BIOS setup have been reduced or eliminated. 
         [0006]    In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, an information handling system may include a processor and an operating system comprising one or more instructions embodied in computer-readable media communicatively coupled to the processor. The instructions may be configured to cause the processor to: (i) responsive to a user input indicating a desire to invoke a basic input/output system (BIOS) setup program for configuring a BIOS, prompt for and receive user-provided credentials via a user interface communicatively coupled to the processor; and (ii) pass BIOS credentials to the BIOS based on the user-provided credentials. The information handling system may also include the BIOS, the BIOS comprising one or more instructions embodied in computer-readable media communicatively coupled to the processor. The instructions may cause the processor to: (i) determine if the BIOS credentials are valid; (ii) responsive to determining that the BIOS credentials are valid, set a flag to a value indicating that the BIOS setup program is to be invoked on a subsequent boot of the information handling system; (iii) during a boot of the information handling system, determine the value of the flag; (iv) during the boot and responsive to determining that value of the flag is set, invoke the BIOS setup program prior to loading and executing an operating system on the processor; and (v) during the boot and responsive to determining that value of the flag is not set, load and execute the operating system without invoking the BIOS setup program. 
         [0007]    In accordance with these and other embodiments of the present disclosure, a method may include, during execution of an operating system on an information handling system and responsive to a user input indicating a desire to invoke a basic input/output system (BIOS) setup program for configuring a BIOS, prompting for and receiving user-provided credentials via a user interface communicatively coupled to the processor. The method may also include, during execution of the operating system, passing BIOS credentials to the BIOS based on the user-provided credentials. The method may additionally include, during execution of the operating system determining, by the BIOS, if the BIOS credentials are valid. The method may further include, responsive to determining that the BIOS credentials are valid, setting a flag to a value indicating that the BIOS setup program is to be invoked on a subsequent boot of the information handling system. 
         [0008]    Technical advantages of the present disclosure will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art in view of the following specification, claims, and drawings. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0009]    A more complete understanding of the present embodiments and advantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numbers indicate like features, and wherein: 
           [0010]      FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of an example information handling system, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure; and 
           [0011]      FIG. 2  illustrates a flow chart of an example method for invoking BIOS setup in an information handling system, in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0012]    Preferred embodiments and their advantages are best understood by reference to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , wherein like numbers are used to indicate like and corresponding parts. 
         [0013]    For the purposes of this disclosure, an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, entertainment, or other purposes. For example, an information handling system may be a personal computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a consumer electronic device, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price. The information handling system may include memory, one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (“CPU”) or hardware or software control logic. Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more storage devices, one or more communications ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input/output (“I/O”) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display. The information handling system may also include one or more busses operable to transmit communication between the various hardware components. 
         [0014]    For the purposes of this disclosure, computer-readable media may include any instrumentality or aggregation of instrumentalities that may retain data and/or instructions for a period of time. Computer-readable media may include, without limitation, storage media such as a direct access storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive or floppy disk), a sequential access storage device (e.g., a tape disk drive), compact disk, CD-ROM, DVD, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and/or flash memory; as well as communications media such as wires, optical fibers, microwaves, radio waves, and other electromagnetic and/or optical carriers; and/or any combination of the foregoing. 
         [0015]    For the purposes of this disclosure, information handling resources may broadly refer to any component system, device or apparatus of an information handling system, including without limitation processors, service processors, basic input/output systems, busses, memories, I/O devices and/or interfaces, storage resources, network interfaces, motherboards, and/or any other components and/or elements of an information handling system. 
         [0016]      FIG. 1  illustrates a block diagram of an example information handling system  102 , in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. In other embodiments, information handling system  102  may be a personal computer (e.g., a desktop computer, a laptop, notebook, tablet, handheld, smart phone, personal digital assistant, etc.). As depicted in  FIG. 1 , information handling system  102  may include a processor  103 , a memory  104  communicatively coupled to processor  103 , a basic input/output system (BIOS)  110  communicatively coupled to processor  103 , and a user interface  110  communicatively coupled to processor  103 . 
         [0017]    Processor  103  may include any system, device, or apparatus configured to interpret and/or execute program instructions and/or process data, and may include, without limitation, a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor (DSP), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or any other digital or analog circuitry configured to interpret and/or execute program instructions and/or process data. In some embodiments, processor  103  may interpret and/or execute program instructions and/or process data stored in memory  104 , BIOS  108 , and/or another component of information handling system  102 . 
         [0018]    Memory  104  may be communicatively coupled to processor  103  and may include any system, device, or apparatus configured to retain program instructions and/or data for a period of time (e.g., computer-readable media). Memory  104  may include RAM, EEPROM, a PCMCIA card, flash memory, magnetic storage, opto-magnetic storage, or any suitable selection and/or array of volatile or non-volatile memory that retains data after power to information handling system  102  is turned off. 
         [0019]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , memory  104  may have operating system  106  stored thereon. Operating system  106  may be any program of executable instructions, or aggregation of programs of executable instructions, configured to manage and/or control the allocation and usage of hardware resources (e.g., processor  103 , memory  104 , user interface  110 , and/or other information handling resources) and provide an interface between such hardware resources and application programs hosted by operating system  106 , and thus may act as a host for application programs to be executed by information handling system  102 . Active portions of operating system  106  may be read and executed by processor  103  in order to carry out the functionality of operating system  106 . Examples of operating system  106  may include, without limitation, Windows, MacOS, UNIX, LINUX, Android, iOS, or any other closed or open source operating system. 
         [0020]    As depicted in  FIG. 1 , operating system  106  may include BIOS setup entry application  107 . As described in greater detail elsewhere in this disclosure, BIOS setup entry application  107  may, while operating system  106  is actively executing on information handling system  102  and operating in concert with operating system integration module  112 , set BIOS setup flag  114  responsive to user input in order to cause invocation of BIOS setup upon a subsequent reboot of information handling system  102 . 
         [0021]    BIOS  108  may be communicatively coupled to processor  103  and may include any system, device, or apparatus configured to identify, test, and/or initialize information handling resources of information handling system  102 . “BIOS” may broadly refer to any system, device, or apparatus configured to perform such functionality, including without limitation, a Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI). In some embodiments, BIOS  108  may be implemented as a program of instructions that may be read by and executed on processor  103  to carry out the functionality of BIOS  108 . In these and other embodiments, BIOS  108  may comprise boot firmware configured to be the first code executed by processor  103  when information handling system  102  is booted and/or powered on. As part of its initialization functionality, BIOS code may be configured to set components of information handling system  102  into a known state, so that one or more applications (e.g., operating system  106  or other application programs) stored on compatible media (e.g., memory  104 ) may be executed by processor  103  and given control of information handling system  102 . 
         [0022]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , BIOS  108  may include operating system integration module  112 . As described in greater detail elsewhere in this disclosure, operating system integration module  112  may include any system, device, or apparatus configured to, while operating system  106  is actively executing on information handling system  102  and operating in concert with BIOS setup entry application  107 , set BIOS setup flag  114  responsive to user input in order to cause invocation of BIOS setup upon a subsequent reboot of information handling system  102 . In some embodiments, operating system integration module  112  may be implemented as a program of instructions that may be read by and executed on processor  103  to carry out the functionality of operating system integration module  112 . 
         [0023]    BIOS setup flag  114  may be a variable of data stored in computer-readable media of BIOS  108  or accessible to BIOS  108  that indicates whether a BIOS setup application should be invoked upon a reboot of information handling system  102 . 
         [0024]    In some embodiments, operating system integration module  112  may also store a timestamp  116  associated with BIOS setup flag  114  indicative of the time at which BIOS setup flag  114  was set to the value indicating that BIOS setup is to be invoked on a subsequent boot of information handling system  102 . 
         [0025]    User interface  110  may comprise any instrumentality or aggregation of instrumentalities by which a user may interact with information handling system  102 . For example, user interface  110  may permit a user to input data and/or instructions into information handling system  102 , and/or otherwise manipulate information handling system  102  and its associated components. User interface  110  may also permit information handling system  102  to communicate data to a user, e.g., by way of a display device. In some embodiments, user interface  110  may include a biometric input device (e.g., fingerprint scanner, retinal scanner, camera, microphone, etc.). 
         [0026]    In addition to processor  103 , memory  104 , BIOS  108 , and user interface  110  information handling system  102  may include one or more other information handling resources. 
         [0027]    In operation, while operating system  106  is executing on information handling system  102 , a user may invoke BIOS setup entry application  107  by inputting the proper command (e.g., command-line command, double-clicking of an icon, etc.). Once invoked, BIOS setup entry application  107  may prompt a user (e.g., via user interface  110 ) for credentials (e.g., username, password, fingerprint, iris scan, picture of face for facial recognition, spoken utterance for voice recognition, other biometric data, etc.) that the user may enter via user interface  110 . 
         [0028]    In some embodiments, the user-provided credentials may be in a format that may be processed by BIOS  108  (e.g., username and password). In such embodiments, BIOS setup entry application  107  may pass such user-provided credentials to BIOS  108  for validation. 
         [0029]    In other embodiments, the user-provided credentials may not be in a format that may be processed by BIOS  108  (e.g., biometric data). In such case, BIOS setup entry application  107  or another application executing on operating system  106  may compare the user-provided credentials to a credentials database associated with operating system  106  in order to validate such credentials. If such user-provided credentials are validated at the operating system level, BIOS setup entry application  107  may pass BIOS-capable credentials to BIOS  108  for further validation of such credentials. As a specific example, BIOS setup entry application  107  or another application executing on operating system  106  may maintain a database, table, map, or other data structure whose entries may be indexed by user-provided biometric credentials. Based on inputted biometric credentials, BIOS setup entry application  107  may look up an entry in such database, wherein such entry includes BIOS-capable credentials associated with the user having matching biometric credentials. In this example, it is such BIOS-capable credentials associated with the user having biometric credentials matching those inputted that may be passed to BIOS  108  from BIOS setup entry application  107 . 
         [0030]    In either case, any credentials may be validated as originating from a trusted source and/or creator, and may thus be digitally signed or encrypted (e.g., using an appropriate key of a key pair for which the other key of the key pair may facilitate verification of the digital signature or decryption). For example, BIOS setup entry application  107  may digitally sign credentials to be communicated to BIOS  108 , and OS integration module  112  may validate such digital signature. 
         [0031]    Upon receipt of credentials from BIOS setup entry application  107 , operating system integration module  112  may validate such credentials. If such credentials are validated at the BIOS level, operating system integration module  112  may set BIOS setup flag  114  to a value indicating that BIOS setup is to be invoked on a subsequent boot of information handling system  102 . When information handling system  102  boots and BIOS  108  executes, prior to loading and execution of operating system  106 , BIOS  108  may determine whether BIOS setup flag  114  is set. If BIOS setup flag  114  is set, BIOS  108  may proceed to invoke the BIOS setup program to allow the user to configure BIOS  108 . If BIOS setup flag  114  is not set, BIOS  108  may executed as normally, and operating system  106  may be loaded and executed without invocation of BIOS setup. In some embodiments, BIOS  108  may also examine timestamp  116  associated with BIOS setup flag  114 , and permit invocation of the BIOS setup program only if the timestamp indicates that the BIOS setup flag  114  was written within a particular period of time before the then-present boot of information handling system  102 . 
         [0032]    In any case, BIOS setup flag  114  may be validated as originating from a trusted source and/or creator and may thus be digitally signed or encrypted (e.g., using an appropriate key of a key pair for which the other key of the key pair may be used by a BIOS setup application to facilitate verification of the digital signature or decryption). For example, OS integration module  112  may digitally sign BIOS setup flag  114 , and the BIOS setup program may validate such digital signature upon a subsequent boot. 
         [0033]      FIG. 2  illustrates a flow chart of an example method  200  for invoking BIOS setup in an information handling system (e.g., information handling system  102 ), in accordance with certain embodiments of the present disclosure. According to one embodiment, method  200  may begin at step  202 . As noted above, teachings of the present disclosure may be implemented in a variety of configurations of information handling system  102 . As such, the preferred initialization point for method  200  and the order of the steps comprising method  200  may depend on the implementation chosen. 
         [0034]    At step  202 , while operating system  106  is executing on information handling system  102 , a user may invoke BIOS setup entry application  107  by inputting the proper command. Once invoked, BIOS setup entry application  107  at step  204  may prompt the user (e.g., via user interface  110 ) for credentials (e.g., username, password, fingerprint, iris scan, picture of face for facial recognition, spoken utterance for voice recognition, other biometric data, etc.) that the user may enter via user interface  110 . 
         [0035]    At step  206 , BIOS setup entry application  107  may pass credentials to operating system integration module  112  based on the user-provided credentials. The user-provided credentials may be in a format that may be processed by BIOS  108  (e.g., username and password) in which case, BIOS setup entry application  107  may pass such user-provided credentials to BIOS  108  for validation. Otherwise, if the user-provided credentials are not in a format that may be processed by BIOS  108  (e.g., biometric data), BIOS setup entry application  107  may pass BIOS-capable credentials to operating system integration module  112  based on the user-provided credentials, as described in greater detail above. 
         [0036]    At step  208 , upon receipt of credentials from BIOS setup entry application  107 , operating system integration module  112  may validate such credentials. If such credentials are validated at the BIOS level, method  200  may proceed to step  210 . Otherwise, method  200  may end. 
         [0037]    At step  210 , in response to validation of credentials, operating system integration module  112  may set BIOS setup flag  114  to a value indicating that BIOS setup is to be invoked on a subsequent boot of information handling system  102 . In some embodiments, operating system integration module  112  may also store a timestamp  116  associated with BIOS setup flag  114  indicative of the time at which BIOS setup flag  114  was set to the value indicating that BIOS setup is to be invoked on a subsequent boot of information handling system  102 . After completion of step  210 , method  200  may end. 
         [0038]    As mentioned above, BIOS setup flag  114  may be employed by BIOS  108  upon a boot of information handling system  102  and before loading and execution of operating handling system  102  to determine whether or not to invoke a BIOS setup program allowing the user to configure BIOS settings. If BIOS setup flag  114  is set, BIOS  108  may, upon a boot of information handling system  102 , invoke the BIOS setup program prior to loading and executing operating system  106 . Otherwise, BIOS  108  may load and execute operating system  106  without invoking the BIOS setup program if BIOS setup flag  114  is not set. In some embodiments, BIOS  108  may also examine timestamp  116  associated with BIOS setup flag  114 , and permit invocation of the BIOS setup program only if the timestamp indicates that the BIOS setup flag  114  was written within a particular period of time before the then-present boot of information handling system  102 . 
         [0039]    Although  FIG. 2  discloses a particular number of steps to be taken with respect to method  200 , method  200  may be executed with greater or lesser steps than those depicted in  FIG. 2 . In addition, although  FIG. 2  discloses a certain order of steps to be taken with respect to method  200 , the steps comprising method  200  may be completed in any suitable order. 
         [0040]    Method  200  may be implemented using information handling system  102  or any other system operable to implement method  200 . In certain embodiments, method  200  may be implemented partially or fully in software and/or firmware embodied in computer-readable media. 
         [0041]    Although the present disclosure has been described in detail, it should be understood that various changes, substitutions, and alterations can be made hereto without departing from the spirit and the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims.