On Tue, Dec 08, 2020 at 09:54:53AM -0500, Máirín Duffy wrote: > Hi Chuck, > > On 12/8/20 9:35 AM, Chuck Anderson wrote: > > I wasn't aware you could do BIOS or firmware updates from a VM. With > > USB passthru, I guess there is some hardware that can be operated or > > configured from a VM. However, it is much harder to "swap" the > > pre-installed copy of Windows to become a VM than it is to configure > > dual-boot. > It depends what firmware you're looking to update. I have definitely, > without any stress at all, done firmware updates for various external > hardware (high-end cameras, scanners, cricut, etc) through the USB > passthru function of GNOME Boxes. > > For the firmware and BIOS of my laptop itself... I always use Lenovo > hardware, generally I'd crack the files open using Windows and IIRC set > up a boot disk to install them. No baremetal Windows needed. That's no > longer necessary now because of the Linux Vendor Firmware Service, I can > update the firmware now easy as any system package update. > > If you really, really needed windows bare metal for such an occasional > usage pattern though, wouldn't a Windows Live Media setup be better? > > Also, a VM cannot be used to diagnose hardware problems. > I'm not sure what hardware problems couldn't be diagnosed in a native > Linux OS, but certainly Windows Live Media can be useful here as well. > >> If the problem is that your Windows license didn't include a copy of the > >> Windows installer, that's a different problem entirely, isn't it? > > I suppose, but that is not in my control. Well, strictly speaking I > > could go out of my way to buy a laptop without Windows pre-installed, > > then purchase a separate retail copy of Windows, but that has a higher > > barrier to entry. > Doesn't cost you anything if you have a valid preinstall license, see > https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/ > > This all seems to be a (dated?) edge case to me?? 🤷 Okay. I guess I'm out of touch with modern Windows possibilities. :) _______________________________________________ desktop mailing list -- desktop@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe send an email to desktop-leave@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Fedora Code of Conduct: https://docs.fedoraproject.org/en-US/project/code-of-conduct/ List Guidelines: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines List Archives: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/archives/list/desktop@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
