DmiDecode
Dmidecode: DMI-table decoder
Dmidecode reports information about your system's hardware as described in your system BIOS according to the SMBIOS/DMI standard. This information typically includes system manufacturer, model name, serial number, BIOS version, asset tag as well as a lot of other details of varying level of interest and reliability depending on the manufacturer. This will often include usage status for the CPU sockets, expansion slots (e.g. AGP, PCI, ISA) and memory module slots, and the list of I/O ports (e.g. serial, parallel, USB).
Beware that DMI data have proven to be too unreliable to be blindly trusted. Dmidecode does not scan your hardware, it only reports what the BIOS told it to.
Three additional tools come with dmidecode:
•biosdecode prints all BIOS related information it can find
•ownership retrieves the "ownership tag" that can be set on Compaq computers
•vpddecode prints the "vital product data" information that can be found in almost all IBM computers
This MS-Windows port is based on the patches created by Hugo Weber <http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/dmidecode-devel/2006-10/msg00001.html>. It works only on MS-Windows NT systems (NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, 2008) and not on MS-Windows 9x systems (95, 98, ME).
Utility
http://gnuwin32.sourceforge.net/packages/dmidecode.htm
dmidecode - DMI table decoder
dmidecode is a tool for dumping a computer's DMI (some
say SMBIOS) table contents in a human-readable format.
This table contains a description of the system's hard-
ware components, as well as other useful pieces of
information such as serial numbers and BIOS revision.
Thanks to this table, you can retrieve this information
without having to probe for the actual hardware. While
this is a good point in terms of report speed and safe-
ness, this also makes the presented information possibly
unreliable.
The DMI table doesn't only describe what the system is
currently made of, it also can report the possible evo-
lutions (such as the fastest supported CPU or the maxi-
mal amount of memory supported).
SMBIOS stands for System Management BIOS, while DMI
stands for Desktop Management Interface. Both standards
are tightly related and developed by the DMTF (Desktop
Management Task Force).
As you run it, dmidecode will try to locate the DMI ta-
ble. If it succeeds, it will then parse this table and
display a list of records like this one:
Handle 0x0002, DMI type 2, 8 bytes. Base Board Informa-
tion
Manufacturer: Intel
Product Name: C440GX+
Version: 727281-001
Serial Number: INCY92700942
Each record has:
· A handle. This is a unique identifier, which allows
records to reference each other. For example, proces-
sor records usually reference cache memory records
using their handles.
· A type. The SMBIOS specification defines different
types of elements a computer can be made of. In this
example, the type is 2, which means that the record
contains "Base Board Information".
· A size. Each record has a 4-byte header (2 for the
handle, 1 for the type, 1 for the size), the rest is
used by the record data. This value doesn't take text
strings into account (these are placed at the end of
the record), so the actual length of the record may be
(and is often) greater than the displayed value.
· Decoded values. The information presented of course
depends on the type of record. Here, we learn about
the board's manufacturer, model, version and serial
number.
Biosdecode: BIOS-information decoder
biosdecode parses the BIOS memory and prints information
about all structures (or entry points) it knows of. Cur-
rently known entry point types are:
· SMBIOS (System Management BIOS)
Use dmidecode for a more detailed output.
· DMI (Desktop Management Interface, a legacy version of
SMBIOS)
Use dmidecode for a more detailed output.
· SYSID
· PNP (Plug and Play)
· ACPI (Advanced Configuration and Power Interface)
· BIOS32 (BIOS32 Service Directory)
· PIR (PCI IRQ Routing)
· 32OS (BIOS32 Extension, Compaq-specific)
See ownership for a Compaq ownership tag retrieval
tool.
· SNY (Sony-specific, not decoded)
· VPD (Vital Product Data, IBM-specific)
Use vpddecode for a more detailed output.
· FJKEYINF (Application Panel, Fujitsu-specific)
biosdecode started its life as a part of dmidecode but
as more entry point types were added, if was moved to a
different program.
Ownership: Compaq ownership-tag retriever
ownership retrieves and prints the "ownership tag" that
can be set on Compaq computers. Contrary to all other
programs of the dmidecode package, ownership doesn't
print any version information, nor labels, but only the
raw ownership tag. This should help its integration in
scripts.
Vpddecode
Vpddecode: VPD-structure decoder
vpddecode prints the "vital product data" information
that can be found in almost all IBM and Lenovo comput-
ers. Available items are:
· BIOS Build ID
· Box Serial Number
· Motherboard Serial Number
· Machine Type/Model
Some systems have these additional items:
· BIOS Release Date
· Default Flash Image File Name
Note that these additional items are not documented by
IBM, so this is guess work, and as such should not be
blindly trusted. Feedback about the accuracy of these
labels is welcome.