Intel Microcode Bootloader

[Dexter1983]

Hi someone could help me to configure Intel Microcode Boot loader in windows 10 build 1809 so that it is loaded not by pendrive but by a dedicated mini fat32 partition? Can you help me?

 

[Ferrum Master]

Fill your specs.

90% you can mod the bios using UBU and quit joking around. Also mitigations are currently baked in the kernel, you can feed any microcodes you wish.

 

[Assimilator]

Fill your specs.

90% you can mod the bios using UBU and quit joking around. Also mitigations are currently baked in the kernel, you can feed any microcodes you wish.

Yup, much less painful to just load those patches into the BIOS.

 

[Flaky]

What do you need the updated microcode for?

Windows by itself also updates the microcode. You can check the versions before and after update in registry mentioned here.

 

[Dexter1983]

Fill your specs.

90% you can mod the bios using UBU and quit joking around. Also mitigations are currently baked in the kernel, you can feed any microcodes you wish.

What specs do you need? Cpu? Ram?
Or the partition/disk/volumes in my configuration?

What do you need the updated microcode for?

Windows by itself also updates the microcode. You can check the versions before and after update in registry mentioned here.

Just for study, IMB is a very good workaround and i'd want to learn how it works

I can do it on windows 7 but not on windows 10....why? The xcopy command fails with "access denied" error and my account is an administrator!

 

[Dexter1983]

I did it! using a live cd, otherwise the xcopy fails.......thank you anyway

 

[Regeneration]

Access denied is related to NTFS permissions. You need to login to recovery console with administrative account with full RW permissions for both source and destination.

 

[Dexter1983]

@Regeneration

I did some tests with little success:
I state that for my processor (Core i7 2820-qm 206A7) the microcode version that corrects spectre v2 is 2D (Distributed also by Microsoft in a Windows 10 environment) later Intel released version 2E, with other fixes. Intel Microcode Boot Loader has the latest 2E as standard, the experiment consists in flashing a bios with microcode version equal to or lower than 2D (distributed by microsoft) to see if Intel Microcode Boot Loader microcode actually upgrades to version 2E, the result is that even if everything works in appearance (the software is loaded at startup and the operating system is launched) however aida 64 detects a 2D microcode version, did I miss anything?

Wrong platform ID.......should be 12.....why?

 

[Assimilator]

@Regeneration

I did some tests with little success:
I state that for my processor (Core i7 2820-qm 206A7) the microcode version that corrects spectre v2 is 2D (Distributed also by Microsoft in a Windows 10 environment) later Intel released version 2E, with other fixes. Intel Microcode Boot Loader has the latest 2E as standard, the experiment consists in flashing a bios with microcode version equal to or lower than 2D (distributed by microsoft) to see if Intel Microcode Boot Loader microcode actually upgrades to version 2E, the result is that even if everything works in appearance (the software is loaded at startup and the operating system is launched) however aida 64 detects a 2D microcode version, did I miss anything?

Wrong platform ID.......should be 12.....why?

Sounds like an issue with Intel Microcode Boot Loader, not sure you can do anything about it.

 

[Regeneration]

@Regeneration

I did some tests with little success:
I state that for my processor (Core i7 2820-qm 206A7) the microcode version that corrects spectre v2 is 2D (Distributed also by Microsoft in a Windows 10 environment) later Intel released version 2E, with other fixes. Intel Microcode Boot Loader has the latest 2E as standard, the experiment consists in flashing a bios with microcode version equal to or lower than 2D (distributed by microsoft) to see if Intel Microcode Boot Loader microcode actually upgrades to version 2E, the result is that even if everything works in appearance (the software is loaded at startup and the operating system is launched) however aida 64 detects a 2D microcode version, did I miss anything?

Wrong platform ID.......should be 12.....why?

According to your screenshot, the microcode wasn't updated.

Make sure the correct microcode file is placed in the /mcu folder.

PlatformID is reported by the BIOS. The false value came from the manufacturer.

 

[Dexter1983]

Is there anything I can do to induce a correct detection of the platform ID? I've already put the correct microcodes in both the MCU folder and the MCUDB folder

 

[Ludwig von Ay]

@Dexter1983 :

Hi Dexter, one question: How did you get the screenshot? On my machine this bootloader is running through very fast and then loading OS.

 

[Regeneration]

On most PCs, the PAUSE key will pause the screen output during POST.

You can slow it down by placing a lot of ucode files in the \mcu folder.

 

[Ludwig von Ay]

Thanks @Regeneration, now I got it. It's not easy to catch the right moment, so I had to try several times.

Maybe you could add a small logfile on the stick that is replaced at each system start? This would be easier than PAUSE...

Regards, Ludwig.

 

[Ludwig von Ay]

You can slow it down by placing a lot of ucode files in the \mcu folder.

That trick didn't really help: Error messages for the wrong CPU files before and after the matching one were not displayed, so again it was a very short moment to hit PAUSE... But of course it's not necessary to check the message at each system start, maybe when a new versions is tested.

 

[Regeneration]

That trick didn't really help: Error messages for the wrong CPU files before and after the matching one were not displayed, so again it was a very short moment to hit PAUSE... But of course it's not necessary to check the message at each system start, maybe when a new versions is tested.

edit grub.cfg, find "mcu_load /boot/mcu" and replace with:

py 'import sys; sys.path = ["/boot/python", "/boot/python/lib.zip"]; del sys'
py 'import init; init.early_init()'
mcu_load /boot/mcu
py 'from bits import pause ; pause.pause()'

 

[Ludwig von Ay]

Great! It works.

Now I have two cfg files - one for 'normal life', the modified one for testing purposes.

Regards, Ludwig

 

[erpguy53]

@Regeneration

I did some tests with little success:
I state that for my processor (Core i7 2820-qm 206A7) the microcode version that corrects spectre v2 is 2D (Distributed also by Microsoft in a Windows 10 environment) later Intel released version 2E, with other fixes. Intel Microcode Boot Loader has the latest 2E as standard, the experiment consists in flashing a bios with microcode version equal to or lower than 2D (distributed by microsoft) to see if Intel Microcode Boot Loader microcode actually upgrades to version 2E, the result is that even if everything works in appearance (the software is loaded at startup and the operating system is launched) however aida 64 detects a 2D microcode version, did I miss anything?

the i7-2820QM seems to be an laptop/mobile based Intel Sandy Bridge CPU.

 

[MrGenius]

the i7-2820QM seems to be an laptop/mobile based Intel Sandy Bridge CPU.

That's an interesting bit of trivia.

But................who asked?

 

[Caring1]

the i7-2820QM seems to be an laptop/mobile based Intel Sandy Bridge CPU.

As if the picture of a Dell XPS wasn't enough of a hint.

 

[erpguy53]

@Regeneration: any chance of the Intel Microcode Bootloader software being updated to have the recent fixes mentioned in Intel security advisory INTEL-SA-00233?

INTEL-SA-00233

INTEL-SA-00233

www.intel.com

 

[Regeneration]

@Regeneration: any chance of the Intel Microcode Bootloader software being updated to have the recent fixes mentioned in Intel security advisory INTEL-SA-00233?

INTEL-SA-00233

INTEL-SA-00233

www.intel.com

Done today.

 

[erpguy53]

might need to be updated again. MS revised the intel microcode patches for Win10 near the end of August, reverting the Intel microcode fixes for apollo lake & gemini lake series