ThinOS CMOS Extraction/Restore Process
A Technote by Dell Wyse Sales Engineering
July 2017
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Table of Contents
A Technote by Dell Wyse Sales Engineering ................................................................................................. 1
When to use CMOS Extraction and Restore ............................................................................................. 3
Prerequisites ............................................................................................................................................. 3
Connection to a File Server ................................................................................................................... 3
Write Access to the File Server ............................................................................................................. 3
Configuring INI files for Extracting the CMOS ........................................................................................... 4
WNOS Requirements ............................................................................................................................ 4
Contents of the CMOS Username INI file. ............................................................................................ 4
Save the CMOS.ini to a folder called ‘ini’ under the ‘WNOS’ directory ................................................ 4
Extracting the CMOS ................................................................................................................................. 5
Confirm Successful CMOS Extraction........................................................................................................ 5
Confirm Success by Reviewing the WTOS Device Event Log ................................................................ 5
Confirm Success by Validating CMOS File Existence on the File Share................................................. 6
Restoring the CMOS to a ThinOS Device................................................................................................... 7
Validate CMOS is Restored from Event Log .......................................................................................... 7
Validate the Same CMOS was Previously Restored .............................................................................. 8
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When to use CMOS Extraction and Restore
ThinOS includes a number of INI commands that can directly set BIOS/CMOS settings such as Auto
Power-on, Boot Order, Enablement of USB Boot, Password and etc. However, not all CMOS settings you
may wish to apply will have direct INI commands. In such cases it may be necessary to configure the a
device the way you desire all of your devices to be configured, extract the CMOS from that device and
restore it to all other devices.
Note: As of the time of writing of this document the 5060, 3040 and 3030LT platforms do NOT support
setting the BIOS password via the INI command. It is also important to understand that the CMOS
extraction does NOT capture and restore the password for security reasons. At this time, the password
must be set manually on those platforms listed. The current firmware version at writing is 8.4_009 and
the corresponding INI guide includes a feature matrix on supported CMOS parameters.
Prerequisites
Connection to a File Server
The ThinOS device must already be configured to a read INI files from a file server and be able to
successfully load the WNOS.ini file.
Write Access to the File Server
The file server must allow the user that ThinOS is using to access the fileserver to write to the WNOS
directory.
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Configuring INI files for Extracting the CMOS
It is assumed at this stage that you have set the CMOS of a device the way that you want it and want to
replicate to other devices. If you have not done so, please go do so now and then continue with the
extraction. Once the device CMOS is configured the way you want it you’ll need to create a new
username.ini file containing the CMOS command. The extraction command is not allowed to be
executed from the WNOS.INI file to prevent an undesired situation where all devices would be
inadvertently extracting their CMOS to the file server.
WNOS Requirements
The WNOS file must contain the statement ‘signon=yes’ to allow you to provide the ‘cmos’ username.
Contents of the CMOS Username INI file.
Save the CMOS.ini to a folder called ‘ini’ under the ‘WNOS’ directory
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Extracting the CMOS
Start a ThinOS device with the INI files/parameters mentioned above in place and enter ‘cmos’ as the
username as shown below.
Note that the sign-on will fail, but the extraction is not dependent on the sign-on completing.
Confirm Successful CMOS Extraction
Confirm Success by Reviewing the WTOS Device Event Log
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Confirm Success by Validating CMOS File Existence on the File Share
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Restoring the CMOS to a ThinOS Device
Make sure the command ‘device=cmos action=restore’ is placed in the wnos.ini as shown below.
Validate CMOS is Restored from Event Log
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Validate the Same CMOS was Previously Restored
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