Is it Dell or Windows that manages BIOS-updates?

_william said:

I probably should've been clearer about that I'm using a Dell Latitude 7430.

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This is the support page for your laptop:


And yes a critical fix was deployed, hence the automatic update.

I wouldnt turn them off. Bios updates are important. Also as I said, you can find out which tool did it by looking at the update history under windows update, and the dell utilitys to find out which one did the firmware/bios update. My bet was windows.

Sorry, I didn't catch what you were referring to here:

andrew129260 said:

And yes a critical fix was deployed, hence the automatic update.

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Sure, I intend to keep getting BIOS-updates, I would just rather I let Dell manage them rather than Windows, as I wrote in the OP; so I'm just asking if there's any way to turn off the BIOS-updates through "Windows Update" and just keep them coming through the "Dell Command | Support" app.

_william said:

Sorry, I didn't catch what you were referring to here:

Sure, I intend to keep getting BIOS-updates, I would just rather I let Dell manage them rather than Windows, as I wrote in the OP; so I'm just asking if there's any way to turn off the BIOS-updates through "Windows Update" and just keep them coming through the "Dell Command | Support" app.

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The first option in your first screenshot. You can disable it there if you want. But I would honestly just leave it be.

I manage two desktop Dells (both W11), one is a Vostro (consumer-grade) and the other is an Optiplex (business-grade). I remember only receiving Bios updates from Dell; I usually use the Dell Command Update utility which would download all updates for all Dell components including Bios, and I do this after completing patch Tuesday, so where they come from are unambiguous.

echo2446 said:

I manage two desktop Dells (both W11), one is a Vostro (consumer-grade) and the other is an Optiplex (business-grade). I remember only receiving Bios updates from Dell; I usually use the Dell Command Update utility which would download all updates for all Dell components including Bios, and I do this after completing patch Tuesday, so where they come from are unambiguous.

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Thanks.

RJARRRPCGP said:

In my experience, a BIOS flash failure is rare. Was rare, even with legacy-BIOS.

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But it does happen what about those countries who have cuts their electrics we need to think all before we can advise installing BIOS firmware what it happens always needs to be there when advising.

andrew129260 said:

Which is again, not true. Yes it's mainly on prebuilt machines, but it does happen to custom motherboard's as well if a critical vulnerability is detected/needs patched. (If the manufacturers cares.) A lot of custom built machines motherboards manufacturers don't bother updating. Not exactly a good thing. It all depends if they submitted it to microsoft or not and if they allowed that update path.

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Exactly. Windows Update can install BIOS updates via optional updates (e.g. by choosing, when they are available of course, to let Windows Update download and install optional updates). This is very similar to how it can also install driver updates via optional updates. On my new Asus laptop (that's in my specs) after I let Windows Update install optional updates, what I saw happened in Device Manager was that a firmware item had the yellow bang warning triangle on it. So, I right-clicked on it to take a look at its Properties. The error description in there explained that the computer needed to be restarted so, that's what I did. Lo and behold, the laptop booted into the EZ Flash utility that is a built-in BIOS feature with this laptop. From there, all I had to do was click on the Yes button to confirm that I wanted to upgrade my BIOS to version 307, which took a while to complete... much to the point of wanting to overclock it (but anyway, lol). Since then, I have upgraded the BIOS in this laptop to 308, then 309, by using the MyAsus app that was already installed on preinstalled Windows 11. BIOS flashing is my secret hobby! This app automatically checks online for new updates directly from Asus, that's how it also found a hotfix that prevents Windows Dynamic Lighting from messing up the Asus Aura (RGB science). For maximum convenience, the MyAsus app also automatically keeps itself up to date.

On our 3 Dell laptop/desktop pcs, it is Dell Update or Supportassist which updates BIOS - I don't use Supportassist due to it's current problems. Almost always, Windows Update will install a Firmware Update, (for the same BIOS version) around 2 weeks later when you "Check For Updates" . Dell has confirmed that these Firmware Updates are not the same as the Dell offered BIOS updates which you need to search for and agree to install using either Dell Update or download from the Drivers & Downloads webpage using your Service Tag. The Firmware Updates installed by Windows Update don't require a restart.

I also have a Dell Inspiron and don't actually use either to update my Bios, instead I check on Dell's support page regularly and then download and install the Bios manually. If I was going to 'automate' it then I would prefer Dell Update over Windows Update as the Dell one would find and update earlier than Windows.

Mitch said:

The Firmware Updates installed by Windows Update don't require a restart.

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It's so you can still choose to disable (in Device Manager) the new item after it installed. The actual flashing doesn't occur until after the next restart so, before the next restart happens, by right-clicking on the new firmware item in Device Manager and choosing Disable, it is still possible to prevent the built-in flash utility from being launched after the next restart. So, in Device Manager, disabling the firmware item [that results from Windows Update having installed the optional update in question] effectively blocks the flashing that would result from that item.

Thanks HDMI. I'll give that a try next time. Markw51, I understand about using a Dell utility (Update or Supportassist) to install BIOS updates and i agree Dell Update is preferable to Supportassist or Windows Update, however, I fell foul of a faulty BIOS update on the Drivers and Downloads page when I installed it a day after it was released. This made the machine unbootable and needed Dell to get it started - not without difficulty. The update was pulled a couple of days later. If the BIOS release is faulty, there are methods to recover it but this BIOS update didn't allow this. Dell's advice was not to rush in to a BIOS update, but to wait until it was offered by Dell Update or Supportassist and then choose a download option, either directly from the website or a Dell utility. This allows time for faults to be reported.