Dell BIOS update available for Windows only and i'm on Linux. Any workaround?

Skyline85

Junior Member
Aug 23, 2021
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I own a 2016-made Dell Inspiron laptop that came with Ubuntu preinstalled. I have always used Ubuntu on this machine, and have consistently upgraded to newer, LTS versions of Ubuntu. Today, I was checking the Drivers sections on the Dell website for my machine and it mentions an 'urgent' BIOS update that was released in November of 2020. Strangely, the "update" itself is in the form of an .exe file that I obviously cannot open on Ubuntu.

Is there a way I can update the BIOS on my system? I don't want to use WINE for a critical application like this, i'm afraid it will brick my system. I also find it highly discriminatory that Dell would release a supposedly "urgent" BIOS update but make it Windows only when the laptop its meant for was shipped with Ubuntu.

Is there a way to "flash" the new BIOS directly from a pendrive? That is what I would prefer.
 
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ch33zw1z

Lifer
Nov 4, 2004
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You can probably just put the exe on a flash drive, boot into bios and update from there. I've done that for a few SFF Dells in the last few years. These machines were Linux only...

I would also not use wine, but if you have to "unpack" the .exe on another pc...that could be a work around.

Pm the express service tag if you want more thorough advice.
 
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