Simplified Software Flashing

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If your device had a Simple tag on the supported devices page or stated on that device’s page it is possible with vendor firmware or you’re already running Libreboot and you don’t have flash protection turned on, internal flashing is possible.

Otherwise visit the simplified-hw-flashing guide

Before internal flashing, Disable /dev/mem protection first.

In short add this kernel parameter: iomem=relaxed(linux distro)/kernel.securelevel=-1(bsd distro)

THEN REMOVE THIS KERNEL PARAMETER TO PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED/MALICIOUS ACCESS TO YOUR SYSTEM AFTER FLASHING LIBREBOOT.

(An important reminder for those who might forget to delete it, even better, replace it with lockdown=integrity / lockdown=confidentiality)

Do it twice (to check and compare if reading it gone wrong and backups differs.)

flashprog -p internal -r Backup1.bin

flashprog -p internal -r Backup2.bin

Compare those if reading from the flash were successful:

diff Backup1.bin Backup2.bin

For more than 2:

shasum Backup1.bin Backup2.bin Backup3.bin

If those differs, something gone wrong and proceeding further may (DON’T) leave your device unrecoverable (without a reliable backup) if flashing fails as well.

Replace the libreboot.rom with your device’s filename.rom found on the installation page and DO NOT SHUT DOWN or REBOOT it after flashing libreboot, if running on vendor firmware.

flashprog -p internal -w libreboot.rom

In case if it gone wrong, feel free to ask for help on IRC.

Use sync in the terminal to avoid data loss/corruption, then turn off the psu (power supply) or pull the cable to avoid the factory one overwriting the fresh (libreboot) installation, especially with dell ones.

REMOVE iomem=relaxed(linux distro)/kernel.securelevel=-1(bsd distro) KERNEL PARAMETER TO PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED/MALICIOUS ACCESS TO YOUR SYSTEM AFTER FLASHING LIBREBOOT (and booting to your os)

(An important reminder for those who might forget to delete it, even better, replace it with lockdown=integrity / lockdown=confidentiality)

SPDX-License-Identifier: GFDL-1.3-or-later

Markdown file for this page: https://libreboot.org/docs/install/simplified-sw-flashing.md

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