Is there a way to get the BIOS version from inside Linux?

Question

I want to get the BIOS version from Linux without going directly to the BIOS.

I mean, is there a way to get the BIOS version from inside Linux?

cuonglm · Accepted Answer · 2018-05-05T17:32:42.527

95

Without superuser privileges

It is as simple as reading the following file:

$ cat /sys/class/dmi/id/bios_version
1.1.3

With superuser privileges

Use dmidecode:

$ sudo dmidecode -s bios-version
1.1.3

Also, you might have to install this package, which is available in:

Linux i386, x86-64, ia64
FreeBSD i386, amd64
NetBSD i386, amd64
OpenBSD i386, amd64
BeOS i386
Solaris x86
Haiku i586

edited May 05 '18 at 17:32

answered May 04 '18 at 09:45

cuonglm

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The `/sys/....` approach should be used if possible. – Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen May 04 '18 at 14:29
I believe `dmidecode` only works if `/dev/mem` is available, which isn't the case on modern distros. – forest May 06 '18 at 07:04
@forest what's modern do you mean? At least it works in my Linux Mint 18.3 – cuonglm May 06 '18 at 07:58
Do you have a readable `/dev/mem` on that system? – forest May 06 '18 at 08:06
@forest yes. I don't see any distros with desktop environment don't have /dev/mem – cuonglm May 06 '18 at 10:39
Most of it _have_ it, but it isn't readable (compile-time feature in the kernel). I can think of Fedora and Debian which are that way. – forest May 06 '18 at 10:41
@forest My debian testing/buster machine with normal debian Linux kernel has a working dmidecode. So I’m not sure what you’re saying here. – Jonas Schäfer May 06 '18 at 11:48
@forest compile time feature is for writing restricting, not reading. – cuonglm May 06 '18 at 11:55
Maybe `dmidecode` only requires the first megabyte which IIRC is whitelisted. – forest May 06 '18 at 11:59

GAD3R · Answer 2 · 2018-05-06T10:21:36.230

9

You can use lshw , hwinfo , inxi and hardinfo (DMI):

# lshw -class memory
# hwinfo --bios
$ inxi -M
$ hardinfo

The above command should work after installing them through your package manager.

Only the first answer proposed by @cuonglm allow you the get bios information without installing an additional package:

$ cat /sys/class/dmi/id/bios*

edited May 06 '18 at 10:21

answered May 04 '18 at 13:58

GAD3R

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hwinfo and hardinfo are not installed by default on Linux Mint. – Davidw May 06 '18 at 03:59
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And none of them are available by default on CentOS 7. – Davidw May 06 '18 at 06:34

Prvt_Yadav · Answer 3 · 2018-05-04T13:23:25.033

5

I was wandering in /sys folder then I went into /sys/firmware/dmi/tables then got two files DMI and smbios_entry_point. If you read DMI file then in my case first word was LENOVO and second word was BIOS version. I know this is not simple and straight answer but you can get more information regarding your pc from this file.

edited May 04 '18 at 13:23

answered May 04 '18 at 11:11

Prvt_Yadav

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score 3 · Answer 4 · edited May 04 '18 at 10:13

3

This is working for me:

sudo dmidecode | grep "BIOS Information" -A10 | grep -e "Version:" -e "Vendor:"

edited May 04 '18 at 10:13

Vlastimil Burián

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answered May 04 '18 at 09:45

Siva

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This sort of text filtering is fragile. Much better to make a specific request for the specific information you want, as shown by cuonglm. – Lightness Races in Orbit May 04 '18 at 11:25
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will BIOS version is meaning full without vendor name? – Siva May 07 '18 at 12:26
I don't understand your comment, sorry. – Lightness Races in Orbit May 07 '18 at 12:34

Is there a way to get the BIOS version from inside Linux?

4 Answers4

Without superuser privileges

With superuser privileges