Question about removing the BIOS lock

[mustardcheese]

Hi all, I have a Dell Latitude 7300 with a locked BIOS and I was curious about the process of removing the lock by editing the hex values of the bin and how to do it. Is editing the hex values of the dumped bios any different than flashing a new one that's already been unlocked? (I currently don't have the correct bin because I realize I accidentally dumped the wrong thing). I am very new to this any help or advice or references would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[RethoricalCheese]

It depends. By flashing another (unlocked) dump you tend to lose SN, windows key and such information. It's usually best to modify.

[reformatt]

You can use a donor BIOS and transfer the DMI data (S/N etc) and Windows key from the old to the new. You also need to take into account that Intel machines need clean ME firmware if you are going to use a donor. Some BIOS structures are different between manufacturers, and it's a black art in knowing all the ins and outs.

While I can patch them myself, I don't have all the tools and knowledge to do it on every BIOS, especially if it's just a one off. That's why we have the BIOS group, and there are some wonderful people who do this work for you...for absolutely nothing. I recently put up a password protected BIOS in the group for an Acer machine. Someone in Vietnam removed the password within the hour, and I was on to the next job. Same BIOS, so no need to muck around with DMI, ME F/W etc.