GUIDE TO USE DELL PFS EXTRACTOR or other extractors from BiosUtilities (my way)

[volinakis]

GUIDE TO USE DELL PFS EXTRACTOR or other extractors from BiosUtilities (my way)

1. Download BIOSUtilities (thanks to platomav) and move folder "BiosUtilities" to Desktop
https://github.com/platomav/BIOSUtilities
2. Install python 3.11.0 or higher (both versions for 32bit and 64bit)
3. Download Dell bios update from Dell site (in my example bios update for Dell Latitude 3420) and move it to "BiosUtilities" from Desktop.
4. RENAME update exe WHITOUT SPACES AND DOTS! In my example "Latitude_3420_Latitude_3520_1.37.0.exe" to "Latitude_3420_Latitude_3520_1_37_0.exe"
5. Open cmd as admin and go to folder "BiosUtilities" from Desktop. For win10 win11 drag&drop "Dell_PFS_Extract.py" [space] "Latitude_3420_Latitude_3520_1_37_0.exe" and hit Enter. (for win7 use copy/paste)
6. For ALIENWARE use "Insyde_IFD_Extract.py", is not AMI bios but Insyde!

[pcguy]

I have bricked Dell XPS8500 I downloaded the A14.exe self extracting flash uitl from dell and tried the above method using command line in Windows10 and the above screenshot is the result. The error is

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "D:\_Drive_E\Downloads\BIOSUtilities-main\biosutilities\dell_pfs_extract.py", line 20, in <module>
from biosutilities.common.checksums import checksum_8_xor
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'biosutilities'

D:\_Drive_E\Downloads\BIOSUtilities-main\biosutilities>


Anyone have an idea what I am doing wrong?

[SMDFlea]

I have bricked Dell XPS8500 I downloaded the A14.exe self extracting flash uitl from dell and tried the above method using command line in Windows10 and the above screenshot is the result. The error is

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "D:\_Drive_E\Downloads\BIOSUtilities-main\biosutilities\dell_pfs_extract.py", line 20, in <module>
from biosutilities.common.checksums import checksum_8_xor
ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'biosutilities'

D:\_Drive_E\Downloads\BIOSUtilities-main\biosutilities>

Anyone have an idea what I am doing wrong?

It isn`t a PFS Image so it won`t work.

Run the exe and wait until it fails, leave the window open, don`t choose Quit.

Go to C:\Users\YourName\AppData\Local\Temp

In the Temp folder will be a folder with a name similar to _F7BA.tmp .Go into that folder, you should find an A12.cap file.
Copy that file somewhere else, then you can Quit the Updater. Open that cap file with a hex editor, delete the CAPsule header 0 - FFF (Length 1000) and save. What you have now is a 2,560KB update, it isn`t a full bios image.

[pcguy]

Really appreciate the quick response. Did that. The resulting file is, 2,560KB and the first line starts with $TAG

[SMDFlea]

Really appreciate the quick response. Did that. The resulting file is, 2,560KB and the first line starts with $TAG

If you want your bios fixing post your request in this thread https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...os-dump-needed ,make a backup and post it along with your service tag, or make a backup and try the bios at post #2

[volinakis]

Really appreciate the quick response. Did that. The resulting file is, 2,560KB and the first line starts with $TAG

it's only Bios_Region and it has 2621440 bytes. Post your bios backup where SMDFlea told you to see what ME Fw you need to build new bios.

[jaglion19]

This is a BIOS exe file belonging to a Dell E7440. I couldn't open it with InnoExtractor, UniExtractor, 7Zip, WinRar, ResurceHacker, or any other program or Python file. When I double-click it, nothing comes up. If it does, I can extract the dump file from the Temp folder. How can I open it? Can you help me?

[m1ch43lzm]

It's an issue with the dependencies of the biosutilities package

What worked for me was:
1.

python -m pip install pefile==2023.2.7 dissect.util==3.20

2. Download the required utilities separately (7z, UEFIFind, UEFIExtract, TianoCompress, big_script_tool.py and place them in "external" folder, inside the biosutilites folder
Like this for example:

C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main\biosutilities\external\

C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main\biosutilities\external>dir /b
7-zip.dll
7-zip32.dll
7z.dll
7z.exe
7z.sfx
7zCon.sfx
7zFM.exe
7zG.exe
big_script_tool.py
TianoCompress.exe
UEFIExtract.exe
UEFIFind.exe

3. This step is important, it didn't work for me until i did this, you have to scroll down the instructions until you get to the packages section for this command, run it from the BIOSUtilities-main directory:

python -m pip install --upgrade biosutilities[pefile,lznt1]

C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main>python -m pip install --upgrade biosutilities[pefile,lznt1]

4. Create the output folder, i used "out", inside the BIOSUtilities-main folder
C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main\out\

5. Copy your bios update E7440A28.exe to the BIOSUtilities-main folder and run the following command (in command prompt), it will ask you for the output directory, type "out", assuming you named that way your output folder

C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main>python main.py E7440A28.exe

Enter output directory path: out

------------
E7440A28.exe
------------

-----------------------------------
Dell PFS Update Extractor v25.07.01
-----------------------------------

Extracting Dell PFS 1 > E7440A28 > Firmware

It will extract inside the C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main\out\E7440A28.exe_extracted\Firmware folder

C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main\out\E7440A28.exe_extracted\Firmware>dir /b
1 E7440A28 -- 1 System BIOS vA.28.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 10 Model Information v1.0.0.0.txt
1 E7440A28 -- 2 Embedded Controller vA.14.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 3 Gigabit Ethernet v0.6.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 4 Legacy Video OROM v1039.1F.17.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 5 Legacy RAID OROM v12.7.0.1936.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 6 Intel Management Engine (VPro) Update v9.5.65.3000.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 7 Intel Management Engine (Non-VPro) Update v9.5.60.1952.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 8 ACPI OS support v0.0.0.1.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 9 Intel AntiTheft v3.0.0.18.bin​

It's not ready for flashing, you may have to use UEFITool 0.28 to replace the BIOS region on your BIOS dump (keep a copy of the original dump), for the ME region i don't know, you may ask the experts here, there's 2 ME versions, one vPro, one non-vPro, i don't know which one is right

[volinakis]

This is a BIOS exe file belonging to a Dell E7440. I couldn't open it with InnoExtractor, UniExtractor, 7Zip, WinRar, ResurceHacker, or any other program or Python file. When I double-click it, nothing comes up. If it does, I can extract the dump file from the Temp folder. How can I open it? Can you help me?

try Dell_pfs_extract ...

[jaglion19]

It's an issue with the dependencies of the biosutilities package

What worked for me was:
1.

python -m pip install pefile==2023.2.7 dissect.util==3.20

2. Download the required utilities separately (7z, UEFIFind, UEFIExtract, TianoCompress, big_script_tool.py and place them in "external" folder, inside the biosutilites folder
Like this for example:

C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main\biosutilities\external\

C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main\biosutilities\external>dir /b
7-zip.dll
7-zip32.dll
7z.dll
7z.exe
7z.sfx
7zCon.sfx
7zFM.exe
7zG.exe
big_script_tool.py
TianoCompress.exe
UEFIExtract.exe
UEFIFind.exe

3. This step is important, it didn't work for me until i did this, you have to scroll down the instructions until you get to the packages section for this command, run it from the BIOSUtilities-main directory:

python -m pip install --upgrade biosutilities[pefile,lznt1]

C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main>python -m pip install --upgrade biosutilities[pefile,lznt1]

4. Create the output folder, i used "out", inside the BIOSUtilities-main folder
C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main\out\

5. Copy your bios update E7440A28.exe to the BIOSUtilities-main folder and run the following command (in command prompt), it will ask you for the output directory, type "out", assuming you named that way your output folder

C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main>python main.py E7440A28.exe

Enter output directory path: out

------------
E7440A28.exe
------------

-----------------------------------
Dell PFS Update Extractor v25.07.01
-----------------------------------

Extracting Dell PFS 1 > E7440A28 > Firmware

It will extract inside the C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main\out\E7440A28.exe_extracted\Firmware folder

C:\bios\BIOSUtilities-main\out\E7440A28.exe_extracted\Firmware>dir /b
1 E7440A28 -- 1 System BIOS vA.28.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 10 Model Information v1.0.0.0.txt
1 E7440A28 -- 2 Embedded Controller vA.14.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 3 Gigabit Ethernet v0.6.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 4 Legacy Video OROM v1039.1F.17.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 5 Legacy RAID OROM v12.7.0.1936.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 6 Intel Management Engine (VPro) Update v9.5.65.3000.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 7 Intel Management Engine (Non-VPro) Update v9.5.60.1952.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 8 ACPI OS support v0.0.0.1.bin
1 E7440A28 -- 9 Intel AntiTheft v3.0.0.18.bin

It's not ready for flashing, you may have to use UEFITool 0.28 to replace the BIOS region on your BIOS dump (keep a copy of the original dump), for the ME region i don't know, you may ask the experts here, there's 2 ME versions, one vPro, one non-vPro, i don't know which one is right

Thank you very much king, I did what you said one by one and as a result I was successful and I am happy. Thank you for your hard work.

[jaglion19]

try Dell_pfs_extract ...

The device I use is an imac, actually I will try this on the Mac side at the first opportunity. I struggled because the Dell FPS extractor was not working on the Windows side. It didn't work when I did it in Windows like you did. Thank you friend, I solved it, but I will try it on the Mac side at the first opportunity. Thank you very much for your interest. Good luck with your work.

[jaglion19]

I would be very happy if you could help me with one more issue, the bios is in good condition, thanks to you, I made it factory clean. But I don't know how to do EC on older models. I would be very happy if you could help me on how to do the EC of this device.

[volinakis]

I would be very happy if you could help me with one more issue, the bios is in good condition, thanks to you, I made it factory clean. But I don't know how to do EC on older models. I would be very happy if you could help me on how to do the EC of this device.

read/write EC with a programmer capable of reading MEC. Connect it to JDEG1. Read this thread for howto:
https://www.badcaps.net/forum/troubl...ith-info-block