MSI: Update Your BIOS From The Linux Desktop

Now that the MSI X99S SLI PLUS is running great on Linux, I've been working with the company towards some other Linux improvements along with some other interesting Linux hardware reviews to come thanks to our renewed cooperation. One of the items I've been voicing has been regarding better supporting Linux users with regard to a smoother BIOS/UEFI update process. Well, there is a utility they support for updating your MSI motherboard BIOS from the Linux desktop!

Back in August I wrote about the pain for Linux users in updating the BIOS of some MSI motherboards as they packaged the BIOS ROM file within an EXE file, which places the burden on having a Windows installation but then this utility wouldn't work if the file wasn't placed on a USB flash drive and also if the Windows executable didn't detect the file was being extracted on a motherboard that matched the intended BIOS. In other words, more of a pain than it needs to be just to download the BIOS file so you can reboot and use their suitable UEFI/BIOS flash utility built into their modern motherboards.

I'm happy to say with the MSI X99S SLI PLUS they do offer the BIOS file for download in the zipped package that also contains their EXE file for Windows users. There's no more silly hoops to jump through! Problem solved! But then it got even better through the communications with MSI.

An MSI Taiwan representative mentioned to me they actually have a Linux flash utility! This got me really curious and then this morning they sent it over. Yes, I am also aware of Flashrom to support flashing your BIOS from Linux but this open-source program isn't officially supported by many motherboard vendors (any?) and doesn't work for all systems, but this was something else.