cannot install unetbootin

[Jeffrey Walton]

On Thu, Mar 7, 2024 at 11:45 PM Ralf Mardorf via ubuntu-users
<ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, 2024-03-07 at 19:08 +0000, Liam Proven wrote:
> > There is a UEFI-based firmware updating tool for Linux now. It's
> > called "fwupd" and it has a GNOME front end called "Firmware".
> >
> > But it's not universal. It can only update systems and components it
> > knows about.
>
> In my experiences firmware updates of nowadays mobos can be done by the
> firmware, without an operating system installed at all.

I find it is hit or miss. Dell has a super easy process. You can copy
the Windows self-extracting zip file to Linux /boot/EFI, and load the
update directly from the *.exe through the Bios/EFI screen. You don't
even need to unpack the archive.

Acer and HP laptops sucks. You need a Windows machine.

For Acer and HP laptops, I bought one of those SSD thumb drives that
are fast. Then I did the "Windows2Go" thing by installing Windows to
the thumb drive using Rufus. When I need to update the Bios/EFI, I
just boot to the thumb drive.

> I suspect that firmware updates of almost all, if not all nowadays SSDs
> can't be done. I haven't tested pass through options of a Windows VM for
> updating SSD firmware. I think it is unlikely that this will work.

I know Intel and Samsung make firmware updates available for their
SSDs. I don't know about the other brands, though. See,
<https://www.samsung.com/ca/support/memory-storage/update-the-firmware-of-your-samsung-ssd/>

I don't think Wine or VM pass through will work. I've never tried it,
and anyone I talked to about it said it would not work.

> At least firmware updates via USB do work by USB pass through.
>
> A few days ago I used Windows 11 to update the firmware of a musical
> instrument [1] and in the past I updated iOS using a Windows (IIRC XP
> and/or Windows 7) guest.

Jeff