Get-FirmwareType

NAME Get-FirmwareType



SYNOPSIS

This cmdlet determines the underlying system firmware (BIOS) type - either UEFI or Legacy BIOS.





SYNTAX

Get-FirmwareType [[-QueryType] <String>] [<CommonParameters>]





DESCRIPTION

This cmdlet determines the underlying system firmware (BIOS) type - either UEFI or Legacy BIOS.



The function will use one of three methods to determine the firmware type:



The first method relies on the fact that Windows setup detects the firmware type as a part of the Windows

installation

routine and records its findings in the setupact.log file in the \\Windows\\Panther folder. It's a trivial task to

use

Select-String to extract the relevant line from this file and to pick off the (U)EFI or BIOS keyword it contains.



To do a proper job there are two choices; both involve using Win32 APIs which we call from PowerShell through a

compiled

(Add-Type) class using P/Invoke.



For Windows 7/Server 2008R2 and above, the GetFirmwareEnvironmentVariable Win32 API (designed to extract firmware

environment

variables) can be used. This API is not supported on non-UEFI firmware and will fail in a predictable way when

called - this

will identify a legacy BIOS. On UEFI firmware, the API can be called with dummy parameters, and while it will

still fail

(probably!) the resulting error code will be different from the legacy BIOS case.



For Windows 8/Server 2012 and above there's a more elegant solution in the form of the GetFirmwareType() API. This

returns an enum (integer) indicating the underlying firmware type.





PARAMETERS

-QueryType <String>

Use this parameter to force a particular query type (if not specified this will default to 'Auto')

Valid values are:

SetupLog - look for the machine firmware type in the Windows Setup log file

GetFirmwareEnvironmentVariable - uses the GetFirmwareEnvironmentVariable Win32 API call (Windows 7/Server

208R2 and above)

GetFirmwareType - uses the GetFirmwareType Win32 API call (Windows 8/Server 2012R2 and above)

Auto - uses the most appropriate technique depending on the underlying OS version



Required? false

Position? 1

Default value Auto

Accept pipeline input? false

Accept wildcard characters? false



<CommonParameters>

This cmdlet supports the common parameters: Verbose, Debug,

ErrorAction, ErrorVariable, WarningAction, WarningVariable,

OutBuffer, PipelineVariable, and OutVariable. For more information, see

about_CommonParameters (https:/go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=113216).



INPUTS

None





OUTPUTS

['FirmwareType'] PS Custom object describing the machine firmware type





NOTES





Can only run against the local machine currently



-------------------------- EXAMPLE 1 --------------------------



PS C:\\>Get-FirmwareType



Determines the firmware type of the current machine using the most appropriate technique based on OS version









-------------------------- EXAMPLE 2 --------------------------



PS C:\\>Get-FirmwareType -Auto



Determines the firmware type of the current machine using the most appropriate technique based on OS version









-------------------------- EXAMPLE 3 --------------------------



PS C:\\>Get-FirmwareType -SetupLog



Determines the firmware type of the current machine by reading the Setup log file









-------------------------- EXAMPLE 4 --------------------------



PS C:\\>Get-FirmwareType -GetFirmwareType



Determines the firmware type of the current machine by using the GetFirmwareType() API call. (Windows 8+ only)











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