BIOS GUID and serial number change ?

SFSxOI · Post by **SFSxOI** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 2:25 pm

Has anyone ever heard of changing the BIOS serial number or GUID ? Neither have I.

Got asked a question about how to do this. Turns out there are 10 laptops that were purchased by someone from somewhere in a lot for $2200.00, the laptops work great, have winXP Pro on them and are three years old. They are going to be used for some monitoring applications which is a light duty application, nothing intensive or really demanding at all.

The problem is it turns out that all of them have the same BIOS serial number and GUID for some reason, as i've been told but i looked at the serial number on a few of them using a WMI script and they are the same. This presents a problem because the laptops are going to be used on a network that tracks assets by of all things the computer BIOS serial number and the bios GUID (some way or another, I don't know, i think its a small client installed on the computer.)

Anyway, I know how to read the serial number of the BIOS using WMI and the Win32_BIOS Class. But what about the GUID? Is the GUID the same as the serial number??? (I didn't even know there was a GUID for the BIOS.) How do you read the GUID using PureBasic?

I contacted the manufacturer of the laptops, Dell, and was told there was no warranty for them because they were some sort of special buy item for a company that went out of business, after some research the laptops were bought at auction by the guy who sold them and he turned around and sold them to the person that asked me the question. Dell said they will be glad to do the changes for a fee, at almost $500.00 per laptop! Thats outrageous, the guy could almost buy a new laptop for that in some cases, or thats at least half the price of some new laptops.

I've read some obscure references that some manufactures supply a .vbs script to change the BIOS GUID and serial number, or they have some utility to do it with, but haven't been able to locate anything. I asked dell for such a utility and the guy i spoke with said they did not supply it but they had one. So evidently this is some sort of closely guarded secret or something. I don't know, I don't have any experience in this area.

So all this brings me to a point; If its possible to do this via a .vbs script then how can this be done in PureBasic?

How do you change the serial number and GUID using PureBasic?
Anyone have any experience with PureBasic and changing the BIOS serial Number and GUID ?

Rook Zimbabwe · Post by **Rook Zimbabwe** » Thu Aug 14, 2008 9:49 pm

I have used this:

Code: Select all

' 
' WMI Script - ChangeVLKey.vbs
'
' This script changes the product key on the computer
'
'***************************************************************************

ON ERROR RESUME NEXT


if Wscript.arguments.count<1 then
Wscript.echo "Script can't run without VolumeProductKey argument"
Wscript.echo "Correct usage: Cscript ChangeVLKey.vbs ABCDE-FGHIJ-KLMNO-PRSTU-WYQZX"
Wscript.quit
end if

Dim VOL_PROD_KEY
VOL_PROD_KEY = Wscript.arguments.Item(0)
VOL_PROD_KEY = Replace(VOL_PROD_KEY,"-","") 'remove hyphens if any

for each Obj in GetObject("winmgmts:{impersonationLevel=impersonate}").InstancesOf ("win32_WindowsProductActivation")

result = Obj.SetProductKey (VOL_PROD_KEY)

if err <> 0 then
WScript.Echo Err.Description, "0x" & Hex(Err.Number)
Err.Clear
end if

Next

But just so you know... it is risky and Lately the computers we did this on are NOT being allowed to download updates...

USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!

As far as the GUID... someone is being lazy using the Serial to gen the guid:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms241442.aspx

The server or the program generates the GUID based on ANY factors you can use... even RANDOM... or based on USER/PASSWORD (which would be best as you can untangle that usually and find out what GUID did what specifically

SFSxOI · Post by **SFSxOI** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:53 am

Rook,

That script changes a volume license key in the OS its self.

I'm talking about the serial number (I guess its an asset tag too) and the GUID in the BIOS. From what i understand, the BIOS has its own GUID and serial number, both of which can be used to track a computers where abouts on the network. I spoke with one of our network guys today and he says that is indded the case. Although its not the way its done at where I work, he told me that he knows some companies who do use that technique, but he doesn;t know how to change the BIOs serial number or the BIOS GUID.

Rook Zimbabwe · Post by **Rook Zimbabwe** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:05 pm

I bleeped out for a second... BIOS... oy!

That would be specific to manufacturer... let me look in my HP/Compaq toolbag.

I had a program called DMITool 4.0 and it "could" do this with some computers... But the BIOS peeps got smart after a while.

You could just buy a few bad boards out there and remove the BIOS and replace yours with them there...

I would only suspect the BIOS chip might be bad if the unit had suffered a power surge... most bad units out there are "gravity damage"

SFSxOI · Post by **SFSxOI** » Fri Aug 15, 2008 3:28 pm

I've found one link which comes close in a way to what I want to do, at least in concept;

http://www.codebreakers-journal.com/content/view/282/27

This guy says you can use FASM...guess what

but his aim is on modding the BIOS for something else I guess. All I want to do is change the serial number and GUID of the BIOS, but...I guess the same techniques could be applied. Unfortunately I don't do assembly or I would have at least played around a little with the concept the guy presented.

This is beginning to look like more trouble then its worth for my part as I was just trying to helop the guy out who posed the question to me originally and thought there might be an easy way to come up wioth something in PB that would do it.

Rook Zimbabwe · Post by **Rook Zimbabwe** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 4:12 am

Easiest way is to buy new BIOS chips and change the way the GUID is created in the Client / Server...

OK it may be the PITA way, but it WILL work 100% without killing the BIOS already inthe laptops!

Also you need to hire a CPM that is certified in Technology (like me!) who would not have bought them in the first place!

SFSxOI · Post by **SFSxOI** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 2:19 pm

yeah, the eaisiest way would have been for the guy not to buy them, but for the price it couldn't be beat. If he wasn't going to use them on a network that checks such things it would be no problem. But I have figured out how to erase the serial number though; look at this;

1. set a password in the BIOS

2. reboot the computer

3. open up a command prompt

4. type the following and after each line hit enter:

c:\>debug
-o 70 17
-o 71 17
-q
c:\>

Voila! bios cleared and reset back to the bios defaults, and....the serial number is gone as well

Now, the GUID, gotta work on that

Rook Zimbabwe · Post by **Rook Zimbabwe** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 9:42 pm

that is cool!

As far as the GUID in the BIOS... should that NOT be based on the BIOS Serial anyway? I speak out of ignorance on that question...

How can we use PB to get BIOS GUID? did anyone answer that? Do we have to use inline ASM?

That might be andy for copy protection in some ways!

SFSxOI · Post by **SFSxOI** » Sat Aug 16, 2008 11:56 pm

I'm not sure, the BIOS serial and GUID is new to me. I actually didn't know anything about it until the guy asked me and told me about the laptops.

Rook Zimbabwe · Post by **Rook Zimbabwe** » Mon Aug 18, 2008 2:20 am

I had a thought last night...

The MAC address... We used the MAC address of the I/O device as an identifier on our network.

That said; the MAC address can be spoofed, But if that can be spoofed; why cannot the GUID be spoofed?

I know people have a small TSR that they use to spoof the MAC address (yes, and it is also possible to CHANGE the MAC address) so why couldn't there be some small TSR out there to SPOOF the GUID?

Than you get what you want?