Introduction

This allows installing Dell capsules that are not part of the ESRT table.

GUID Generation

These devices uses custom GUIDs for Dell-specific hardware.

  • Thunderbolt devices: TBT-0x00d4u$(system-id)
  • TPM devices $(system-id)-$(mode), where mode is either 2.0 or 1.2

In both cases the system-id is derived from the SMBIOS Product SKU property.

TPM GUIDs are also built using the TSS properties TPM2_PT_FAMILY_INDICATOR, TPM2_PT_MANUFACTURER, and TPM2_PT_VENDOR_STRING_* These are built hierarchically with more parts for each GUID:

  • DELL-TPM-$FAMILY-$MANUFACTURER-$VENDOR_STRING_1
  • DELL-TPM-$FAMILY-$MANUFACTURER-$VENDOR_STRING_1$VENDOR_STRING_2
  • DELL-TPM-$FAMILY-$MANUFACTURER-$VENDOR_STRING_1$VENDOR_STRING_2$VENDOR_STRING_3
  • DELL-TPM-$FAMILY-$MANUFACTURER-$VENDOR_STRING_1$VENDOR_STRING_2$VENDOR_STRING_3$VENDOR_STRING_4

If there are non-ASCII values in any vendor string or any vendor is missing that octet will be skipped.

Example resultant GUIDs from a real system containing a TPM from Nuvoton:

  Guid:                 7d65b10b-bb24-552d-ade5-590b3b278188 <- DELL-TPM-2.0-NTC-NPCT
  Guid:                 6f5ddd3a-8339-5b2a-b9a6-cf3b92f6c86d <- DELL-TPM-2.0-NTC-NPCT75x
  Guid:                 fe462d4a-e48f-5069-9172-47330fc5e838 <- DELL-TPM-2.0-NTC-NPCT75xrls

Vendor ID Security

The vendor ID is hardcoded to TPM:DELL.

Build Requirements

For Dell support you will need libsmbios_c version 2.4.0 or later.

If you don’t want or need this functionality you can use the -Dplugin_dell=disabled option.

Devices powered by the Dell Plugin

The Dell plugin creates device nodes for PC’s that have switchable TPMs as well as the Type-C docks (WD15/TB16).

These device nodes can be flashed using UEFI capsule but don’t use the ESRT table to communicate device status or version information.

This is intentional behavior because more complicated decisions need to be made on the OS side to determine if the devices should be offered to flash.

Switchable TPM Devices

Machines with switchable TPMs can operate in both TPM 1.2 and TPM 2.0 modes. Switching modes will require flashing an alternative firmware and clearing the contents of the TPM.

Machines that offer this functionality will display two devices in fwupdmgr get-devices output.

Example (from a Precision 5510):

Precision 5510 TPM 1.2
  Guid:                 b2088ba1-51ae-514e-8f0a-64756c6e4ffc
  DeviceID:             DELL-b2088ba1-51ae-514e-8f0a-64756c6e4ffclu
  Plugin:               dell
  Flags:                internal|allow-offline|require-ac
  Version:              5.81.0.0
  Created:              2016-07-19

Precision 5510 TPM 2.0
  Guid:                 475d9bbd-1b7a-554e-8ca7-54985174a962
  DeviceID:             DELL-475d9bbd-1b7a-554e-8ca7-54985174a962lu
  Plugin:               dell
  Flags:                internal|require-ac|locked
  Created:              2016-07-19

In this example, the TPM is currently operating in TPM 1.2 mode. Any firmware updates posted to LVFS for TPM 1.2 mode will be applied.

Switching TPM Modes

In order to be offered to switch the TPM to TPM 2.0 mode, the virtual device representing the TPM 2.0 mode will need to be unlocked.

# fwupdmgr unlock DELL-475d9bbd-1b7a-554e-8ca7-54985174a962lu

If the TPM is currently owned, an error will be displayed such as this one:

ERROR: Precision 5510 TPM 1.2 is currently OWNED. Ownership must be removed to switch modes.

TPM Ownership can be cleared from within the BIOS setup menus.

If the unlock process was successful, then the devices will be modified:

Precision 5510 TPM 1.2
  Guid:                 b2088ba1-51ae-514e-8f0a-64756c6e4ffc
  DeviceID:             DELL-b2088ba1-51ae-514e-8f0a-64756c6e4ffclu
  Plugin:               dell
  Flags:                internal|require-ac
  Version:              5.81.0.0
  Created:              2016-07-19

Precision 5510 TPM 2.0
  Guid:                 475d9bbd-1b7a-554e-8ca7-54985174a962
  DeviceID:             DELL-475d9bbd-1b7a-554e-8ca7-54985174a962lu
  Plugin:               dell
  Flags:                internal|allow-offline|require-ac
  Version:              0.0.0.0
  Created:              2016-07-19
  Modified:             2016-07-19

Now the firmware for TPM 2.0 mode can be pulled down from LVFS and flashed:

# fwupdmgr update

Upon the next reboot, the new TPM firmware will be flashed. If the firmware is not offered from LVFS, then switching modes may not work on this machine.

After updating the output from # fwupdmgr get-devices will reflect the new mode.

Precision 5510 TPM 2.0
  Guid:                 475d9bbd-1b7a-554e-8ca7-54985174a962
  DeviceID:             DELL-475d9bbd-1b7a-554e-8ca7-54985174a962lu
  Plugin:               dell
  Flags:                internal|allow-offline|require-ac
  Version:              1.3.0.1
  Created:              2016-07-20

Precision 5510 TPM 1.2
  Guid:                 b2088ba1-51ae-514e-8f0a-64756c6e4ffc
  DeviceID:             DELL-b2088ba1-51ae-514e-8f0a-64756c6e4ffclu
  Plugin:               dell
  Flags:                internal|require-ac|locked
  Created:              2016-07-20

Keep in mind that TPM 1.2 and TPM 2.0 will require different userspace tools.

Dock Devices

The TB16 and WD15 have a variety of updatable components. Each component will create a virtual device in # fwupdmgr get-devices

For example the WD15 will display these components:

Dell WD15 Port Controller 1
  Guid:                 8ba2b709-6f97-47fc-b7e7-6a87b578fe25
  DeviceID:             DELL-8ba2b709-6f97-47fc-b7e7-6a87b578fe25lu
  Plugin:               dell
  Flags:                allow-offline|require-ac
  Version:              0.1.1.8
  Created:              2016-07-19

Dell WD15
  Guid:                 e7ca1f36-bf73-4574-afe6-a4ccacabf479
  DeviceID:             DELL-e7ca1f36-bf73-4574-afe6-a4ccacabf479lu
  Plugin:               dell
  Flags:                allow-offline|require-ac
  Version:              0.0.0.67
  Created:              2016-07-19

Components that can be updated via UEFI capsule will have the allow-offline moniker applied.

These updates can be performed the standard method of using fwupdmgr update.

Some components are updatable via other plugins in fwupd such as multi stream transport hub (MST) and thunderbolt NVM.

External Interface Access

This plugin requires read/write access to /dev/wmi/dell-smbios and /sys/bus/platform/devices/dcdbas.