Minisforum MS-01 BIOS

[the-last-englishman]

I requested the BIOS from Minisforum for the MS-01 due to an infosec requirement before being allowed to put one of my MS-01 into production.

Anyway, thought it would be usefull to share here in case any of you bios modders want to tinker with it or do some analysis.

This is the 1.17 version which is the 1st bios release for this board:

Vendor	American Megatrends International, LLC.
Version	AHWSA.1.17
Release date	12/14/2023

Name: AHWSA.1.17.bin
Size: 33554432 bytes (32 MiB)
SHA256: 89014ddabee40be51aec9e1c8a08a26464790f1c3cba3bfbaa832463f538be96

AHWSA.1.17.bin

drive.google.com

Some tools for bios modding available here:

Releases · LongSoft/UEFITool (github.com)

 

[wadup]

Nice did you flash and removed CVE?

 

[Fazio]

It's not public yet, any changelog available besides the CVE fix?

 

[FingerBlaster]

I did poke around and take a look at the bios, I haven't reflashed a modified version yet though. There are a lot of hidden options. I was particularly looking for bifurcation on the PCIE slot but I could not find it. Pretty sure it's just not supported on this mobile CPU.

 

[the-last-englishman]

It's not public yet, any changelog available besides the CVE fix?

This is the current bios that the units are getting delivered with from the factory, its not a new one.

 

[the-last-englishman]

I did poke around and take a look at the bios, I haven't reflashed a modified version yet though. There are a lot of hidden options. I was particularly looking for bifurcation on the PCIE slot but I could not find it. Pretty sure it's just not supported on this mobile CPU.

What are you using to look at the bios, this is new territory for me....

 

[stich86]

Interesting
Can you share some more information on how to mod it and enable hidden settings?

Stock bios is very poor..

 

[the-last-englishman]

Attached is .json with all available bios options: data.json
json file came from extracting blobs from bios in OP and converting to .json here: UEFI Editor (boringboredom.github.io)
Best way to check hidden bios settings is to upload the json to UEFI editor and search:

 

[stich86]

Bifurcation is not working on this platform, it was confirmed by @JaxJiang on another forum.

 

[the-last-englishman]

Bifurcation is not working on this platform, it was confirmed by @JaxJiang on another forum.

Yep, thats cpu limitation, but memory overclocking and undervolting could be a possibility

 

[FingerBlaster]

Yep, thats cpu limitation, but memory overclocking and undervolting could be a possibility

Looks like you used the same resources as me. Xmp may be possible along with some other stuff. Sadly the 13900h is locked and we can't try undervolting the cpu.

 

[FingerBlaster]

"Power Limit 1 Time Window" may be interesting to modify...

 

[simonbohn]

How do you get into the normal bios rather than the graphical one, it's very limited. I have turned off the fast boot so see the AMI bios screen but it still enters the graphical version and I want the normal version.

 

[FreakyBigFoot]

How do you get into the normal bios rather than the graphical one, it's very limited. I have turned off the fast boot so see the AMI bios screen but it still enters the graphical version and I want the normal version.

Are you sure there's anything else? Pretty sure that's just the bios. They're meant to be simple.

 

[spuwho]

On most MinisForum mini PC's you can reach the advanced BIOS menu simply by hitting Alt-F5, Save, Exit and reboot.

The advanced options then appear when you re-enter the settings.

 

[wadup]

On most MinisForum mini PC's you can reach the advanced BIOS menu simply by hitting Alt-F5, Save, Exit and reboot.

The advanced options then appear when you re-enter the settings.

Not working for me

 

[jcbdmd]

Looks like yours was the bare bones version, does anyone know if you have the windows 11 version if the CD key is stored in the UEFI bios? For example if you do a bare metal proxmox install, would a later windows installation on bare metal (or *crossing my fingers* in VM install) still be able to validate with the stored CD key from the bios?

 

[jcbdmd]

Q: Win10Pro VM Guest install / "Bios" Activation key?

Hi, a 'fun' question I wonder if anyone has experience with. I'm setting up a small 'lenovo mid-level workstation' as a small on-prem server for a client. They need 2 x small VMs, one will be a linux ClearOS "NAS Fileserver" and the second will be Win10Pro for running Sage Simply Accounting...

forum.proxmox.com

Found this thread which paints a rather "complicated" picture, does anyone know if the process is easier with windows 11? Specifically on the MS-01.

I really don't need a Windows 11 Home VM right now, but since one came with the server, I was hoping to play around with it.

 

[garbinc]

Have they updated the bios at all?
I keep asking for a bios and mention Linux then they just don’t provide anything, just say “we do not support Linux”‍

The 10G X710s are not usable, I tried in bond and not bonded, there’s no stability it just stops working properly

 

[Whatever]

I keep asking for a bios and mention Linux then they just don’t provide anything, just say “we do not support Linux”‍

Someone should tell them to update their European website then.

System compatibility: Windows 11 / Linux