Retrieving BIOS Information

Microsoft® Windows® 2000 Scripting Guide

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The BIOS provides an interface between the operating system and the computer hardware; it also contains information regarding a computer and how it has been configured. The information contained in the BIOS is important both for identifying a computer and for determining the hardware that can be installed on it. In addition, the BIOS, which is located on a computer chip, supports peripheral equipment and manages internal services such as the computer date and time.

Besides the standard BIOS required by all computers, most computers also adhere to the System Management BIOS (SMBIOS) specification. The SMBIOS specification enables computer manufacturers and BIOS and software developers to provide support for managed systems. This specification includes standardized methods for querying the BIOS to retrieve information about items such as the number of processors installed on a computer, the amount and type of memory installed on a computer, and information about the BIOS used on a computer. BIOS information such as this does not compete with the information that can be returned using a scripting technology such as WMI; instead, the two complement one another. In fact, WMI can be used to return a number of key properties about the BIOS itself.

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