↓ Skip to main content
STAY REAL
STAY REAL
  1. Archive/

How to update InsydeH2O BIOS with pure Linux

·3 mins· · · #Linux #Idea

I am not a native English speaker; this article was translated by Gemini.

As a long-time Linux enthusiast, I usually install a Linux distro as soon as I get a new laptop. That makes the preinstalled Windows almost useless, but I still couldn’t delete it — I needed it to run vendor BIOS updaters. Keeping a ~100GB Windows partition just for the occasional BIOS update is pretty annoying. Sure, something like Windows To Go exists, but that doesn’t really change the situation: you’re still relying on Windows.

Right before the end of 2024, I came across someone mentioning a pure-Linux BIOS update workflow on Twitter: https://x.com/felixonmars/status/1876646199207604351

It was only a few lines, but it lit the tinkering fire in my head: this might work — let’s do it.

All my laptops are Lenovo ThinkBooks. I started with one machine at home (A). Specs:

OS: Ubuntu oracular 24.10 x86_64
Host: 21D0 (ThinkBook 14 G4+ ARA)
Kernel: Linux 6.12.9-bigv
Uptime: 1 day, 53 mins
Packages: 2800 (dpkg), 7 (flatpak)
Shell: zsh 5.9
Display (AUOC391): 2880x1800 @ 90 Hz in 14"
DE: GNOME
WM: Mutter (X11)
WM Theme: Yaru
Theme: Yaru [GTK2/3/4]
Icons: Yaru [GTK2/3/4]
Font: Cantarell (11pt) [GTK2/3/4]
Cursor: DMZ-White (48px)
Terminal: tmux 3.4
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 6800H (16) @ 4.79 GHz
GPU: AMD Radeon 680M [Integrated]
Memory: 12.95 GiB / 29.55 GiB (44%)
Swap: 5.25 MiB / 32.00 GiB (0%)
Disk (/): 312.72 GiB / 414.32 GiB (75%) - btrfs
Local IP (wlan0): 192.168.31.157/24
Battery (AP16L5J): 77% [AC Connected]
Locale: en_US.UTF-8
  1. Download Framework’s UEFI Shell flashing tool. We only need H2OFFT-Sx64.efi. Save it to /boot/efi: https://downloads.frame.work/bios/Framework_Laptop_13_13th_Gen_Intel_Core_BIOS__3.05_EFI.zip
  2. Download UEFI Shell. Save shellx64.efi to /boot/efi: https://github.com/pbatard/UEFI-Shell/releases/tag/24H2
  3. Download the BIOS updater for your exact laptop model from Lenovo’s driver page. It’s usually named something like j6cn50ww.exe.
  4. Try extracting the exe with 7z: 7z e j6cn50ww.exe. You may see output like: Comments: This installation was built with Inno Setup.
  5. Use innoextract to unpack it: innoextract -e j6cn50ww.exe. You’ll get a new exe — mine was J6CN50WW.exe.
  6. Extract again with 7z: 7z e J6CN50WW.exe. This time you should get the actual BIOS firmware, WinJ6CN50WW.fd.
  7. Save WinJ6CN50WW.fd to /boot/efi.
  8. Add a UEFI Shell boot entry. Edit /etc/grub.d/40_custom, paste the following, then run sudo update-grub: 
    menuentry "UEFI Shell" {
    insmod part_gpt
    insmod chain
    set root='(hd0,gpt1)'
    chainloader /shellx64.efi
}
  9. Reboot into UEFI Shell. Type FS0: and press Enter to switch to the EFI partition, then run H2OFFT-Sx64.efi WinJ6CN50WW.fd and press Enter.
  10. You should see the familiar BIOS flashing UI. Wait for it to complete.

Finally, I can throw the bundled Windows partition into the trash ✌️

Note: For some newer Lenovo models, 7z may be able to extract the BIOS firmware directly — usually named xxx.bin — so innoextract is not required. Also, 7z isn’t mandatory either. You can use any tool that can unpack an exe (for example bsdtar).

NOTE: I am not responsible for any expired content.
Created at: 2025-01-12T16:58:10+08:00
Updated at: 2025-01-12T17:04:21+08:00
Origin issue: https://github.com/ferstar/blog/issues/83

Related