can often enter the UEFI shell by entering the system firmware settings, and then selecting the shell as a boot option (as opposed to a DVD drive or hard drive). From Unix For Linux, FreeBSD, etc., the dmidecode utility can be used. From Windows Microsoft specifies WMI as the preferred mechanism for accessing SMBIOS information from Microsoft Windows. On Windows systems that support it (XP and later), some SMBIOS information can be viewed with either the WMIC utility with 'BIOS'/'MEMORYCHIP'/'BASEBOARD' and similar parameters, or by looking in the Windows Registry under HKLM\HARDWARE\DESCRIPTION\System. Various software utilities can retrieve raw SMBIOS data, including FirmwareTablesView and AIDA64. Generating SMBIOS data Table and structure creation is normally up to the system firmware/BIOS. The UEFI Platform Initialization (PI) specification includes an SMBIOS protocol (EFI_SMBIOS_PROTOCOL) that allows components to submit SMBIOS structures for inclusion, and enables the producer to create the SMBIOS table for a platform. Platform virtualization software can also generate SMBIOS tables for use inside VMs, for instance QEMU. If the SMBIOS data is not generated and filled correctly then the machine may behave unexpectedly. For example, a Mini PC that advertises Chassis Information | Type = Tablet may behave unexpectedly using Linux. A desktop manager like GNOME will attempt to monitor a non-existent battery and shut down the screen and network interfaces when the missing battery drops below a threshold. Additionally, if the Chassis Information | Manufacturer is not filled in correctly then work-arounds for the incorrect Type = Tablet problem cannot be applied. See also Web-Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) References External links SMBIOS Demystified, August 1, 2006, by Kiran Sanjeeva DMTF standards BIOS Computer hardware standards