# Flash your Lenovo Ideapad laptop BIOS from Linux using UEFI capsule updates

DevFeed: [Flash your Lenovo Ideapad laptop BIOS from Linux using UEFI capsule updates](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/flash-your-lenovo-ideapad-laptop-bios-from-linux-using-uefi-capsule-updates-25880.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://bladecoder.medium.com/flash-your-lenovo-ideapad-laptop-bios-from-linux-using-uefi-capsule-updates-a82e455ea29c?source=rss-54910f05af37------2>)

Author: Christophe Beyls

Published: 2018-07-14T23:20:42Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [Stories by Christophe Beyls on Medium](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/stories-by-christophe-beyls-on-medium.md>)

Topics: [UEFI](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/uefi.md>), [Linux](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/linux.md>), [Embedded Software Dev](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/embedded-software-dev.md>), [Vulnerabilities](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/vulnerabilities.md>)

Tags: [bootloader](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/bootloader.md>), [firmware](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/firmware.md>), [firmware-update](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/firmware-update.md>), [laptop](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/laptop.md>), [lenovo](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/lenovo.md>), [linux](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/linux.md>), [uefi](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/uefi.md>), [vulnerabilities](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/vulnerabilities.md>)

## AI overview

This tutorial explains how to update the BIOS of a Lenovo Ideapad laptop from an existing Linux installation using UEFI Capsule Updates. It describes how some Lenovo Windows executables may contain a capsule update and outlines the requirements for the standard UEFI update mechanism, including booting Linux in UEFI mode with an EFI system partition.

## Source excerpt

I'm the happy owner of a Lenovo Ideapad laptop (model 710S-13IKB). It's comparable to the Dell XPS 13 and runs beautifully under Linux, but one detail has always been bugging me: Lenovo only provides BIOS updates for its Ideapad laptops in the form of Windows 10 executable files. System firmware updates are important, especially to mitigate newly found vulnerabilities like Meltdown and Spectre. Since I wiped Windows off my machine a long time ago, I was wondering if there was an alternative (and secure) way to flash firmware updates on it. And it turns out there is! After months of investigation, I found an elegant and stable update procedure which doesn't require Windows at all. It doesn't even need the creation of a bootable USB key: everything is done from the existing Linux installation. How is that possible? Let me introduce you to an interesting new feature of the UEFI specification. Different machines, different firmware updates Many latop brands like Dell or Asus provide firmware files that you can put on a USB key and flash from an update application located in the BIOS menu itself. Lenovo does not. Instead, they give you two options: For the higher-end ThinkPad series inherited from IBM, they provide bootable CD images that can be turned into bootable USB keys. That's another good OS-agnostic solution. For the Ideapad and Yoga series, you're stuck with a Windows executable file. The contents of this file and the actual flashing procedure varies depending on the BIOS/Firmware brand. If you have a modern machine with a Phoenix firmware, chances are that the Windows executable contains the update in the form of an UEFI Capsule Update. Capsule what? When a firmware is distributed in that form, the update program won't flash it directly under Windows. Instead, it will delegate the task to the standard UEFI update mechanism called Capsule Update. In practice, it will ask the operating system to copy an update file to the system partition then program the UEFI to