Operating system hardware configuration state specialization

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9846582-B2
Application number	US-201213612252-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 12, 2012
Priority date	Sep 12, 2012
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

In one or more embodiments, hardware configuration state data for specialization of a portable installation of an operating system may be stored on a per hardware configuration basis. Specializations may include designation of boot start drivers, driver settings, device settings, and other state data that may vary based on hardware configurations of different machines on which the portable operating system is loaded. In a pre-boot environment, an identity of the current computing device is resolved and used to look-up corresponding hardware configuration state data that is available. When booting of the operating system on a new computing device is detected, the operating system is loaded using default state settings. An optimization routine may then be performed to create and store hardware specific hardware configuration state data for the computing device that defines specializations for subsequent boots of the operating system on the computing device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method implemented by a computing device comprising:
initiating booting, on the computing device, a portable installation of an operating system configured to enable migration of the operating system to different computing devices;
ascertaining an identity corresponding to a particular hardware configuration of the computing device, the identity being suitable to identify the computing device and a particular combination of hardware resources with which the computing device is configured to result in the particular hardware configuration;
determining whether any records maintained at a datastore are associated with the ascertained identity, the records being generated on a per hardware configuration basis as different hardware configurations are encountered when the portable installation of the operating system is booted, each of the records having hardware configuration state data selected when a different hardware configuration is encountered during the booting to specialize the portable installation of the operating system for the different hardware configuration; and
when the ascertained identity is associated with one of the records, loading the portable installation of the operating system on the computing device with the hardware configuration state data of the associated record and selected when the particular hardware configuration was encountered.

2. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising loading the portable installation of the operating system with default boot start drivers when the ascertained identity is not associated with any of the records of the datastore.

3. The method as recited in claim 2 , wherein the records maintained at the datastore are each associated with an identity that is suitable to identify a respective computing device and hardware resource combination with which the respective computing device is configured.

4. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the portable installation of the operating system is obtained from storage separate from the computing device.

5. The method as recited in claim 4 , wherein the hardware configuration state data is stored in the datastore at the storage.

6. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the portable installation of the operating system is obtained from remote storage over a network.

7. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the hardware configuration state data for the particular hardware configuration designates a custom list of boot start drivers to pre-load when the operating system is booted with the particular hardware configuration.

8. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the hardware configuration state data for the particular hardware configuration designates driver configuration data to configure one or more drivers utilized for operation of the particular hardware configuration.

9. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the hardware configuration state data for the particular hardware configuration designates device settings to customize one or more of the hardware resources of the computing device according to the particular hardware configuration.

10. The method as recited in claim 1 , wherein the hardware configuration state data for the particular hardware configuration designates application settings to customize one or more applications according to the particular hardware configuration.

11. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising, when the ascertained identity is not associated with any of the records maintained at the datastore:
loading the portable implementation of the operating system using default state data;
performing an optimization routine to establish one or more specializations to apply for subsequent boots of the portable implementation of the operating system with the particular hardware configuration; and
generating a new record with hardware configuration state data that is selected for describing the established specializations in association with the ascertained identity.

12. The method as recited in claim 1 , further comprising:
detecting that the particular hardware configuration is a new hardware configuration that has not been previously encountered by the portable implementation of the operating system; and
generating a notification in response to the detection to notify one or more system components of the new hardware configuration to facilitate specializations by the one or more system components for subsequent boots of the portable implementation of the operating system on the computing device.

13. A method implemented by a computing device comprising:
launching a boot program for a computing device to load a portable implementation of an operating system supplied to the computing device from remote storage over a network;
deriving a hardware identifier for the computing device in connection with launching the boot program, the hardware identifier identifying a particular hardware configuration that corresponds to the computing device and a particular combination of hardware resources with which the computing device is configured;
determining whether any records maintained at the remote storage are associated with the derived hardware identifier, the records being generated on a per hardware configuration basis as different hardware configurations are newly encountered when the portable implementation of the operating system is loaded, each of the records having hardware configuration state data created when a different hardware configuration is newly encountered during the loading to specialize the portable implementation of the operating system for the different hardware configuration; and
responsive to a determination that one of the records is associated with the derived hardware identifier:
obtaining the hardware configuration state data of the one record from the remote storage; and
loading the portable implementation of the operating system with one or more specializations designated by the obtained hardware configuration state data.

14. The method as recited in claim 13 , further comprising, responsive to a determination that one of the records is not associated with the derived hardware identifier:
booting the portable implementation of the operating system using default state settings;
notifying one or more system components that a new hardware configuration is encountered to cause the one or more system components to designate specializations for subsequent boots of the portable implementation of the operating system on the computing device; and
creating the hardware configuration state data for the particular hardware configuration with the designated specializations to specialize the portable implementation of the operating system for the particular hardware configuration, the created hardware configuration state data added to a new record for storing at the remote storage.

15. The method as recited in claim 14 , wherein the notifying comprises writing the hardware identifier as a value for a designated parameter at a defined location from which the one or more system components are configured to look-up the hardware identifier to discover when the portable implementation of the operating system is booted on the different hardware configurations.

16. The method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the hardware configuration state data describes multiple different types of specializations including boot driver lists, driver configuration settings, and device settings.

17. A server computing device of a service provider, the server computing device comprising:
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Assignees

• Knichel Jason C
• Lenart Adam
• Cavalaris James G
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Knichel Jason C
• Lenart Adam
• Cavalaris James G

Classifications

• G06F9/4401 Primary

  Bootstrapping (security arrangements therefor G06F21/57) · CPC title