System and method for retrieving wireless access point credentials from a BIOS NVRAM

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9846640-B2
Application number	US-201514693233-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 22, 2015
Priority date	Apr 22, 2015
Publication date	Dec 19, 2017
Grant date	Dec 19, 2017

Abstract

A wireless access point profile is retrieved from a basic input output system (BIOS) non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM). The wireless access point profile is provided to a wireless local area network controller.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving a system event notification corresponding to a change in configuration of a wireless local area network controller at an information handling system;
requesting a wireless access point profile from the wireless local area network controller in response to receiving the system event notification, the profile including a wireless access point identifier and the wireless access point credentials;
storing the wireless access point profile at a basic input output system (BIOS) non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM);
reinstalling an operating system at the information handling system:
retrieving the wireless access point profile from the BIOS NVRAM in response to initiating a first boot of the reinstalled operating system; and
providing the wireless access point profile to the wireless local area network controller, the wireless access point profile to enable access to network resources via the wireless local area network controller.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising requesting notification of when the wireless access point profile at the wireless local area network controller is modified.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless access point profile includes a network security encryption key.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the BIOS NVRAM is the primary device for storing boot firmware at an information handling system.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising retrieving the wireless access point profile in response to determining the profile is no longer stored at a data storage device that contains the primary operating system installation.

6. A system comprising:
a wireless local area network controller; and
a non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM) for storing a basic input output system (BIOS), the BIOS including instructions to:
receive a system event notification corresponding to a change in configuration of the wireless local area network controller;
request a wireless access point profile from the wireless local area network controller in response to receiving the system event notification, the profile including a wireless access point identifier and the wireless access point credentials;
store the wireless access point profile at the BIOS NVRAM;
identify a failure to load a primary operating system;
initiate a boot into a recovery operating system environment in response to identifying the failure:
retrieve the wireless access point profile from the BIOS NVRAM in response to initiating the boot into the recovery operating system environment; and
provide the wireless access point profile to the wireless local area network controller, the wireless access point profile to enable the system to access network resources via the wireless access point.

7. The system of claim 6 , further comprising instructions to request notification of when the wireless access point profile at the wireless local area network controller is modified.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the wireless access point profile includes a network security encryption key.

9. The system of claim 6 , wherein the BIOS NVRAM is the primary device for storing boot firmware at an information handling system.

10. A non-transitory data storage medium storing instructions executable by a processor at an information handling system to cause the processor to:
receive a system event notification corresponding to a change in configuration of a wireless local area network controller at the information handling system;
request the wireless access point profile from the wireless local area network controller in response to receiving the system event notification, the profile including a wireless access point identifier and the wireless access point credentials;
store the wireless access point profile at a basic input output system (BIOS) non-volatile random-access memory (NVRAM);
reinstall an operating system at the information handling system;
retrieve the wireless access point profile from the BIOS NVRAM in response to initiating a first boot of the reinstalled operating system; and
provide the wireless access point profile to a wireless local area network controller, the wireless access point profile to enable the information handling system to access network resources via the wireless local area network controller.

11. The storage medium of claim 10 , wherein the BIOS NVRAM is the primary device for storing boot firmware at an information handling system.

Assignees

• Dell Products Lp

Inventors

• Boyapalle Anantha
• Lo Yuan-Chang
• Swierk Todd E
• Andrews Carlton A

Classifications

• G06F9/4401 Primary

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

• G06F9/44505

  Configuring for program initiating, e.g. using registry, configuration files · CPC title

• G06F11/1417

  Boot up procedures · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title

• G06F2212/202

  Non-volatile memory · CPC title