[sf-lug] Best way to install a .exe firmware updater

[Michael Paoli]

Not that it's at all best solution, however ...
I did some years back, temporarily set up a VM
running some Microsoft Windows, atop a physical host that was
running Linux ... and without all the license key issues
and such, ... though it was temporary time limited eval (and
of course with various restrictive terms, etc.)
At the time - and as far as I know it's still out there -
http://modern.ie/
May be bit different (/update?) now, but site (or redirects to),
where Microsoft provides virtual images for running as VM,
of current Microsoft browser (then IE, dear knows what currently),
but notably, it includes current Microsoft Operating system (limited
eval).  And I had no problem using/converting format of the image
to launch it under qemu-kvm (after of which I of course was lots of
ughly Microsoft stuff, and promptly tore it all down - but most was
and exercise to see that it worked - and yes it did ... well, for certain
definitions of worked (as well as it would on hardware, anyway)).

So ... that could well be means to run .exe, and under read Microsoft
Operating system.

But alas, if the .exe is expecting to talk to real hardware (e.g. firmware
upgrade), that method might be useless for that purpose ... unless maybe
running the .exe then at least gives one an easy way to extract it.
Some .exe files also, are self-extracting ZIP files - in which case sometimes
ZIP utilities (e.g. unzip) can be used to extract the contents.

I also seem to recall bumping into various info about extracting firmware and
other blobs from .exe firmware updaters ... but methods, etc. might vary
depending who packed it up and how, and I don't recall the specific methods
or where exactly I found that.  Sometimes support forums may be useful, e.g.
<manufacturer>-->Linux-->firmware - sometimes the question will have been
asked there many many times, even answered many many times, ... and hopefully
with at least one of those answers being correct, and still currently
applicable.


> From: "Akkana Peck" <akkana at shallowsky.com>
> Subject: [sf-lug] Best way to install a .exe firmware updater
> Date: Thu, 21 Nov 2019 15:00:01 -0700

> So, I've had my new laptop for a month. Back in July, Rick mentioned
> the Lenovo Carbon X1, and although it was a hair bigger than the 13"
> models I'd been considering, the weight and features sucked me in.
> The Gen 7 is a great Linux laptop, with only a couple of problems:
> in particular, a glitchy trackpad addressed by a firmware update
> that Lenovo only distributes as a .exe.
>
> (Before you say it, Rick: Yes, I knew buying the current generation
> had a risk of some as-yet unknown hardware issues. I took that risk
> knowingly because of much better features/price, and in the hope
> there would eventually be fixes for any Gen 7 specific problems.)
>
> Things I've tried: I've managed to boot from Win PE, Windows 10
> Installer and Windows 10 Recovery, but none of them can run the
> firmware updater (which claims to be 64-bit, but I don't know how to
> confirm that). I've seen references to "Win to Go" sticks but people
> are vague on how they create them. I tried using qemu to install Win
> 10 onto a USB stick, but after 3 hours the install ended up in an
> infinite reboot loop. I also tried Rufus (in Windows in Virtualbox)
> but it errors out partway through without a clear error message.
>
> Has anybody here found a solution for running 64-bit .exes on a
> machine that doesn't have a Windows boot installed?
>
>         ...Akkana
>
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