Network Connectivity — How do I turn the Intel® Boot Agent off or prevent it from running?

Network Connectivity

How do I turn the Intel® Boot Agent off or prevent it from running?

To prevent the Intel® Boot Agent from initializing, turn it off using the Intel® Ethernet Flash Firmware Utility (BootUtil.exe) and the DOS command line for flash disable (BOOTUTIL -FD).

Download the Intel® Ethernet Flash Firmware Utility (includes BootUtil.exe).

Notes

These instructions apply to adapters plugged into a PCI, PCI-x, or PCI Express* connection.

For network interfaces built into the main board, Intel Boot Agent is embedded into the computer BIOS. In these instances, the Boot Agent upgrades must be obtained from your system vendor as part of a BIOS upgrade.

BootUtil.exe requires DOS, it does not run in Windows*. If you run BootUtil in Windows* a command window launches temporarily and then closes. If you run BootUtil inside of a command prompt in Windows you will get an error message.

How Intel® Boot Agent works
The host computer recognizes Intel® Boot Agent as a boot device. The BIOS inserts the Boot Agent into the list of boot devices. When the Boot Agent is ahead of any other bootable device in the list, it executes and tries to boot the computer.

To prevent the Boot Agent from executing, enter your systems BIOS configuration and find the boot device order settings. Move the boot agent down the list after the hard drive or the device you prefer to boot from.

Intel® Boot Agent settings
Intel® Boot Agent initializes during the system startup, even if it is not the first boot device. Once the initialization screen displays, press Control-S to configure the Boot Agent's settings.

Intel® Boot Agent is enabled by default on desktop adapters and disabled by default on server adapters. For server adapters, use the BOOTUTIL utility with the command line BOOTUTIL -FE to enable Intel® Boot Agent.

If you are not booting from the network, disable Intel® Boot Agent to speed up booting your computer.

Related Topics
Intel® Ethernet Connections Boot Utility includes the Intel® Boot Agent User Guide and BOOTUTIL.
Is your PXE Boot failing with an E74 error?
How do I troubleshoot PXE boot with a network protocol analyzer?
Download the Intel® Ethernet Flash Firmware Utility (includes BootUtil.exe)

Operating System:

OS Independent

Solution ID: CS-008018
Last Modified: 14-Feb-2013
Date Created: 22-Dec-2003