Google/HP Pavilion Chromebook 14 (butterfly) If ME firmware is absent, the computer freezes about 30min after boot.The firmware can be completely removed in a way that keeps the computer functional.Controls the computer's original networking adapters.Has access to the computer's memory/RAM.Disabled: No Ethernet controller firmware.Inside the Ethernet controller, disabled: no Ethernet controller firmware.This tries to summarize in tables what is known about specific Management Engine versions, or computers. While some information is specific to specific Management Engine versions, some other is specific to specific laptop models (and potentially revisions of variant of a given model). In addition to that, the number of research publications on the Management Engine are very small, and typically apply to a given Management Engine version.Īs hardware we are interested in spans over more than a decade, and that work to make computers fully free can potentially take years, we also need to categorize on which Management Engine version it applies to. For instance the CPU architecture, the OS used in it, etc changed over time. The Management Engine also has extensive access to the hardware, and has some drivers or code to control some of the hardware, including various network interfaces, RAM, display, etc.Ĭompilation of information on ME versionsĪs the management engine evolved over time, many things changed.Depending on the configuration, it can enable system administrators having configured it to remote control computers.It's designed to remove users control over their computers.That code is signed and required for booting the computer on recent computers.See the on the management engine on the FSF website for some background on why it is an attack on users freedom. 4.4 When code on the Management Engine is strictly required to boot.4.3 Removing the ME partition on post-GM45.

4.1 Removing the ME partition on platforms earlier than GM45.4 Research on removing the Management Engine OS.3 Reducing harm without fixing the issue.2 Compilation of information on ME versions.

Management engine