Neal’s Notes:  This may or may not work.  On Windows Server 2003, it did not report the right bios (or the one I was looking for) and the registry entry was blank.

(Taken from “How To Find the BIOS Version in the Windows Registry,” written by Tim Fisher)

1. Click on Start and then Run.
2. In the text box in the Run window, type msinfo32 and click OK. This will open the System Information program.
3. When System Information first opens, it defaults to the System Summary, a short list with some of the most important information about your computer system listed.
4. On the right side of the program, locate the BIOS Version/Date entry.
5. This field contains the BIOS version that is currently running on your motherboard. This field may also contain additional information such as the BIOS date, BIOS manufacturer, motherboard manufacturer and the motherboard model number.

   Note: If the BIOS date is shown, it can be useful in determining the current BIOS version from a motherboard manufacturer’s website if the version is not clear here.

6. Close System Information.

Try it from the Registry

Note: No changes are made to the registry in these steps.

1. Click on Start and then Run.
2. In the text box in the Run window, type regedit and click OK. This will open the Registry Editor program.Note: Do not make any changes to any entry anywhere in Registry Editor to avoid causing serious system issues. These steps only direct you to view a registry entry, not to make changes.
3. Locate the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder under My Computer and click on the (+) sign next the folder name to expand the folder.
4. In the resulting folders, locate and click on the (+) sign next to HARDWARE to expand this folder.
5. In the resulting folders, locate and click on the (+) sign next to DESCRIPTION to expand this folder.
6. In the resulting folders, locate and click on the System folder.
7. In the results that appear in the window on the right, locate the SystemBiosVersion and SystemBiosDate entries.
8. The data in the SystemBiosVersion field contains the BIOS version for your motherboard. This field may also contain additional information such as the chipset manufacturer and BIOS manufacturer.
9. The data in the SystemBiosDate field contains the calendar date associated with the current BIOS version on your motherboard. The BIOS date can be useful in determining the current BIOS version from a motherboard manufacturer’s website if the version is not clear in the SystemBiosVersion field.
10. Close Registry Editor without making any changes.

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