Intel MEI Do I need it?

Hazel123 · Jan 23, 2025

I did see something about that and I believe I read that some AMD’s do, yes. Something about Intel and AMD working together in some areas. I’ll see if I can find the info again.

According to this it's "an equivalent"

AMD's equivalent of the Intel Management Engine (ME) is based on ARM, I think. I... | Hacker News

news.ycombinator.com

Hazel123 · Jan 23, 2025

Interestingly, my 2012 Asus 10" netbook doesn't have Intel Management Engine Interface in the device manager and it has no yellow triangles either. That is on Windows 10, clean install recently and Windows found all the drivers. It doesn't have anything Intel at all in the device manager, and the wifi card is Broadcom.

hdmi · Jan 24, 2025

Hazel123 said:
Thank you. Yes I'm not particularly worried about it. I've used old netbooks with warning triangles and not bothered to instal the drivers and never had any issues! I knew what they were - it was usually an sd card reader or similar. If it worked I used it. But it's good to have an understanding of what this IMEI is - seeing as it seems it's on every computer virtually.

So drivers. I tried the May 2018 above but decided not to use it - it seemed to install some other Intel software as well. When removing it, Windows reverts it back to the 2015 driver. I tried the 2024 driver mentioned above from DriverPack (although was very apprehensive downloading a driver from a driver site rather than HP) and it seemed ok. I also had a 2023 driver suggested by someone on the HP forum - which was from an Elitebook. Computer didn't seem keen on this one. It didn't have any install dialogue and left the blue circle going round a lot. So uninstalled that again.

It seems better on the 2015 one provided by Windows update, so I guess I'll either just leave that installed or try leaving the 2024 one in and see how it goes.

After a bit of googling I found the 2024 driver is directly from Intel. Although not available to download from Intel (which I'd rather do than use Driverpack) because they seem to have a more recent version now.

So it's either the correct (ancient) one for the machine from HP or an Intel latest one.

I wasn't keen on the file name of the 2024 one from Driverpack - which was Intel-FORCED-HECI-10x64-2441.7.0.0. ie why does it have FORCED in caps in the name?

So that was 2441.7.0.0 - googling that told me it was Intel's own driver.

The latest one from Intel seems to be 2451.7.6.0

Intel® Management Engine Drivers for Windows® 10 and Windows® 11

Intel® Management Engine Drivers for Windows 10* and Windows 11*

www.intel.com

I found out that I was wrong when I told you that the latest one from Intel won't work on your Intel 5th Gen CPU. It will. This is because the .inf file in it does contain PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_9CBA (Hardware ID of the MEI for Intel 5th Gen CPUs).

It is a 1.4GB download. That's just because it also includes, among various other things, the Intel Converged Security and Management Engine (CSME) Software and the Intel Management and Security Status (MSS) Application. This software provides management features that the average home user typically doesn't need (similar to the Intel PROSet/Wireless Software that comes bundled with Intel Wi-Fi drivers).

I wouldn't disable this driver, for reasons that are similar to why I wouldn't choose to not have it installed. Windows still needs to communicate with the IME and the ME firmware like I earlier explained.

After you extract the contents of the Intel_R_ME_SW_2451.7.6.0.zip file to a folder, you can manually update the ME driver through Device Manager. When you get to where Device Manager asks you to choose the folder location, you can point it to the \Drivers\MEI\win10 subfolder of the folder where you have extracted the .zip file's contents, and be sure to check the Include subfolders checkbox.

Station-Drivers lists ME firmwares. The latest generic version of this firmware for the Intel 5th Gen (Broadwell) CPUs is here:

Intel Management Engine (ME) Firmware Version 10.0.47.1006 (1.5Mo)

Intel Management Engine Firmware

station-drivers.com

But it still won't fix any of the vulnerabilities that they hadn't identified yet until some time around the 2018-2024 period. The Version Detection Tool will tell you if it's vulnerable, and it also gives a link to an article that lists and describes these vulnerabilities.

Intel® Converged Security and Management Engine Version Detection Tool (Intel® CSMEVDT)

This download record contains a tool to determine if a system is impacted by recent Intel security advisories.

www.intel.com

Also, choosing to use a generic version of this firmware is generally not recommended, as ME firmwares can be customized by the manufacturer. (Oftentimes, it turns out that they are, therefore the generic versions might give unexpected results.)

hdmi · Jan 24, 2025

Hazel123 said:
The latest one from Intel seems to be 2451.7.6.0

Intel® Management Engine Drivers for Windows® 10 and Windows® 11

Intel® Management Engine Drivers for Windows 10* and Windows 11*

www.intel.com

As Arnold Schwarzenegger would say.

Do it. Do it nao!

SIW2 · Jan 24, 2025

From the Intel_R_ME_SW_2451.7.6.0.zip

2441.7.0.0

Hazel123 · Jan 24, 2025

SIW2 said:
From the Intel_R_ME_SW_2451.7.6.0.zip

2441.7.0.0

View attachment 123092

Sorry I don't understand what you mean in the post

The latest Intel one might not be the same PCI/VEN as my machine. The 2024 one I found is - and it works. Meanwhile I've left the 2015 one in and am tempted to leave that - or try the 2024 one - decisions decisions. By the way, is driverpack a safe place to obtain a driver from?

Also - why doesn't my 2012 10" Eee pc not have Intel MEI - and therefore not need a driver for it? Is it possible they didn't bother to put the IMEI into atom chips? It is potentially safer to use than the 2015 Spectre X360! Except it won't run Windows 11 adter 23H2. And is slow. But I did like having it as a fallback in emergencies. I feel sad I can't use Windows on it any more after Windows 10 end in October.

SIW2 · Jan 24, 2025

Didnt you say snappy already offered 2441.7.0.0

it is the same version in the massive zip file hdmi suggested.

Hazel123 · Jan 24, 2025

The one HDMI suggested was an HP one from 2018 (which installed as a 2017 driver). The one from driverpack 2441.7.00 shows as a 2024 driver when installed

Also the HP one from 2018/17 loaded additional Intel software with it, which I didn't want - maybe that was releveant for the newer spectre?

Marie SWE · Jan 24, 2025

I remember this CVE discussion on a privacy forum as they was worried about backdoors.

when it comes to CVE's read what conditions is required to actually be able exploit the vulnerability's.
Local access.. do you have people with direct access to your device and network.. do you have a router with open ports and a static public IP or are you behind a CG-NAT etc. etc..
always evaluate the threat levels before you go in to panic-patching mode.

SIW2 · Jan 24, 2025

You are making a mountain out of it

this is the heci from Intel_R_ME_SW_2451.7.6.0.zip

it is 2441.7.00.

hdmi · Jan 25, 2025

Hazel123 said:
The latest Intel one might not be the same PCI/VEN as my machine.

For 5th Gen Intel CPUs (codenamed Broadwell, and that include an on-package Wildcat Point-LP family chipset) the Hardware ID of the ME is always PCI\VEN_8086&DEV_9CBA.

@SIW2 is right, though. The latest driver version is still just 2441.7.0.0 regardless of the 2024 driver date. So, various other stuff [that you don't need to install, as you don't need any of the software bundle's features] in the 1.4GB download package got updated (to 2451.7.6.0), but the actual driver itself has remained the same.

Hazel123 · Jan 25, 2025

Thank you. That is odd that a 2017 driver and a 2024 driver would be the same version 2441.7.0.0. The first one showed up in device manager properties as 2017 and the 2024 one showed up in device manager as 2024.

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