Introduction

PCs built with Intel® vPro™ Technology include many features and capabilities, some of which must be “turned on” in the BIOS.  A good starting point is to take an inventory to determine if your PCs support Intel vPro Technology.  After you have the inventory in hand, you will be able to plan how you are going to use each technology and come up with an action plan for activating the technology.

Remote Manageability: setup and configuration is required

Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT) is the manageability part of Intel vPro Technology, and allows IT staff to configure, diagnose, isolate, and repair an infected PC—even if it’s unresponsive. To use Intel AMT, it must first be setup and configured.

Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT) and Intel Trusted Execution Technology (Intel TXT): setup and configuration is optional

Intel® Core™ vPro™ processors help better manage applications and virtualization of centralized desktop images (Operating System and/or applications) through utilization of local PC resources and hardware-assisted virtualization technologies. These capabilities are activated and configured from the desktop virtualization application and the System BIOS.

Hardware-assisted Encryption: setup and configuration is not required

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric-key encryption standard adopted by the U.S. government, and as a result, is used by many ISVs to encrypt important data. Intel® AES New Instructions (Intel® AES-NI) helps accelerate encryption operations. Software that is Intel AES-NI aware will automatically detect if it is enabled in the Intel processor.

How To Find Intel vPro Systems

Listed below are four different methods to help detect Intel vPro Technology systems and the Intel AMT firmware versions.  You may need to try several methods to identify all the Intel vPro systems.  After you have identified a PC as Intel vPro capable using one method you do not need to test it using the other methods.

The simplest approach to finding most of the Intel vPro Technology systems is to look for the Intel® vPro™ badge.  This method works best when you have a small number of systems and you can easily inspect each one.  Make a note of the manufacturer and model for each PC with an Intel® vPro™ badge (it will say "vPro" somewhere on the badge).  Note, however, that systems that do not have the Intel vPro badge might still be Intel vPro Technology capable systems.

To get the Intel AMT version number: reboot the PC and enter your System BIOS.  The Intel AMT firmware version will be displayed in the BIOS in some systems.  If you don't see it in the System BIOS, try one of the following methods: look in the Intel Management and Security Status icon described in method 2; use a management console described in method 3; or use the Intel SCS 7 System Discovery tool described in method 4.

Some PCs might not have the Intel® vPro™ badge (for example, some "white box" PCs).  The simplest way to find Intel® vPro™ Technology PCs in a small office with a few PCs is to check each system for any one of the following software or firmware components:

• Look in the Intel Management Engine BIOS Extension or MEBx. The method used to enter the MEBx varies by OEM: on some systems you type Ctrl-P at the initial boot screen to enter the Intel MEBx, on others you need to enter the System BIOS, press F9, or press F10. The MEBx firmware will be on all Intel® vPro™ Technology PCs.  Note that some non-Intel vPro Technology PCs have the MEBx (for Standard Manageability support) so these systems should not be counted as Intel vPro capable systems (the first MEBx screen will have an option for "Intel(R) AMT Configuration" if it is an Intel vPro system with the Intel AMT manageability features turned on in the System BIOS).
  
• Look in the System BIOS. Some Intel vPro systems will display the Intel AMT firmware version (not present on all systems) on a BIOS setup page.  You might also look for the MEBx initialization message during the boot process (note that the Intel ME firmware version is not the same as the Intel AMT firmware version).
  
• Look for the Intel Management and Security Status Icon.  Look for this icon in the Windows* system tray--this icon may be hidden if it is unused, or absent on some systems. If you mouse over the icon it will say Intel Active Management Technology Status.  Click on the icon to open up the status application and view the Intel AMT version.  (This application is not available on Intel AMT 2.0 systems.  The application is not installed by default in Windows so it will not be present if the OS image does not have the application installed.  If you don't see the icon, check to see if he icon is hidden.)
  
• Look for the Intel Management Engine Interface driver.  Look in the Windows* Device Manager for the Intel ME device. (Note that some PCs may have the Intel ME and Intel MEI driver, but they are not Intel vPro Technology PCs, so this method is not always reliable.)
  
• Look for Windows* Services.  Look for the Intel Management & Security Application User Notification Service (not present on all systems), or Intel Management & Security Application Local Management Service in the Windows* Services applet.  In Windows* 7, right-click on Computer, choose Manage, then expand Services and Applications, choose Services.
  

If you are already using Microsoft* System Center Configuration Manager, LANDesk* Management Suite, or Symantec* Altiris Client Management Suite, then you can push the management software agent to the client and produce an inventory of all the PCs with Intel vPro Technology.

Step-by-step instructions for Microsoft* ConfigMgr

Step-by-step instructions for LANDesk* Management Suite

Step-by-step instructions for Symantec* Altiris CMS

The Intel SCS 7 System Discovery tool collects information about the Intel ME (the Intel Management Engine runs the Intel AMT firmware and other firmware) and puts that information in the Windows* registry. It is run on each client.  Users can then use standard IT tools or management consoles to collect this data from each client.

Step-by-step instructions for Intel SCS 7 System Discovery Tool