Help to enable AMT on Dell Optiplex 7020 Micro MFF Plus

[focapetulante]

Hello everyone,

I received an OptiPlex 7020 Micro Plus from my workplace. It was supposed to have a faulty CPU, but I discovered the issue was just the RAM. After replacing the RAM, the system is working perfectly.

However, I’ve found that Intel AMT is disabled. The chassis has a sticker that says “3-disabled”, which seems to confirm this. The BIOS/UEFI has no options to enable it. My goal is to enable Intel AMT/vPro on this machine.

Found a topic here in the forum for another model, 7010, and the board and situation seems like the same.

Dell Optiplex 7010 Micro 13Th Gen (2024) Intel AMT enable

Its not surprise at all… this is a branded OEM system and a lot of them have SPI access locked for preventing firmware modifications/security. So this forces lot of users to try the CH341A programmer or similar. Some ICs, even have to be de-soldered for reading/programming. Your not the first with this situation and definitely not the last one… Here’s an identical situation like yours on a Dell 7080 EDIT: I don’t need any dumps as i do not intend to lose my time with these or any other simi…

Here is a summary of my hardware and what I have tried so far:

System Information:

• Model: Dell OptiPlex 7020 Micro MFF PLUS (2024/2025 model)
• CPU: Intel Core i5-14500T (vPro capable)
• SPI Chip 1: Winbond W25Q128JV (16MB / 128Mbit)
• SPI Chip 2: Winbond W25R256JV (32MB / 256Mbit)

Troubleshooting Steps & Findings:

1. I’m using a CH341A programmer to read the firmware.
2. I was able to successfully dump the 16MB (W25Q128JV) chip. Made 3 dumps, they all seems valid and match each other.
3. I was unable to dump the 32MB (W25R256JV) chip. The programmer only reads empty FF bytes, which I believe is due to a connection issue because my connector isnt a wson8 probe.
4. Here is where it gets confusing:

• When I loaded my 16MB dump into the Intel Flash Image Tool (FIT), it decomposed the image successfully, showing all the ME regions.
• However, a different analysis tool initially gave me a size error on this same dump (expected 0x3000000 not 0x1000000), suggesting the firmware was incomplete.

5. Based on advice I found from forum user “lfb6” regarding this specific model, it seems Dell is using a separated firmware architecture:

• The 16MB chip holds the Flash Descriptor (FD) and the Management Engine (ME) regions.
• The 32MB chip holds only the BIOS region.

This would explain why MFIT could read my 16MB dump successfully, and also why I should not need to touch the 32MB chip to enable AMT.

My Question:

Given this situation, it seems I only need to work with my 16MB dump from the W25Q128JV chip. Is the standard “CSME Clean-up Guide” the correct procedure to follow to enable AMT in this case? I want to be absolutely sure before I flash anything back.

I cant up my 16MB dump because im a new user.

Thank you for your time and expertise!

[MeatWar]

@focapetulante

Is the standard “CSME Clean-up Guide” the correct procedure to follow to enable AMT in this case?

Not enterely his purpose…

You shoul take guidance from these 2 threads:
Enable KVM AMT on Dell 7060 - it’s gone a bit wrong - Special Topics / Intel Management Engine - Win-Raid Forum

[Solved] 7090MFF active intel AMT(Vpro) intel FIT error - BIOS/UEFI Modding / BIOS Modding Guides and Problems - Win-Raid Forum