Intel® Technology Access (Intel® TA) Software v1.2.0.1005

Intel Confidential

Revision

Acronyms

1. Introduction

Intel® Technology Access (Intel® TA) is a framework that exposes platform technologies to applications using Web Services. Intel TA provides applications direct access (as supported) to platform technologies, on supported devices, and across devices using a web service API (which is implemented using REST API).

By providing a uniform solution to access platform technologies, Intel TA allows developers/OEMS to improve efficiency and deliver a consistent experience to end users irrespective of the underlying computing environments (OS or browser or runtime).

By using Intel TA, applications can access the platform technologies/capabilities through four channels. The different channels are:

• Filter driver channel: A software driver component that connects applications to Intel's platform technologies
• ME channel: A firmware component that connects the applications to the platform technologies
• Cloud channel: A collection of cloud based services that connects the applications to the platform technologies

This guide describes how to install and configure Intel Technology Access software on Microsoft Windows* 8.1 for the filter driver channel, the TAP driver and ME channel.

Note: Please refer to the Intel Technology Access SDK for developing applications using Intel TA.

2. System Requirements

The Intel Technology Access software has the following requirements:

• Any Intel® Atom™ processor or 4th gen Intel® Core™ processor- based 2 in 1 system
• OS:
  • Microsoft Windows* 7 (x86, x64)
  • Microsoft Windows* 8 (x86, x64)
  • Microsoft Windows* 8.1 (x86, x64)

Note: For detailed requirements specific to Intel TA installation and configuration with ME channel, please refer to section 6.1.

3. Release Kit

4. Installing Intel Technology Access Software

Important note: OEMs who will be pre-loading Intel TA on their systems, must use the ME channel. Please refer to Appendix A in section 6 to install exclusively the ME channel.

This section describes how to install and verify the proper installation of the Intel Technology Access (Intel TA) software with filter and TAP drivers.

Note: Please ensure to close all applications before starting the installation process.

1. Download the Intel TA kit.
2. Run Intel_Technology_Access_Software_1.2.0.1005.exe
3. The Intel® TA Welcome screen will be displayed.  Click Next.

4. If you agree with the terms, accept the license conditions. On the next screen select the destination folder or choose the default as shown below and click Next.

5. The installer will list the software components that will be installed. In addition to the Intel TA software, the installer will install the Intel TA Filter Driver, Intel TA TAP Driver, Intel® Update Manager (if not present) and Microsoft Visual C++* Redistributable as shown below. To proceed click Next.

6. As part of the installation, a system restore point is created. Once the installation is complete, the following dialog displays:

5. Verifying the Installation of Intel Technology Access Software Components

5.1 Verifying Intel TA

In order to verify that Intel Technology Access (Intel TA) is installed on your system, launch Control Panel. Navigate to Control Panel -> Programs -> Uninstall. The Intel® TA software will be listed as illustrated below:

5.2 Verifying Intel TA service

In order to verify that the Intel Technology Access (Intel TA) service is running, access Windows Services by navigating to Control Panel -> System and Security -> Administrative Tools -> Services. A service labeled Intel Technology Access Service should be running, as illustrated below:

5.3 Verifying Intel TA filter driver

In order to verify that the Intel Technology Access (Intel TA) filter driver is present and detected, navigate to Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapter settings.  Choose and right-click on one of the network connections (either Wi-Fi or LAN) and select Properties.  In the Properties window, you should see Intel TA filter driver listed as shown below:

5.4 Verifying Intel TA TAP driver

1. The TAP driver is enabled when the following preconditions are met:
   • The TAP driver is installed (the installer option /notap was not used during Intel TA installation process)
   • No active network connection available

   In order to verify that the Intel Technology Access (Intel TA) TAP driver is detected and active, navigate to Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapter settings. Verify that the TAP driver network displays as connected.

2. If a network connection is detected, the Intel Technology Access (Intel TA) TAP driver will be disabled. In order to verify that the TAP driver is disabled, navigate to Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapter settings. Verify that a red ‘x’ displays next to the TAP driver icon.

6. Appendix A (for OEMs only)

This section describes how to install, configure Intel Technology Access (Intel TA) software with ME channel. This involves enabling Intel® Network Frame Forwarder (Intel® NFF) for Intel® ME firmware version 10.0.30.1060, installing Intel ME components which are required for Intel TA software with ME channel.

6.1 Prerequisites

1. Platform: Intel® Core™ M Processors U/Y series
2. The platform is equipped with one or more SPI Flash devices with a total capacity sufficient for storing all relevant firmware images.
3. Intel TA requires that USB-r be enabled in BIOS. This is automatically supported when BIOS has XHCI enabled.
4. The Intel ME firmware kit 10.0.30.1060 can be downloaded from Intel's Validation Internet Portal (VIP) at https://platformsw.intel.com.

6.2 Enabling Intel® Network Frame Forwarder (Intel® NFF)

By default the Intel NFF is not enabled in the firmware image. This can be enabled by using the Intel® Flash Image Tool (Intel® FIT). The Intel FIT will be used to generate a SPI Flash binary image with Descriptor, GbE, BIOS, and Intel ME regions. Please note that Intel FIT may be updated throughout the release cycles. As a general rule, please ensure that you use the tools, images, and other content from the same kit and refrain from mixing different versions of these tools.

1. Download the Intel® ME firmware release 10.0.30.1060 from VIP.
2. Navigate to [root]\Tools\System Tools\Flash Image Tool.
3. Make sure the Intel FIT XML file contains the hidden flags used for enabling Intel NFF.
   • Open “newfiletmpl.xml” using a text editor.
   • In the above file search for the “FeaturesSupported” section.
   • Verify that it contains the following two lines (if not add them).
     • <NffPerm value="No" value_list="No,,Yes" edit="true" visible="true" name="Network Frame Forwarder Permanently Disabled?" help_text="Select whether Intel (R) Network Frame Forwarder is permanently disabled."/>
     • <NffShipState value="Enabled" value_list="Enabled,,Disabled" edit="true" visible="true" name="Network Frame Forwarder Enable/Disable" help_text="Select whether or not Intel(R) Network Frame Forwarder is enabled or disabled."/>
4. Invoke Intel® Flash Image Tool “fitc.exe”.
5. Open the binary file. Note: change the file filter from “XML Files (*.xml)” to “Binary Files (*.bin)”.
6. Navigate to Flash Image -> ME Region -> Configuration -> Features Supported as illustrated below:
   
7. Enable the feature by clicking “Intel® Network Frame Forwarder Enable/Disable” and then select “Enabled”. This is illustrated in the below figure:
   

    

8. Next step is to build the modified firmware image. In the main menu select “Build | Build Image” and confirm any pop-up messages. Note that the modified firmware image will be created in the same directory as the Intel® Flash Image Tool executable (fitc.exe) is located.  This can be changed by modifying the settings in “Build | Environment Variables”.

Important Note: If XHCI is disabled in the BIOS (which means EHCI is enabled), then the BIOS needs to have USB-R bits enabled per the OEM-specific BIOS.

6.3 Installing Intel® Management Engine (ME) Components

1. Download the Intel® ME Firmware release 10.0.30.1060 from VIP
2. Navigate to the folder [root]\Installers\ME_SW_MSI\PreProduction. This folder consists of three files:
   • IntelMEFWVer.dll
   • MEISetup.exe
   • MUP.xml
3. Double-click the installer (MEISetup.exe) to install the software components
4. If you agree with the terms, accept the license conditions, follow the installation wizard screens and momentarily the installation will be completed
5. To verify that the Intel ME components are installed on your system, launch Control Panel. Navigate to Control Panel -> Programs -> Uninstall. The Intel® ME components will be listed.

6.4 Installing Intel Technology Access (Intel TA) Software for ME Channel

In order to preload Intel TA with ME channel, the filter and TAP drivers must be opted out. This can be done by running the installer command as shown below.

Note: By default, Intel TA installer installs the filter driver and the filter and the TAP drivers. The filter driver channel (whether the TAP driver is installed or not) gets the priority among all channels.

1. From the downloaded Intel® Technology Access kit, run Intel_Technology_Access_Software_1.2.0.1005 /nofilter/notap from the Windows* command prompt as shown below. (To access the Windows* command prompt, launch cmd.exe)

2. The Intel TA install wizard will start and if you agree with the terms, accept the license conditions, follow the installation wizard screens and complete the installation process.

6.5 Verifying the Installation of Intel TA Software Components

1. In order to verify that Intel TA is installed on your computer, please refer to the detailed steps listed in section 5.1
2. In order to verify whether the Intel TA service is running or not, please refer to the detailed steps listed in section 5.2
3. In order to verify the presence of the Intel® Management Engine RNDIS Ethernet Adapter (Intel® ME RNDIS Ethernet Adapter), navigate to Control Panel -> Network and Internet -> Network and Sharing Center -> Change adapter settings. A new network adapter called the “Intel® ME RNDIS Ethernet Adapter” will display as illustrated below:

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