Thinkpads Forum

Apparently, Lenovo is cracking down on the availability of the much-loved HMD (Hardware Maintenance Disk) which does useful things like fix the system serial number and model type after a mobo replacement. Several threads here have referred to it (recent link) and now all the links to download the HMD are dead. Question is, is this forum going to allow posting of links to the HMD images on sites other than Lenovo, and is it wise to do so? Is Lenovo going to take more action than simply removing the download? If the user community has a need to continue to support systems that are obsolete and long out of warranty, is there any real issue? Ostensibly the HMD was for IBM/Lenovo Service Tech use only, but the people on this forum have certainly put a lot of miles on the HMD. Any opinions?

Unless you are Lenovo-approved, it's a no-no, not to be pursued.

We have been told by Lenovo personnel that in the past their policy was a little inconsistent as to the availability of the HMD. While it was not publicly advertised by them, the file was nevertheless not protected by a password or otherwise hidden at the ftp site. As you have noted, those previous links are now dead. I do not believe that it's in everyone's best interest to publicly announce where/how to get ahold of this resource, regardless of whether the file is hosted on Lenovo's site or elsewhere.

Ray,
That seems clear enough. No more public links. I searched the lenovo.com forum and the last message on this topic was rather blunt.