Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) is restricting access to firmware and service pack upgrades for its ProLiant server line to customers with existing warranty or support agreements, abandoning its longstanding practice of offering the system-level fixes free of charge to anyone.

The vendor disclosed the policy change, which cuts across a wide swath of products from low-end servers to enterprise-class machines and is effective Feb. 19, in a blog post last week. HP’s reasoning behind the decision? Firmware is “valuable intellectual property,” wrote Mary McCoy, HP Technology Services Servers Support vice president.

“This week, HP announced that effective February 19, 2014, we will provide firmware updates through the HP Support Center only to customers with a valid warranty, Care Pack Service or support agreement,” she wrote.

“This decision reinforces our goal to provide access to the latest HP firmware, which is valuable intellectual property, for our customers who have chosen to maximize and protect their IT investments. We know this is a change from how we’ve done business in the past; however, this aligns with industry best practices and is the right decision for our customers and partners,” wrote McCoy.

HP server customers with warranty or support agreements will not be asked to pay for software download access, she said, adding the vendor is in “no way trying to force customers into purchasing extended coverage.” HP “will continue to provide an easily accessible way for our customers to download firmware updates. Our intention is to offer differentiated and long-term value in the products and services we provide.”

Still, it’s hard to figure how HP’s out-of-warranty server customers looking for BIOS or other firmware agreements will manage, considering they’ll be locked out of access unless they buy an extended warranty.

A report in the U.K.’s Bit-Tech said HP initially made the policy change without informing customers. Users apparently complained about sluggish access to BIOS and other firmware updates, with the vendor requiring serial numbers for warranty checks and blocking those absent the proper credentials from downloading the needed files. HP subsequently followed with McCoy’s blog to announce the restricted access.