How to Set and Remove a BIOS Password in Windows

A BIOS password is one of the important protection measures that could be used to make someone stop powering up a computer system or making changes into that which is one of the most sensitive areas. Many branded computer manufacturers like Dell, IBM, HP etc. lock their customers out of this particular area because they don’t want to their customer should change anything and potentially damage the machine for which they provide for warranty. Perhaps, when someone likes a computer technicians or hardware enthusiasts, sometimes they need to make some hardware changes to the computer so that they can access the BIOS. So, BIOS is the first program before starting up your system even before the operating system is booted.

Some steps to set a BIOS password:-

Step 1: As you start your PC press 'Del' or ‘Esc’ buttons continuously and then you’ll find the BIOS screen in your system.

Step 2: When the BIOS screen will be displayed, go to the Security Option, in that you will find two more options for setting a password.

• Admin Password– You cannot delete this password in BIOS without knowing the password; this is only meant only for advanced users.
  
  
• User Password – You can delete this password from BIOS even if you don’t know the password.

Step 3: To set the Admin Password write the password in the space provided confirm the password then save it and exit.

Step 4: To set the User Password either provide the old password if it is enabled or write the new password in the space provided confirm and save it then exit and your password is saves now no one can start your PC without the password.

Some Methods to Remove a BIOS Password:

1) Removing a BIOS Password by using a CMOS Battery

This is one of the simplest method to remove a BIOS password by simply removing the CMOS battery. A computer always remember its settings and keep the time even when it is turned off or unplugged because these parts are powered by a small battery inside the computer called a CMOS battery. If you take out that battery, the computer will forget a lot of its hardware settings, including its BIOS password. This technique should not be performed on Laptops if you are not an experienced in working with laptop hardware.

But Anyway, Now open up the computer case use a screw driver to locate the flat, circular and metallic CMOS battery. 

 Once you have located it, now you can observe how the latches are holding it.

 

Make sure to power off the computer, unplug the power cables and unplug any USB devices if they are powered. The computer must not be able to get power from anywhere for this to work. Take out the CMOS battery and wait for 10 – 25 minutes before putting it back into its original place. The main reason for waiting few minutes is that the computer still store power in its capacitors even though everything is unplugged. The waiting period allows enough time to get discharge.

Plug everything back in, powerup the computer and enter the BIOS again. If everything goes well there should be no more password left. But, In some cases If you get an uncanny error messages during boot up now, then you will need to go to “Load BIOS Defaults” in BIOS and save the changes to fix them.

If this method doesn't work out, try another method.

2) Removing a BIOS Password by using the manufacturer backdoor password:-

On many of the computers (especially old ones), computer manufacturers build the backdoor passwords for their own technicians so that they can access the BIOS when the hardware is being serviced. Here are some of the ones that have been reported till now. So, you can now try a quite few passwords before you find one that really works out.

* Remember-These passwords are Case Sensitive.

AMI BIOS Backdoor Passwords:

• A.M.I.
• AAAMMMII
• AMI
• AMI?SW
• AMI_SW
• BIOS
• CONDO
• HEWITT RAND
• LKWPETER
• MI
• Oder
• PASSWORD

Award BIOS Backdoor Passwords:

• (eight spaces)
• 01322222
• 589589
• 589721
• 595595
• 598598
• ALFAROME
• ALLY
• ALLy
• aLLY
• aLLy
• aPAf
• award
• AWARD PW
• AWARD SW
• AWARD?SW
• AWARD_PW
• AWARD_SW
• AWKWARD
• awkward
• IOSTAR
• CONCAT
• CONDO
• Condo
• condo
• d8on
• djonet
• HLT
• J256
• J262
• j262
• j322
• j332
• J64
• KDD
• LKWPETER
• Lkwpeter
• PINT
• pint
• SER
• SKY_FOXSYXZ
• SKY_FOX
• syxz
• SYXZ
• TTPTHA
• ZAAAADA
• ZAAADA
• ZBAAACA
• ZJAAADC

Russian Award BIOS Passwords:

• %øåñòü ïpîáåëîâ%
• %äåâÿòü ïpîáåëîâ%

Phoenix Backdoor BIOS Passwords:

• BIOS
• CMOS
• phoenix
• PHOENIX

Other Manufacturers Backdoor Passwords: (manufacturer name – password)

• VOBIS and IBM – merlin
• Dell – Dell
• Biostar – Biostar
• Compaq – Compaq
• Enox – xo11nE
• Epox – central
• Freetech – Posterie
• IWill – iwill
• Jetway – spooml
• Packard Bell – bell9
• QDI – QDI
• Siemens – SKY_FOX
• SOYO – SY_MB
• TMC – BIGO
• Toshiba – Toshiba