Hi everyone i have a windows vista laptop that a customer brought in. The employee quit and password protected the whole laptop. Is there anyway i can bypass it and delete it? I need some help please thanks!
-Michael
Digital Business Machines.
How-To Geek Forums » Windows Vista
Need help.. Password removal.
(9 posts)If the employee set a password in the BIOS and the computer is less than 3 years old, the easiest solution is to have your attorney contact him and threaten him with a lawsuit or arrest.
The system password on newer motherboards cannot be deleted by removing the CMOS battery or clearing the CMOS because it is no longer stored in the CMOS. In addition, the hard disk may have been passworded at the same time, making data retrieval impossible even if the drive is removed from the system.
Yeah, data retrieval is probably out. Recovering access to the hardware (i.e. to install a new OS on it) is a slightly more hopeful prospect...
In this area I'll have to respectively disagree with rbailin. While some modern hardware no longer stores the password in the CMOS, this isn't true of *all* computers.
Lenovo is probably the biggest troublemaker with BIOS passwords since the password is actually encrypted and stored within some wierdo motherboard storage chip. The only way you'll be able to get around a Lenovo BIOS password would be to literally solder a $40 adapter into the motherboard, then connect the adapter to the serial port on a second computer, run a specific piece of software, and then sift through about 40 pages of hex codes to seek out the actual password field. There're instructions somewhere out there, but I don't have an exact URL for you right now.
If the laptop was made by a different hardware manufacturer, then you're probably in luck. Dell, HP and Toshiba laptops are much easier to deal with in case of a lost BIOS password. Steps vary between them, sometimes it *is* as simple as pulling the CMOS battery, other times it requires a bit more effort.
We'll be able to help you a bit more if we knew the hardware manufacturer. Could you post the information along with laptop model number? Well, actually this will probably only be helpful if it's a common manufacturer. (e.g. Dell, HP, etc...)
Agreed with MrLinux. Depending on the manufacturer you might get lucky by using their backdoor password. The passwords are usually something like Dell, Compaq, or biostar .. again depends on the manufacturer but the point is they are easy passwords.
Also there are a couple of software applications you could use such as CmosPWD
http://www.cgsecurity.org/wiki/CmosPwd
Agreed but my laptop has a Administrator password,Power On password, and a Drive Lock password. I know the tools your talking about but I believe most new laptops are coming out with this to protect against these tools.It would be nice to know if someone could bypass this to reset just for safe sleeping...
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