Password Category: Password - Page 4 of 7

BIOS passwords can add extra layer of security for desktop and laptop computers, and are used to either prevent a user from changing the BIOS settings or to prevent the PC from booting without a password. BIOS passwords can also be a liability if a user forgot their passwords, or if a malicious user changes the password. Sending the unit back to the manufacturer to have the BIOS reset can be expensive and is usually not covered in a typical warranty. However, there are a few known backdoors and other tricks of the trade that can be used to bypass or reset the BIOS password on most systems.

To enter the BIOS Setup try these keystrokes:

AMI BIOS: Del key during the POST
DTK BIOS: Esc key during the POST
Award BIOS: Ctrl-Alt-Esc
misc BIOS: Ctrl-Esc
Phoenix BIOS: Ctrl-Alt-Esc or Ctrl-Alt-S
IBM PS/2 BIOS: Ctrl-Alt-Ins after Ctrl-Alt-Del

Backdoor Passwords

Many BIOS manufacturers have provided backdoor passwords that can be used to access the BIOS setup in the event you have lost your password. These passwords are case sensitive, so you may wish to try a variety of combinations.

WARNING: Some BIOS configurations will lock you out of the system completely if you type in an incorrect password more than 3 times. Read your manufacturers documentation for the BIOS setting before you begin typing in passwords.

Award BIOS backdoor passwords:

ALFAROME	BIOSTAR	KDD	ZAAADA
ALLy	CONCAT	Lkwpeter	ZBAAACA
aLLy	CONDO	LKWPETER	ZJAAADC
aLLY	Condo	PINT	01322222
ALLY	d8on	pint	589589
aPAf	djonet	SER	589721
_award	HLT	SKY_FOX	595595
AWARD_SW	J64	SYXZ	598598
AWARD?SW	J256	syxz
AWARD SW	J262	shift + syxz
AWARD PW	j332	TTPTHA
AWKWARD	j322
awkward

AMI BIOS Backdoor Passwords:

AMI		BIOS		PASSWORD		HEWITT RAND
AMI?SW		AMI_SW		LKWPETER		CONDO

Phoenix BIOS Backdoor Passwords:

phoenix

PHOENIX

CMOS

BIOS

Misc. Common Passwords

ALFAROME	BIOSTAR	biostar	biosstar
CMOS	cmos	LKWPETER	lkwpeter
setup	SETUP	Syxz	Wodj

Other BIOS Passwords by Manufacturer

Manufacturer	Password

VOBIS & 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
TMC	BIGO
Toshiba	Toshiba

Toshiba BIOS

Most Toshiba laptops and some desktop systems will bypass the BIOS password if the left shift key is held down during boot

IBM Aptiva BIOS

Press both mouse buttons repeatedly during the boot

Motherboard “Clear CMOS” Jumper or Dipswitch settings

Many motherboards feature a set of jumpers or dipswitches that will clear the CMOS and wipe all of the custom settings including BIOS passwords. The locations of these jumpers / dipswitches will vary depending on the motherboard manufacturer and ideally you should always refer to the motherboard or computer manufacturers documentation. If the documentation is unavailable, the jumpers/dipswitches can sometimes be found along the edge of the motherboard, next to the CMOS battery, or near the processor. Some manufacturers may label the jumper / dipswitch CLEAR – CLEAR CMOS – CLR – CLRPWD – PASSWD – PASSWORD – PWD. On laptop computers, the dipswitches are usually found under the keyboard or within a compartment at the bottom of the laptop.

Please remember to unplug your PC and use a grounding strip before reaching into your PC and touching the motherboard. Once you locate and rest the jumper switches, turn the computer on and check if the password has been cleared. If it has, turn the computer off and return the jumpers or dipswitches to its original position.

Removing the CMOS Battery

The CMOS settings on most systems are buffered by a small battery that is attached to the motherboard. (It looks like a small watch battery). If you unplug the PC and remove the battery for 10-15 minutes, the CMOS may reset itself and the password should be blank. (Along with any other machine specific settings, so be sure you are familiar with manually reconfiguring the BIOS settings before you do this.) Some manufacturers backup the power to the CMOS chipset by using a capacitor, so if your first attempt fails, leave the battery out (with the system unplugged) for at least 24 hours. Some batteries are actually soldered onto the motherboard making this task more difficult. Unsoldering the battery incorrectly may damage your motherboard and other components, so please don’t attempt this if you are inexperienced. Another option may be to remove the CMOS chip from the motherboard for a period of time.
Note: Removing the battery to reset the CMOS will not work for all PC’s, and almost all of the newer laptops store their BIOS passwords in a manner which does not require continuous power, so removing the CMOS battery may not work at all. IBM Thinkpad laptops lock the hard drive as well as the BIOS when the supervisor password is set. If you reset the BIOS password, but cannot reset the hard drive password, you may not be able to access the drive and it will remain locked, even if you place it in a new laptop. IBM Thinkpads have special jumper switches on the motherboard, and these should be used to reset the system.

Use the Debug command

Boot to MS- DOS prompt, run through the below example, this example is perfectly fine to run on any PC Computer running MS-DOS / Windows and will not harm anything.

DEBUG script that will just reset the password only
Type debug and press enter.   (ex. A:\>debug )
After typing debug you will get “-” as a prompt ,type these exactly how they are written.
o 70 10
o 71 20
quit
Explanation of code:
DEBUG    ; Run DEBUG, “-” will appear on each line then type:
o 70 20     ; Send 70 to address 18
o 71 21     ; Send 71 to address FF
q              ; Quit DEBUG
or you can use this alternate DEBUG script that will just reset the the BIOS
A
MOV AX,0
MOV AX,CX
OUT 70,AL
MOV AX,0
OUT 71,AL
INC CX
CMP CX,100
JB 103
INT 20
Note: Nothing is typed on this line
G By pressing G this will execute the above script
Q

Then reboot and you will get a Setup Checksum Error. Go into setup, correct all the incorrect values, time, date…

Alternatively you can use the program WipeCMOS from a boot floppy

Use the Decoding software

CmosPwd by CGSecurity – This is probably the most up to date and popular CMOS decryption tool. CmosPwd decrypts password stored in cmos used to access BIOS SETUP, you can also backup, restore and erase/kill cmos.You will have to be logged in as administrator, run ioperm -i command and then run cmospwd_win.exe
PC CMOS Cleaner – PC CMOS Cleaner is an easy-to-use tool to recover, delete, decode and display the superior passwords stored in BIOS whatever the brand is. It’s an bootable CD that runs on x86 and x86_64 computers. It can display the superior passwords of the BIOS, remove BIOS password(will set the BIOS to default status, need reset date).

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This is a generic how to, working for all Linux distributions, not only for Ubuntu or Debian or Centos etc etc.

I see a lot of howto’s what are based on the same “story”: boot in “single mode” and type passwd to change the password, but are some systems like Debian and probably others what doesn’t let you get in single mode if you don’t know the root password … so the single mode solution it will not work.

First I will describe you the single mode solution, because the start of this solution is very similar with the next solution what I will present you in the end.

Restart the machine.
Press any key while GRUB menu is loading.
You will see the Grub Menu with you configured kernels.
Choose a good kernel (or the options what is starting your linux) and press e to edit it.
Now choose the line that begins with ‘kernel’. Press ‘e’ again to edit this line.
Now at the end of the line just add: single
Press Enter and after that press b to boot that kernel

After that the kernel will start loading and if you have lucky and your installation doesn’t have password on “single mode” you will can change the root password with passwd utility. If you have the luck to have a password on the single mode just follow the next steps:

Follow the same steps as “single mode solution” but only until step 6.
Replace the step 6 with: Now at the end of the line just add: init=/bin/sh
Press Enter and after that press b to boot that kernel
Kernel will boot and it will stop in a shell
In this shell type: mount -o remount,rw /
Now type: passwd and change the password
Now type: sync to syncing disk (flush from memory to HDD).
After that remount the disk read only: mount -o remount,ro and reboot / Or Ctrl+Alt+Printscr+S, Ctrl+Alt+Printscr+U, Ctrl+Alt+Printscr+B if you have Magic Sysrq keys enable:)

What are MagicSysRq keys ?

These are some keys combination’s what will let you to access some kernel basic commands at low level. The combination’s what I give you above are for:

Ctrl+Alt+Printscr+S – sync the disk
Ctrl+Alt+Printscr+U – unmount the disk
Ctrl+Alt+Printscr+B – reboot

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