How to Reset / Remove / Bypass A BIOS Or CMOS Password?

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How to Reset / Remove / Bypass A BIOS Or CMOS Password?

Posted by srekcah at 09:42 PM on March 16, 2010

DISCLAIMER: This information is intended for experienced users. It is not intended for basic users, hackers, or computer thieves. Please do not try any of following procedures if you are not familiar with computer hardware. I'll not be responsible for the use or misuse of this information, including personal injury, loss of data or hardware damage. So use it at your own risk.

BIOS passwords are used to add some extra security to computers. You can either set a password to prevent access to BIOS settings or to prevent PC from booting.

But sometimes this extra security might become a pain when you forget the BIOS password or someone changes your system BIOS password intentionally.

But there is no need to worry. There are many known ways to reset / remove / bypass the password:

- By removing the CMOS battery

- By using the motherboard jumper

- By using MS DOS command

- By using software

- By using Backdoor BIOS password

Now I'll try to explain each method one by one:

By Removing the CMOS Battery:

Almost all motherboards use a small coin sized CMOS battery to store all BIOS settings along with the password. To reset the password, unplug the PC, open the cabinet and remove the CMOS battery for approx. 15-30 minutes and then put it back. It'll reset all BIOS settings as well as the password and you'll need to re-enter all settings.

If it fails, then try to remove the battery for at least one hour.

By Using the Motherboard Jumper:

In most motherboards CMOS battery is soldered, which makes it difficult to remove the battery. In this case we use another method.

Almost all motherboards contain a jumper that can clear all CMOS settings along with the BIOS password. The location of this jumper varies depending upon the motherboard brand. You should read your motherboard manual to check its location. If you don't have the manual then look for the jumpers near the CMOS battery. Most of the manufacturer label the jumper as CLR, CLEAR, CLEAR CMOS, etc.

When you find the jumper, look carefully. There will be 3 pins and the jumper will be joining the center pin to either left or right pin. What you need to do, is remove the jumper and join the center pin to the opposite pin. e.g. if the jumper joins center pin to left pin, then remove it and join center pin to right pin. Now wait for a few seconds and then again remove the jumper and join the center pin to left pin.

Make sure to turn the PC off before opening the cabinet and resetting the jumper.

By Using MS DOS Command:

This method works only if you have access to the system when its turned on because this method requires MS DOS. Open MS DOS from programs menu and provide following commands one bye one:

debug

o 70 2E

o 71 FF

quit

NOTE: The first character in the above commands is "O" and not the number 0.

After providing the above commands, restart your system and it should reset the CMOS Settings along with the BIOS password.

If you are curious to know how it works? then let me explain the above commands:

In this method we are using the Debug tool of MS DOS. The "O" character present at first in these commands, outputs the values to IO ports. The number 70 and 71 are port numbers which are used to access CMOS memory. By providing FF value we are telling CMOS that there is an invalid checksum and it resets the CMOS settings as well as BIOS password.

By Using Software:

There are a few software which can also reset CMOS settings or BIOS password or both within a few clicks. But as stated above you should have access to a system which is turned on and should have access to MS DOS or MS Windows:

KillCMOS

!BIOS

CmosPwd

By Using Backdoor BIOS Password:

Some BIOS manufacturer put a backdoor password in BIOS which always works irrespective of what password you have set in BIOS. Its a master password which is used for testing and troubleshooting purposes.

AMI BIOS Passwords:

A.M.I.

AAAMMMIII

AMI?SW

AMI_SW

AMI

BIOS

CONDO

HEWITT RAND

LKWPETER

MI

Oder

PASSWORD

AWARD BIOS Passwords:

01322222

589589

589721

595595

598598

ALFAROME

ALLy

aLLy

aLLY

ALLY

aPAf

_award

award

AWARD_SW

AWARD?SW

AWARD SW

AWARD PW

AWKWARD

awkward

BIOSTAR

CONCAT

CONDO

Condo

d8on

djonet

HLT

J64

J256

J262

j332

j322

KDD

Lkwpeter

LKWPETER

PINT

pint

SER

SKY_FOX

SYXZ

syxz

shift + syxz

TTPTHA

ZAAADA

ZBAAACA

ZJAAADC

PHOENIX BIOS Passwords:

BIOS

CMOS

phoenix

PHOENIX

Misc Common Passwords:

ALFAROME

BIOSTAR

biostar

biosstar

CMOS

cmos

LKWPETER

lkwpeter

setup

SETUP

Syxz

Wodj

Other Manufacturer BIOS Passwords:

Biostar - Biostar

Compaq - Compaq

Dell - Dell

Enox - xo11nE

Epox - central

Freetech - Posterie

IWill - iwill

Jetway - spooml

Packard Bell - bell9

QDI - QDI

Siemens - SKY_FOX

TMC - BIGO

Toshiba - Toshiba

VOBIS & IBM - merlin