How to Reset or Remove Lenovo ThinkPad BIOS Password
How to Reset or Remove Lenovo ThinkPad BIOS Password
"Does anyone know if there is a way to remove or reset the bios password on an IBM ThinkPad A31, P4, 1.9Ghz. The Bios is Password Protected and I would like to remove the unknown password."
A ThinkPad laptop may have three hardware password sets: Power-On Password, Hard Disk Password and Supervisor Password (BIOS password). The supervisor password is the one that prevents unauthorized access to the BIOS Setup Utility. In today's article, we are going to share you how to change the BIOS password on Lenovo ThinkPad and how to remove forgotten Lenovo ThinkPad BIOS password.
Part 1: How to Change Supervisor Password (BIOS password) on Lenovo ThinkPad?
Below we will show you how to reset Lenovo BIOS password when you still remember your current BIOS password. If you already forgot Lenovo ThinkPad BIOS password, turn to Part 2 for help.
- Reboot your ThinkPad. Press and hold the "F1" key while you turn on the computer to start Easy-Setup.
- Enter the current supervisor password when prompted and then press "Enter." And select "Password" and then "Supervisor."
- Enter the current supervisor password again and press the "Spacebar."
- Enter a new password in the prompt that appears and then press "Enter." Re-enter the new password for verification and press "Enter."
Part 2: How to Reset Forgotten Lenovo ThinkPad Supervisor Password (BIOS password)?
"A forgotten Supervisor password will prevent access to the ThinkPad BIOS setup utility. To regain access, the system will need to be serviced to have the system board and hard drive replaced. Proof of purchase is required, and this repair is not covered under the warranty."
-Lenovo Support
Generally, removing the CMOS Battery can easily remove a BIOS password. However, 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.
If you unfortunately forgot your supervisor password, you can either ask help from Lenovo Customer service but as mentioned above your system board and hard drive will be replaced, or use some free password reset software like CmosPwd which can also reset CMOS settings or BIOS password within a few clicks.
- Run it, go to the command prompt and use CD command to navigate to the directory where you stored the file. At the command prompt, type in CMOSPWD and press Enter key.
- You'll get a list of possibilities which you can compare against your BIOS manufacturer.
- To recover the password, you need to note the value to the right of the BIOS you have installed and then you have to type in cmospwd /m[xxx] to execute the module.
To sum up, we have shown you how to reset Lenovo ThinkPad Supervisor password. To be honest, it is not easily for ordinary users to reset a forgotten BIOS password. If you forgot the Windows login password for your Lenovo ThinkPad laptop or desktop PC, you can easily reset it with Windows Password Key.
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