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22 December 2011
A client brought in a laptop a few weeks ago with the rather thorny issue of being locked out of his computer because someone had inadvertently set a BIOS password and, worse, enabled fingerprint security. While in many cases simply cracking open the laptop and removing the CMOS battery for a few minutes or locating the reset jumper will do the trick, this particular laptop was playing hardball.
Not very old, this Acer Travelmate running Vista had a Phoenix BIOS and I had quickly exhausted any trick I had. So, as any normal PC tech who runs up against a wall, I turned to Google and started sorting through all the garbage posts and forum threads that led nowhere. The "backdoor" passwords being suggested, which I suspect are a load of hogwash but tried regardless, didn't work. Trying to boot up into Hiren's and running the DOS based BIOS apps didn't work.
Admittedly, I was at my wit's end and was about to break down and actually ship the laptop in to ACER to have them do it, a service they charge a mere $100 for. That is until a came across Dogbert's Blog. Strange name for a site but, then again, people will often raise their eyebrows when I tell them I own a site called Dodisdodat...
In any event, Dogbert has a page up through which he provides some free custom python scripts for various computer manufacturers or BIOS CMOS brands (Award, Phoenix) complete with the simple steps required to decipher the password. "Yeah right!", I thought to myself, but with little to lose I gave it a whirl. 20 seconds later, I'm in!
I've only tested it on two other machines since but, so far, they've all worked. Needless to say, I've downloaded a copy of all 12 of Dogbert's scripts, bookmarked the page and thanking him kindly in the comments section! I suspect you may do the same! You can find the scripts and information here:
Dogbert's Blog: BIOS Password Backdoors in Laptops
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