1. You are viewing our forum as a guest. For full access please Register. WindowsBBS.com is completely free, paid for by advertisers and donations.

BIOS Password

Discussion in 'Security and Privacy' started by lolgy, 2008/10/27.

  1. 2008/10/27
    lolgy

    lolgy Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/10/20
    Messages:
    4
    Likes Received:
    0
    Hi all,

    I am looking for a way to check whether bios password is enabled through registry. Is there any registry, keys or values that can be checked to see if bios password is enabled. Thanks for the help.
     
  2. 2008/10/27
    Eric Robinson

    Eric Robinson Inactive

    Joined:
    2008/10/20
    Messages:
    26
    Likes Received:
    1
    All of the computers I have used have a BIOS which resides on the motherboard, on a chip. This is not part of the operating system on the hard drive. The best way to see if the BIOS is password protected is by opening the BIOS. If the BIOS prompts you for a password then you know its protected. If you don't know how to get into the BIOS. Just ask.
     

  3. to hide this advert.

  4. 2008/10/28
    lolgy

    lolgy Inactive Thread Starter

    Joined:
    2008/10/20
    Messages:
    4
    Likes Received:
    0
    Oh...I'm doing security templates for ESM. One of the stuff i checking for is the enabling of bios password. So I am looking for register settings to check for compliance.
     
  5. 2008/10/28
    Arie

    Arie Administrator Administrator Staff

    Joined:
    2001/12/27
    Messages:
    15,174
    Likes Received:
    412
    Setting a BIOS password happens outside of Windows, so the Windows registry will have no information if a password has been set on the BIOS.
     
    Arie,
    #4
  6. 2008/10/28
    Eric Robinson

    Eric Robinson Inactive

    Joined:
    2008/10/20
    Messages:
    26
    Likes Received:
    1
    Here is a description of the BIOS that I found on the internet:
    ----------------------------------------------------------------
    The BIOS, short for Basic Input/Output Services, is the control program of the PC. It is responsible for starting up your computer, transferring control of the system to your operating system, and for handling other low-level functions, such as disk access. NOTE that the BIOS is not a software program, insofar as it is not purged from memory when you turn off the computer. It's firmware, which is basically software on a chip.
    ----------------------------------------------------------------

    BIOS passwords are easy to get around even if they are present, so I would never use one for security purposes.

    The BIOS and the operating system are independant; however, there could be hacking methods to set or retrieve a BIOS password. The BIOS password is not stored anywhere on the hard drive, which would imply that it is also not in the registry.
     
  7. 2008/10/28
    Steve R Jones

    Steve R Jones SuperGeek Staff

    Joined:
    2001/12/30
    Messages:
    12,315
    Likes Received:
    252
    In other words - you can enable a Bios password on a pc that doesn't have a hard drive;)
     

Share This Page

  1. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
    By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.