Desktop Board Features
Security Passwords
The BIOS includes security features that restrict whether the BIOS Setup program can be accessed and who can boot the computer. A supervisor password and a user password can be set for the BIOS Setup and for booting the computer, with the following restrictions:
•The supervisor password gives unrestricted access to view and change all Setup options. If only the supervisor password is set, pressing <Enter> at the password prompt of Setup gives the user restricted access to Setup.
•If both the supervisor and user passwords are set, you must enter either the supervisor password or the user password to access Setup. Setup options are then available for viewing and changing depending on whether the supervisor or user password was entered.
•Setting a user password restricts who can boot the computer. The password prompt is displayed before the computer is booted. If only the supervisor password is set, the computer boots without asking for a password. If both passwords are set, you can enter either password to boot the computer.
For instructions on resetting the password, see Clearing BIOS Security Passwords on page 60.
Hard Disk Drive Passwords
The hard disk drive password security feature will lock a particular drive from read or write accesses until the hard disk drive password is entered at the startup prompt. Passwords are set in BIOS Setup under the “Security” heading, but do not interact with other system passwords.
There are two levels of hard disk drive passwords: Master and User. Both the Master and User hard disk drive passwords can be used to unlock a locked drive. Valid passwords are between two and eight characters.
The passwords function as follows:
•The User hard disk drive password will lock the drive and block read and write accesses to a hard disk upon each power cycle or reset.
•The Master hard disk drive password by itself will not lock the drive, but instead acts as an unlock override in the event that the User hard disk drive password is unavailable. Only the installation of the User hard disk drive password will cause a hard disk to be locked upon a system power cycle or reset.
For convenient support of S3 resume, the system BIOS will automatically unlock drives on resume from S3 and will not prompt for a hard disk drive password.
NOTE
The BIOS hard disk drive password security feature can only be used on ATA hard disks that support the ATA Security Mode feature set. It supports Serial ATA hard disk drives in IDE, AHCI, and RAID modes.
For instructions on resetting the password, see Clearing or Changing Hard Disk Drive Passwords on page 61.
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