So some time ago I set up a BIOS “User” password and and “Admin” password on a laptop.
For those who doesn’t know. A BIOS “User” password is prompted every time you boot a computer using that motherboard, and the “Admin” password is prompted when you attempt to enter the BIOS settings
If you have both set up, either password is accepted on boot, but only the “Admin” password is accepted for getting into the BIOS Settings.
I’ve just had both of these set up because I’m weird and paranoid (before you say “encryption”, yes the disk is also encrypted), and I got into a habit of just using the Admin password for boot.
But now I think its unnecessary and annoying now and doesn’t seem to do much since the disk is also encrypted, so I tried to remove the “User” password in the BIOS settings, but I forgot the User password. Inputing the Admin password is rejected as “incorrect password”, but its accepted when you try to change to Admin password. Wtf lol. The Laptops I had before this one, allows the Admin to reset the User Password, wtf is this new change? Admin cannot reset User Password? Make zero sense lol. So I guess I’m just stuck with this unchangeable setting? Triggers my OCD so much that there’s a setting now I can’t toggle on/off.
I mean it’s still perfectly usable as long as I keep the Admin password enabled and not mess with that, so this is the definition of mildly infuriating, just very samll annoyance I’m stuck with.
It’s an Asus Zenbook btw if you’re wondering.
Are CMOS batteries still a thing? Removing that and the laptop battery should wipe the BIOS to the default settings. Actually before that, can you reset the BIOS settings with the admin password, and will that wipe the user password settings?
That hasn’t worked on any (good) machine for the last 20 years. Especially now in the EFI age any important settings like that are stored in nvram.
Resetting settings doesn’t seem to affect passwords, I tried it.
Maybe you can check the manual if the laptop has a CMOS battery. If it does, you’ll have to take apart the laptop to remove the battery for a few minutes, which will reset all the settings.
I searched the entire PDF for “CMOS” and cant find anything. I read a few reddit threads saying modern laptops don’t store CMOS settings in volitile memory anymore, so its harder to bypass.