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Reset BIOS Password from Windows with CMOS De-Animator

Posted By Raymond In Category: Computer

Aug
29
2010

Any amateur computer technician should know how to reset BIOS password because there are times when they need to access the BIOS and change some configuration such as boot order. The old school way of resetting BIOS password is by taking out the battery from the motherboard and let it sit for 5 minutes, then put it back and power it on. If you read the motherboard manual, they will tell you to switch the jumper to reset all CMOS settings. When it comes to HP computers, it is very different. I’ve tried taking out the battery and left it for a day but still the BIOS doesn’t get reset. There is no CMOS reset jumper on the motherboard as well. From the CMOS itself, you can even configure it to lock the casing and the BIOS access password has an extra security where it will be completely locked out if you specified 5 consecutive wrong password.

Now, if I don’t set BIOS password, some student will. If I set it, the student will try to brute force it and end up locking the BIOS completely. The only way is to call HP support center, wait for their technicians to come and clear the password for you. If the computer is within the warranty period, then there will be no charges but if the warranty is over, we’ll have to end up paying for it. I recently discovered a free tool that can be used to reset BIOS password from Windows.


CMOS De-Animator is a service utility which allows you to invalidate the checksum of your system’s CMOS memory, resetting all settings to default and clearing any stored BIOS passwords (if any) upon re-boot. There is no graphical user interface and all you need to do is just run the executable file. You will only get confirmation message to begin or exit, error handling messages and a success dialog box upon successful operation. There are 2 versions, the 32bit and 64bit so make sure you use the correct version according to your Windows operating system.

CMOS De-Animator reset bios password

Although it did mention that no administrator privileges is required, but you may want to run it as administrator if the BIOS password did not get reset. I’ve tried it on my Dell 1909 all-in-one computer and it worked perfectly. Both the supervisor password and user password has been cleared leaving me able to access the BIOS without entering any password. I am not sure if CMOS De-Animator will work on HP computers or not because I currently do not have access them but I will update once I’ve tested it.

NOTE: Some antivirus flags this tool as a threat (trojan, malware, dropper, downloader) since this tool is capable of bypassing password protected BIOS. I am not surprised at all and am confident that they are false alarm. You should not even download it if you always listen to your antivirus.

[ Download CMOS De-Animator ]


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    • http://vidifurion.wordpress.com FiKhRi

      Nice article Ray! I was looking for this tool for a long time. Thanks! I really need it.

    • Oscar ZeroPR

      work like a charm its great love it or hate it

    • Max Chu

      Nice tip… It’s a faster way to reset without open the casing. But now your student will reset it. xD

    • Rizwan Siddiquee

      Dear Raymond brother,

      The link “http://www.st-ware.com/page.php?23″ which you have given seems to be inaccessible from here…Can you please email me the exe file to my mail….

      Thanks a lot

    • http://itmenjanareformasi.blogspot.com/ pesona

      nice raymond… just make my job easier if have this

    • kees

      Useful post, Raymond, thanks.

    • kantagara

      is rest BIOS=flash BIOS?

    • :Neo:

      thx ray
      another useful find as always

    • Frank

      thanks, mate.
      Unfortunately doesn’t work on HP dm1 (subnotebook)

      Regards, Frank

    • Boyfriend

      Thanks Raymond. Very useful utility. I often have to open system casing and reset jumper to erase password and enter in BIOS. Now I will be able to do that much easily.

      Regards.

    • http://www.raymond.cc/forum/members/grr.html Grr

      Excellent share Ray.

      I may want to post t in the forum also.

      Thanks,
      Grr

    • stanly7

      Thank you Raymond. Useful article.

    • play8oy

      Great tool Ray!!

      @Ridzwan, this link working fine for me: http://www.st-ware.com/page.php?23

    • Finer

      This is a great find Ray. Thanks

    • INDRANIL

      Thanks for the share Raymond. Very much useful tool.

    • Gman2oo6

      Nice one but it will NOT work on any notebook
      because those have a E-prom and no CMOS

    • http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond

      Why don’t you try it Gman2oo6?
      I tried De-Animator on my 5 year old Acer laptop and it cleared the BIOS password allowing me to access the CMOS settings. However the hard disk password is still there.

    • phil

      Awesome! I’ve spent many a night on IRC trying to help track down Dell Cmos support! this is wonderful stuff!

    • whereISit

      The few times I’ve been in the bios and it asked for the password…..I never know what it is or where to get it. I have an HP but I’ve never set a password and would like to know how to get it, not under warranty anymore. Can someone tell me where or how to get it? thansk

    • http://www.dwoolnoughuk.com/ DWoolnoughUK

      Nice one Ray. Been looking for something like this. :) Luckely for me, no one has access to my HP laptop and my desktops are dell and Fujitsu Seimens. :)

      Thanks.

    • Elie HAGE MOUSSA

      hey!
      i just want to ask you if you can help me to edit the text that appear before the bios password (owner string)…
      i had a software called toshiba hardware utility installed on my vista home premium and i set some my own text..
      but when i formatted my laptop and installed vista ultimate , i reinstalled this software, but i can’t access to the bios settings throught it nether the password nor the owner string nor the boot order…..

      im waiting for any reply..
      10x in advance

    • http://www.hamedshaik.webs.com hamed

      Thanks for the share Raymond

    • klauzja

      So is there any way to verify/confirm that the x32 version is NOT infected with the Trojan virus “Dropper.Generic2…”

    • http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond

      @klauzja: Read the article below.
      http://www.raymond.cc/blog/archives/2010/05/12/why-i-test-and-analyze-software-from-real-windows-environment/

      Other than this, you can “try” analyzing this tool in Joebox, ThreatExpert or any other online file analyzers.

    • ToniA

      Raymond,I can confirm that IT DOES WORK on HP PAVILION NOTEBOOK PC’S .. (mine is DV6700)

      @Gman2oo6:
      As I said,it does work on HP NOTEBOOKS,you HAVE TO
      run it as ADMINISTRATOR or it won’t reset it.
      works,just tried,imho.

    • Dell-Whisperer

      checked the 32 and 64 bit version.
      32 bit version comes up as infected but is clean.
      64 bit no warnings.
      Works good so far.
      tested on Dell precision M6500, Latitude E6510, Latitude Z600. Latitude D830, Latitude E5500.
      Great tool.
      Tnx for the info Raymond.

    • http://www.frontiernet.net/~noprob_01 noprob

      Thank You,much obliged.

    • http://www.expertsgalaxy.com/ Neeraj

      ya ray its a great tool i was about to post on my site but dint get time to write the article ,i tried many softwares dz is d only one works fine on many pc still its not 100% u know depending upon d bios version but still its good

    • Merlin_Magii

      Excellent ! Thank you Raymond.

    • MR7

      Dear lord, the Holy Grail of BIOS reset. In my workplace, there is a lot of HP computers, I’ll try it asap…

    • Peppino

      Does this work on 64-bit Windows?

    • rizal2gb

      now we can do it on the fly, it’s can reset too by do debug and input the sorted of codes, in modern motherboard is not necessary to open the case. Just push the button CLR CMOS in the backpanel, and it will reset CMOS at default state. Maybe it help to reset password BIOS too..

      Thanks raymond for this good article

    • http://www.raymond.cc/ Raymond

      @Peppino; It should work on 64bit if you download the 64bit version of CMOS De-Animator.

    • rodrigodj

      thanks raymond!

    • Sandeep Jopat

      Now thats what I call a good tool

    • http://www.sirgain.com/ GainO

      Is it safe to use on a laptop? Won’t it fry the CMOS?

    • ST-WARE Softworks

      Thanks for the comments everyone. I’m pleased to see the success of the tool that I developed. :)

    • adrian

      how about resetting a hard disk password on a lop top.i cant acess my friends loptop coz he forgot his password.at first i thought it was on the bios then i found out that its his hard disk that has a password.its a dell loptop by the way…an old one..hope you can help.thanks.

    • Zippy88

      Can anyone confirm if this will work on a IBM/Lenovo BIOS? They are the hardest(impossible?) to break and resetting the password means replacing the motherboard.

    • Tarun

      Great and very helpful post, Thank Ray..

      Can anyone post something similar for linux too??..

    • http://G_nius1982 G_nius1982

      @adrian; Just use something like the ophcrack live cd, this should get you the password pretty quickly.

      http://ophcrack.sourceforge.net/

    • ST-WARE Softworks

      It should work on every BIOS, regardless of the version. If it doesn’t reset the checksum, you need to run the utility with administrator privileges (at least once).
      If your BIOS keeps the password settings elsewhere than in CMOS, the settings might not be reset. Also, do not use the 32-bit version on 64-bit operating systems.

      As for the warranty or frying anything on your mainboard, I think it’s very very unlikely, and no hardware damage should ever occur. It’s safe as it gets.

    • Sawan

      I have a problem, my machine is a Dell Latitude D430 and cannot get the BIOS to be resetted.

      help, please!

    • norman

      thanks a lot ray….very helpful tools

    • dranfu

      Excellent tool and suggestion. But depending on the computer, you may have to wait………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..and reboot several times before your system loads up again. For IT techs, I would definitely test this tool on some test machines in your environment first, to see how they react.

    • david

      Good tools, will come in handy. Thanks.

    • senthilkumar

      Thank you so much.. such a great tool..

    • safeguy

      Thanks a lot Ray…I’ve finally reset BIOS password for an old laptop with this tool. I’ve tried several different tools you mentioned in the past but none succeeded CMOS De-Animator did it within just a single click.

    • ifan

      have anyone ever try this software to unlock lenovo thinkpad notebook series? if it is succeed, i would like to try too..
      any luck guys?

    • Alan

      Thanks a lot for this tool, Raymond. There have more than a few times I wished I had a tool like this.

      Alan

    • David

      Great! Works on Fujitsu Siemens Laptop with Phoenix BIOS! Thanks Ray!

    • http://www.st-ware.com ST-WARE Softworks

      Good day.

      There’s a new version of De-Animator released today: 2.0.

      http://st-ware.com/page.php?23

    • luis99

      Hi I just recently downloaded a bios update for mobo M2N78-la on an hp pavilion. Is there anyway that if I use this program I can reset the bios to the version before because the update they had on the hp site was bugged and makes the fan speed go up and down constantly even while my computer sits in idle. Please let me know what you think I should do. Oh, and I did try going into the bios menu to reset it back to the default bios, but it wouldnt let me. Please help

    • capedebo

      How can you execute the tools if you cant bypass BIOS password?

    • Sywa83

      let me get this right, this tools can only works if we inside the windows. which probably usefull if we are using other people computer and want to reset their bios password while we inside the windows, but how about for our own computer if we forgot the bios password, and can’t get into the windows ?? aside from taking out the battery from M/B what is the solutions…?? Thanks

    • http://www.facebook.com/febiekayepineda febiekayepineda

      im having a problem with the laptop toshiba tecraa8model no. pta83l-08903f… hdd password? how can i bypass or what is the shorcut of entering into the bios

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