How to Break a BIOS Password

Have you ever been locked out
of an old computer by a
forgotten BIOS password?
Without the password, the
computer is essentially useless.
Luckily, there are ways to reset
it. Follow this guide to learn
how.

3 Ways to Break a BIOS Password

1 Use the Password Jumper

Open your computer.
This method is for
desktop computer
users. Unplug the
power cord from the
back of the computer.
Remove the case so
that you have access to
the motherboard. The
motherboard is the
main board of the
computer, everything
is attached to it.
Be sure that you
ground yourself
before touching
anything inside
your computer,
otherwise you might
short a component.

Find the BIOS jumper.
There are dozens of jumpers on
the motherboard, so
be sure that you are
locating the correct
one. Refer to your
motherboard’s
documentation to
double-check. The
jumper covers two of
the three pins that
control the BIOS
password. The jumper may be
labeled CLEAR CMOS, CLEAR, CLR,
JCMOS1,
PASSWORD, PSWD,
etc.
The jumper is
typically located on
the edge of the
motherboard or
physically near the
CMOS battery.

Move the jumper.
To reset the BIOS
password, you will
need to move the
jumper that is covering
two of the three pins.
On most systems,
moving the jumper
over one pin will
change it. For example
if the jumper is
covering pins 1 & 2,
move it so that it is
covering pins 2 & 3.
Some systems will
reset the password
if the jumper is
removed
completely.

Turn the computer on.
After booting, the
BIOS password should
be cleared. Turn the
computer back off and
replace the jumper to
its original position.
Replace the case and
the computer is ready
to be used again.

2 Use a Backdoor Password

Determine if you can access your CMOS jumper.

Laptop users will typically be unable
to access the jumper.
If you are using a
laptop, you will need
to use a backdoor
password instead.
These passwords are
encrypted, but can be
decrypted by running
special key generating
scripts.

Turn on the laptop.

When prompted for
the password, guess
three times. This will
lead to the System
Disabled screen. Don’t
worry, the system is
not actually disabled,
it will boot up again
when the power is
reset.

Take note of the displayed number.

You will need this to
generate the BIOS
backdoor password.
The series may contain
letters as well as
numbers.

Generate a password.

On a working
computer, visit this
site and enter the code
from the laptop. The
program will generate
a password for you.
This may take a few
minutes.
Some laptops use
the serial number
of the laptop itself
to generate a
password. Refer to
the table on the
More Details section
in the above
website to see what
numbers to input.

3 Removing the CMOS battery

Open the computer.

This method only
works on desktop
computers. Make sure
that the computer is
turned off. Remove the
case from your
computer so that you
can access the
motherboard. Unplug
power cable from the
back of the computer
so that no power is
reaching the desktop.
Be sure that you
ground yourself
before touching
anything inside
your computer,
otherwise you might
short a component.

Locate the CMOS battery.

The CMOS
battery is round and
silver, much like a
watch battery.
Carefully remove it
from its housing. Wait
for 5-10 minutes so
that all of the power
stored in the
capacitors on the
motherboard can
discharge.

Replace the battery.

All of the BIOS settings
will be reset the next
time that you turn the
computer on. You will
need to reset the time
and date in the BIOS
setup menu.