Lenovo 20AA000955, Hardware Maintenance Manual

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Passwords
As many as three passwords might be needed for a ThinkPad notebook computer: the power-on password,
the hard disk password, and the supervisor password.
If any of these passwords has been set, a prompt for it will be displayed on the screen whenever the
computer is turned on. The computer does not start until the password is entered.
Note: If only a supervisor password is set, the password prompt will not be displayed when the operating
system is started.
Power-on password
A power-on password protects the system from being turned on by an unauthorized person. The password
must be entered before the operating system can be started. For instructions on how to remove the power-
on password, see “How to remove the power-on password” on page 34.
Hard disk password
There are two hard disk passwords:
• User hard disk password - for the user
• Master hard disk password - for the system administrator, who can use it to get access to the hard disk
even if the user has changed the user hard disk password.
Note: There are two modes for the hard disk password: User only and User . The User
mode requires two hard disk passwords; the system administrator enters both in the same operation. The
system administrator then provides the user hard disk password to the system user.
Attention: If the user hard disk password has been forgotten, check whether a master hard disk password
has been set. If a master hard disk password has been set, it can be used to access the solid-state drive. If
no master hard disk password is available, neither Lenovo nor Lenovo authorized service technicians provide
any services to reset either the user hard disk password or the master hard disk password, or to recover data
from the solid-state drive. The solid-state drive can be replaced for a scheduled fee.
For instructions on how to remove the hard disk password, see “How to remove the hard disk password” on
page 34.
Supervisor password
The supervisor password protects the system information stored in UEFI BIOS. It provides the following
security features:
• If only a supervisor password is set, a password prompt is displayed when you try to enter the UEFI BIOS
menu. Unauthorized users cannot change most of the system configuration options in the UEFI BIOS
menu without the password.
• The system administrator can use the supervisor password to access a computer even if the user of that
computer has set a power-on password. The supervisor password overrides the power-on password.
• The system administrator can set the same supervisor password on many ThinkPad notebook computers
to make administration easier.
Attention: If the supervisor password has been forgotten and cannot be made available to the service
technician, there is no service procedure to reset the password. The system board must be replaced for a
scheduled fee.
Chapter 4
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Related service information
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