Dell Optiplex - HD is protected by password authentication system

[Sybertiger]

Well, this doesn't look promising LOL, but y'all may know if there's a resolution. I've recently picked up a Dell Optiplex 7060 from eBay. I did a fresh install of Window 10 Pro on the NVMe M.2 it came with. I installed a new WD purple 6TB drive and formatted it. I decided to use the Dell Command Updater to make sure the correct drivers were installed for the system configuration. After I downloaded the Dell Command Updater utility and ran it, it installed 5 components it found as missing or outdated. When I went to reboot the system I got the following message at bootup and it's referring to my new WD drive. The only way I can get around this is by unplugging the data cable to the drive then rebooting. But, that doesn't help my situation with my new WD drive. Not sure it the BIOS has locked access to the drive by putting the serial number into the BIOS or what.

Any resolution to this?

 

[Ssayer]

HDD password recovery | DELL Technologies

Hi I am using dell optiplax 780 core 2du pc. Unfortunately it has automatically locked my HDD password. This password is not assigned by me. It is automatically locked. Now I cannot make excess to ...

www.dell.com

 

[Sybertiger]

Thanks, but the issue is that the new WD purple drive is locked from use by the BIOS. Everything was fine until I ran the Dell Command updater. Seems like something glitched out and it's acting as though it would if someone tried to access info from a HD that is protected. However, it's a brand new blank HD from the factory. I formatted it a couple of days ago and the system was fine every time I booted up the system up until today when that error message popped up.

 

[fenderman]

Thanks, but the issue is that the new WD purple drive is locked from use by the BIOS. Everything was fine until I ran the Dell Command updater. Seems like something glitched out and it's acting as though it would if someone tried to access info from a HD that is protected. However, it's a brand new blank HD from the factory. I formatted it a couple of days ago and the system was fine every time I booted up the system up until today when that error message popped up.

log into the bois and ensure there are not passwords set.

 

[Wolf4Ever]

If all else fails and you don't mind paying like $10 I have used this site before and had no issues. Not sure where they got the tools or if they work for Dell but can unlock out of warranty machines.
Master Password that Works 100% - Dell Bios Password Reset (pwd4bios.com)
On the making sure no passwords are set, if somehow a password was set you have to know the old one to disable it, and clearing the jumper is only for bios admin/system password not hdd, as once set in the hdd it's in the hdd firmware not the machine/bios.

 

[Sybertiger]

No Admin or System pw set. The HDD pw is set but it wasn't set by me. No clue what would have caused this issue, especially given the O/S is and has been on a PCIe M.2 NVMe card when I got it and no other disks installed except for the new WD I just purchased. Sounds like I have a new useless drive.

 

[IAmATeaf]

Try removing the HDD and plugging it into another computer to see if you can access the drive? Try reformatting the drive in the other computer and then plugging it back in to computer causing the issue.

With the drive removed does it still show that HDD 0 has a password set? Maybe try a BIOS reset to defaults with the locked drive removed etc.

 

[Sybertiger]

If all else fails and you don't mind paying like $10 I have used this site before and had no issues. Not sure where they got the tools or if they work for Dell but can unlock out of warranty machines.

I believe they are simply using a commonly available utility to generate the pw unlock code. Here is one such website that makes that tool available. It didn't work for me regardless of the different ways I tried to generate a usable code.

BIOS Master Password Generator for Laptops

bios-pw.org

 

[fenderman]

I believe they are simply using a commonly available utility to generate the pw unlock code. Here is one such website that makes that tool available. It didn't work for me regardless of the different ways I tried to generate a usable code.

BIOS Master Password Generator for Laptops

bios-pw.org

You dont need any off this. follow Iamateafs's advice...reset bios to defaults and reformat drive.

 

[Sybertiger]

I put the drive into another computer and behold, it's still locked. This tells me that the firmware in the WD drive has the drive "locked". Because of this, the BIOS will not mount the drive. Apparently, drive manufacturers offer this protocol to prevent data recovery from stolen drives or unauthorized access. I have no idea what tripped the lock protocol. I certainly didn't lock it. I've never in my life created a system, admin or lock pw in the BIOS of any computer so I know it wasn't me. From what I can tell, the only way a user could lock it is by creating a lock pw in the BIOS. It appears the first thing the BIOS does when it see a HDD is that it checks to see if it's locked and in this case the drive is reporting that it's pw protected. Thanks for the tips fellas but stick a fork in this one.

 

[Steve.L]

So, is the brand-new HDD bricked? Any suggestions for us mere mortals to avoid this pitfall?

 

[Flintstone61]

Was it working before you played with Commando Updates?

 

[Flintstone61]

Did windows boot up ever?
anyway your'e probably locked out of the SSD.
I got a dell like that once from eBay. But I didn't want the 2.5" spinner for the laptop anyway. So, while I was a bit surprised, I was able to Clear the CMOS or reset the BIOS to defaults, then add my drive. and everything was fine.

 

[Flintstone61]

The system clearly was previously owned. And somebody used the Bios Password(s) to secure the C:\ drive. ( drive 0).
Way back before the EUFI bios, some of those Dell Password resets might have worked. Not sure about these newer style EUFI BIOS having the a master reset.

 

[Sybertiger]

This Dell Optiplex came with a M.2 NVMe SSD card with Win11 on it so the first thing I did was to flash the newest Dell BIOS firmware then install Win10 Pro. I assume that a new BIOS would be reset to factory settings. There was no HDD_0 in the computer, just the M.2. The only thing I remember doing was to quick format it then I ran Dell Commander. Hindsight, I should have unplugged the HDD first but the point in running Commander was to install/update some Dell drivers that are part of a standard Win10 install.

I did take a couple of 2.5" drives I had laying around and plugged them into the SATA and they worked fine so it seems it that WD drive that has a lock code in its firmware. As I said above, I put it into another computer (an older Optiplex) and at boot-up it wanted the pw to unlock the drive. The lock is in the WD drive but no clue how it got there.

 

[Flintstone61]

so what drive is designated to HDD-0? HDD-0 is SATA port 0 on the motherboard. possibly the darker blue port.

 

[Sybertiger]

so what drive is designated to HDD-0?

I believe that the first HDD you plug into the system is designated as HDD-0 at boot time. So when I put those two 2.5" HDDs in one at a time they were designated as HDD-0. The M.2 is not HDD-0 if that is what you are curious about.

 

[Flintstone61]

If your surveillance drive somehow got assigned a p-word and your locked out.....that is fucking bonzo.....

 

[Flintstone61]

Nope. windows will boot from HDD-1 if thats what SATA port you used to run it during windows setup.
and if youmove it around, it should still boot from hdd-0 or hdd-2.
( until recently) Some companies have tried to get SATA-0/HDD-0 to be the designated boot, and the other two or three are NOT. depends the PC you have.

 

[Sybertiger]

If your surveillance drive somehow got assigned a p-word and your locked out.....that is fucking bonzo.....

Well, I'm not able to access that WD drive. You can skip the pw request screen when it first powers up and it'll boot up the o/s but it will not mount that WD drive so when you look at the Device Manager you'll only see the M.2 as the only disk drive in the system. For example, this is what it looks like for the BI system I built a few years ago.