Deleting Or Changing An Existing System Password; Using The Setup Password Feature; Assigning A Setup Password - Dell Precision 410 User Manual

The number of unsuccessful attempts made to enter the
correct system password can alert you to an unauthorized
person attempting to use your system.
Even after your system is turned off and on, the previous
message is displayed each time an incorrect or incomplete
system password is entered.
NOTE: You can use the Password Status category in
conjunction with System Password and Setup Password
to further protect your system from unauthorized
changes. For more information, see "Password Status"
found earlier in this chapter.
Deleting or Changing an Existing
System Password
To delete or change an existing password, perform the
following steps:
1. Enter the System Setup program and verify that
the Password Status category is set to Unlocked.
Enter the System Setup program by pressing the
<Ctrl><Alt><Enter> key combination. Press the
<Alt><p> key combination to move to Page 2 of the
System Setup screens. For instructions on changing
the setting for Password Status, see "Password Sta-
tus" found earlier in this chapter.
2. Reboot your system to force it to prompt you for
a system password.
3. When prompted, type the system password.
4. Press the <Ctrl><Enter> key combination to
disable the existing system password, instead
of pressing <Enter> to continue with the
normal operation of your system.
5. Reboot the system and enter the System Setup
program as described in "Entering the System
Setup Program" found earlier in this chapter.
6. Confirm that Not Enabled is displayed for the
System Password category of the System Setup
program.
If Not Enabled appears in the System Password cate-
gory, the system password has been deleted. If you
want to assign a new password, go to step 7.
If Not Enabled is not displayed for the System Pass-
word category, press the <Alt><b> key combination
3-12 Dell Workstation Mini Tower Systems User's Guide
to reboot the system, and then repeat steps 2
through 6.
7. To assign a new password, follow the procedure
in "Assigning a System Password" found earlier
in this section.
U
sing the Setup Password
Feature
Your Dell system is shipped to you without the setup
password feature enabled. If system security is a concern,
you should operate your system with setup password
protection.
You can assign a setup password, as described in the next
subsection, "Assigning a Setup Password," whenever
you use the System Setup program. After a setup pass-
word is assigned, only those who know the password
have full use of the System Setup program.
To change an existing setup password, you must know
the setup password (see "Deleting or Changing an Exist-
ing Setup Password" found later in this section). If you
assign and later forget a setup password, you need your
computer key to get inside the chassis, where you can
change a jumper setting to disable the password feature
(see "Disabling a Forgotten Password" found later in this
chapter). Note that you erase the system password at the
same time.

Assigning a Setup Password

A setup password can be assigned (or changed) only
when the Setup Password category is set to Not Enabled.
To assign a setup password, highlight the Setup Password
category and press the left- or right-arrow key. The sys-
tem prompts you to enter and verify the password. If a
character is illegal for password use, the system emits a
beep.
NOTES: The setup password can be the same as the sys-
tem password.
If the two passwords are different, the setup password
can be used as an alternate system password. However,
the system password cannot be used in place of the setup
password.