Deleting Or Changing An Existing System Password; Using The Setup Password Feature; Assigning A Setup Password - Dell OptiPlex GXi Reference And Installation Manual

If a wrong or incomplete system password is entered, the
following message appears on the screen:
** Incorrect password. **
Enter password:
If an incorrect or incomplete system password is entered
again, the same message appears on the screen.
The third and subsequent times an incorrect or in-
complete system password is entered, the system displays
the following message:
** Incorrect password. **
Number of unsuccessful password
attempts: 3
System halted! Must power down.
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 con-
junction with System Password and Setup Password to
further protect your system from unauthorized changes.
For more information, see "Password Status" found ear-
lier in this chapter.
Deleting or Changing an Existing
System Password
To delete or change an existing system password, per-
form 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
2-12 Dell OptiPlex GX i Mini Tower Systems Reference and Installation Guide
of pressing <Enter> to continue with the
normal operation of your system.
5. 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, continue to
step 6. If Not Enabled is not displayed for the Sys-
tem Password category, press the <Alt><b> key
combination to reboot the system, and then repeat
steps 2 through 5.
6. 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 to be
able to remove the computer cover to change a jumper
setting that disables the setup password feature (see "Dis-
abling 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