[sf-lug] Laptop computer(s) and its/their so-called 'root' password(s)

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Bobbie Sellers (bliss-sf4ever at dslextreme.com):

> The Dell E6420 machines have a very resilient BIOS/Firmware password
> and unless someone has that BIOS password the settings cannot be
> altered.  This can be very inconvenient for the user of second hand
> machines.

Pretty much every BIOS has a skeleton-key password burned into the
ROMs, specifically so computer manufacturers and motherboard OEMs
can help customers locked out.  Web pages spring up from time to time to
document the BIOS skeleton-key passwords that leak out onto the
Internet.

Back in 1999 when I was chief sysadmin at Linuxcare in San Francisco, I
found that some nitwit employee had set a BIOS password on his
company-issued Linux workstation.  I made him remove it, motivating him
with rather terse explanations of why this was necessary, and the
probable cost to him if he could not or would not comply.

And of course this BIOS Setup access should be verified on any machine
you are considering purchasing, and inability to get in means no sale.

You really ought not to call that the root password, though.  It's
misleading, particularly on a LUG mailing list.