HP Elitebook 820 g3 BIOS Password

[Finch314]

I am a first year computer science student and I need to access the BIOS of this second hand ultrabook I recently bought to enable virtualisation or install ubuntu alongside windows. However I cannot access the BIOS as it is passworded by the previous owner which is causing no end of problems for me.

Is there anything I can do to fix this or someone I can contact as I am desperately in need of accessing the BIOS for my uni-work!

Thanks for any help in advance.

FInch

Details:

HP EliteBook 820 G3 Base Model Notebook PC

Model #: L4Q16AV
Serial #: [Personal Information Removed]

[IT_WinSec · Accepted solution]

Hi @Finch314

Welcome to the HP Support forum.

I also run on HP Elitebook 820 (loan from HP) and I have done this BIOS pass reset procedure several times.

Most business class notebooks (including yours Elitebook and Probook) have better security. Pass reset cannot be performed in the forum. You will have to contact HP Business Support for assistance on removing the password.

Here is how >> http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-phone-assist.html

>> http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/business-support.html

HP Business support should be able to send you a customised SMC.bin file and instructions which you can use  to reset the password and this may take a few days. Assistance for such issues is usually free of charge for business class computers like yours (ours).

Hope this helps. Let me know if you face any issues. 🙂

[Finch314]

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@IT_WinSec wrote:

Hi @Finch314

Welcome to the HP Support forum.

I also run on HP Elitebook 820 (loan from HP) and I have done this BIOS pass reset procedure several times.

Most business class notebooks (including yours Elitebook and Probook) have better security. Pass reset cannot be performed in the forum. You will have to contact HP Business Support for assistance on removing the password.

Here is how >> http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/ww-phone-assist.html

>> http://www8.hp.com/us/en/contact-hp/business-support.html

HP Business support should be able to send you a customised SMC.bin file and instructions which you can use  to reset the password and this may take a few days. Assistance for such issues is usually free of charge for business class computers like yours (ours).

Hope this helps. Let me know if you face any issues. 🙂

---

Thanks for the info, while waiting for a reply on here I actually already tried what you suggested and they are working on sending me the SMC.bin file now 🙂

Many thanks,

Finch

P.S. I can't boot from usb on my laptop in its current state, will this not cause issues when it comes to running the bin file?

[IT_WinSec]

You are most welcome. Be patient, it may take some days for the tier II engineer to send you the file and instructions.

No, you should not have problem with booting from the flash because this is a more special way of booting and reflushing.

But anyway, you should be able to boot now even with BIOS locked unless the previous owner has disabled USB boot (not common but may happen). Secure Boot may also be enabled. Try this:

0. Insert any USB thumbdrive (could be empty, could be bootable one)

1. Please, shutdown the computer using the power button

2. Power it on.

2.1 As soon as you press the power-on button, immediately begin hitting the Esc button (like tap-tap-tap).

This should open a HP Startup Menu which may look similar to this one

3. Choose F9 to open Boot Device Options

4. You will see a screen with bootable options - the devices that the PC sees - does your PC see the USB you have inserted ?

[Finch314]

The reason I needed the BIOS password was so that I could enable USB booting so I can install Ubuntu, for some reason when I use the USB drive in the PC it doesn't show on the boot order :L

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@IT_WinSec wrote:

You are most welcome. Be patient, it may take some days for the tier II engineer to send you the file and instructions.

No, you should not have problem with booting from the flash because this is a more special way of booting and reflushing.

But anyway, you should be able to boot now even with BIOS locked unless the previous owner has disabled USB boot (not common but may happen). Secure Boot may also be enabled. Try this:

0. Insert any USB thumbdrive (could be empty, could be bootable one)

1. Please, shutdown the computer using the power button

2. Power it on.

2.1 As soon as you press the power-on button, immediately begin hitting the Esc button (like tap-tap-tap).

This should open a HP Startup Menu which may look similar to this one

3. Choose F9 to open Boot Device Options

4. You will see a screen with bootable options - the devices that the PC sees - does your PC see the USB you have inserted ?

---

[IT_WinSec]

If it does not show in the boot drives (F9) it could be because:

• Secure Boot is enabled
  (fix: even with Secure Boot enabled, the USB drive should appear but may not boot a non-Windows OS)
• USB boot is not enabled (unchecked)
• The flash drive you have used it not working properly (rare but possible)
• The USB port you tried in is faulty (rare but possible)

Can you try on another USB port ? With another flash drive ?

Also, wait for the BIOS unlock file to arrtive and to perform the unlocking instructions.

Another thing

Greetings from Tux world. 🙂 I also run Ubuntu and LM on this PC. Note, that with kernel 4 not all the hardware may work properly. Therefore, Ubuntu 14 and kernel 3.13 or 3.19  works best. Ubuntu 16 I don't recommend with this PC.

[Finch314]

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@IT_WinSec wrote:

If it does not show in the boot drives (F9) it could be because:

• Secure Boot is enabled
  (fix: even with Secure Boot enabled, the USB drive should appear but may not boot a non-Windows OS)
• USB boot is not enabled (unchecked)
• The flash drive you have used it not working properly (rare but possible)
• The USB port you tried in is faulty (rare but possible)

Can you try on another USB port ? With another flash drive ?

Also, wait for the BIOS unlock file to arrtive and to perform the unlocking instructions.

Another thing

Greetings from Tux world. 🙂 I also run Ubuntu and LM on this PC. Note, that with kernel 4 not all the hardware may work properly. Therefore, Ubuntu 14 and kernel 3.13 or 3.19  works best. Ubuntu 16 I don't recommend with this PC.

---

Thanks for the tips!

Just out of curiosity, if booting from USB is not do-able, does this mean that I won't be able to unlock the BIOS password when help arrives?

Many thanks again

[IT_WinSec]

Well, I haven't tried this scenario myself and I am unable to test it now

but based on what I know I think this is not related because the BIOS unlock works with different mechanism and I am 99% sure it should work even with USB boot disabled in the BIOS, so you should be able to unlock the BIOS.